On the 29th March, Hull City travel to the Britannia to take on Stoke City. Â This is a battle between two teams that have done well so far to stay away from the relegation zone. Â With seven games remaining, Stoke have climbed 12 points clear and Hull have eight points between themselves and the relegation zone. Â Stoke will try to continue their four game unbeaten streak and replicate their last two games where the scores were 3-1 and 4-1. Hull will try to rebound from a disappointing 2-1 midweek defeat to West Ham.
Team News
Hull will be without goalkeeper Alan McGregor due to his red card at West Ham as well as the kidney damage he sustained while picking up the red card. Â They will also be without Robbie Brady, Paul McShane, and Joe Dudgeon.
Stoke will miss Erik Pieters and Robert Huth while a decision on the fitness of on loan winger Oussama Assaidi will be made on the day.
Interesting Statistics
This fixture has only been played 11 times in total and only five times at the top level. Â Stoke have won four of these 11 meeting with Hull winning two. Â From 2006-2009 this fixture had four consecutive 1-1 draws. Â This fixture has never had more than three goals scored in one game. Â Prior to the first meeting this season, the last six times these two teams played the score was 1-0 at halftime.
Key Men
Both teams will have strong defences and they will need quality to unlock the opposing team’s defence.  Hull will need Tom Huddlestone to step up, as he has done all season, and be the main creator for Hull.  The former Spurs player has created a chance every 50 minutes this season.  Most of those have come from  set pieces with 36 of his 54 created chances coming from set pieces. In fact, he’s created more chances from set pieces than any other Hull player has created in total.  Against a strong defensive team like Stoke, it will be up to Huddlestone to provide quality service.
Stoke will have to break through Hull’s defensive line and they will need one of their most talented players, Marko Arnautovic, to break Hull’s defence.  The Austrian has created more chances than any other Stoke player (32) and creates a chance every 51 minutes.  He has always been a quality player and has brought quality to Stoke.  He is very good with the ball at his feet, completing 47% of his dribbles, and has the quality on the ball to put good service in the box – completing 32% of his crosses.  Arnautovic’s service and quality will be key to breaking the joint-best defence in the bottom half of the table.
Prediction
Both of these teams have been built on solidity and not allowing themselves to get exposed in defence.  With both teams pretty far off the relegation zone, they will be more focused on not losing than winning.  That means neither team will be going gung ho for a goal and both teams will sit deeper and focus on not conceding rather than scoring.  Stoke have only been beaten twice at home this season while Hull have only three wins away from the KC Stadium.  Hull’s midweek game may mean they have to rotate some players while Stoke will be fresh.  For those reasons, I think Stoke will come out with the victory pushing themselves to the 40 point marker so many lower teams aim for at the beginning of the season.
