HomeFeatured ArticlesManchester City vs Hull City Preview | Odds, Stats & Team News

Manchester City vs Hull City Preview | Odds, Stats & Team News

The two sides enter this match in different moods. However it is the title chasing Manchester City who are coming into this match after a loss. They will be keen to bounce back with a big win against Steve Bruce’s newly promoted Hull side. Manuel Pellegrini is unlikely to do too much transfer business before the window closes next Monday, centre back could be the only position the Argentine may look to strengthen, with Martin Demichelis as a target. Meanwhile Hull City won in the Capital One second round 1-0 against Leyton Orient after being taken to extra time but they played a weakened side so they shouldn’t be feeling the effects from this one.

Man City Vs Hull City

Manchester City can’t afford to drop too many points at the start of the season so this match should be seen as a must win given the opposition. If the club falls too far adrift from the top of the table, they will struggle to pull it back. On the other hand, this match is really a bonus match for Hull as they aren’t expected to pick up any points. This will allow them to play with freedom which could cause the same problems for City that they faced against Cardiff last week.

In the match against Cardiff, Manchester City were disappointing as they allowed the Welsh club to play their natural game, and perhaps showed the newly promoted club too much respect. Their task was made harder as they were forced to play without their captain Vincent Kompany after he picked up an injury in their opening match against Newcastle. Javi Garcia had to play out of position in the heart of defence to cover for the Belgian. This may have played a part in City’s poor defensive display which allowed Cardiff to score three goals.

Meanwhile Hull City managed to win their first match of the season at home against Norwich City. Robbie Brady scored the winner from the spot. The win didn’t go to plan as they had to play for the majority of the match with ten men as new signing Yannick Sagbo was sent off for a headbutt. It’s important for promoted clubs to get a win on the board early to boost the confidence of the squad, plus it shows that they can compete at this level.

Interesting Stats

Man City conceded six PL goals from corners in 2012-13, however they conceded two against Cardiff, which is 33% of that total. This may have been caused by the makeshift defence in Kompany’s absence.

Robbie Brady scored four goals for Hull last season, and he has already got two goals in this season after netting in his last two matches against Norwich and Leyton Orient. The 21-year-old will be an important player if Hull are to stay up.

Key Players

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Yaya Toure is the player who allows Manchester City to tick in the middle of the park, he offers a lot to the side. He can defend, score goals, create chances, retain the ball and he is also a born leader. He has made 207 passes already this season which is the third most in the league, the two who have made more have also played one more match than the Ivorian. This shows that he dictates the City play, and with a 91.3% pass accuracy, he is doing a good job. In the opening match against Newcastle, he gave an all action display and dominated a powerful Newcastle midfield which contained Moussa Sissoko and Cheick Tiote. Moreover he opened his account for the season with a brilliant free kick which shows yet another aspect of his game. On Saturday, he will need to play well against a well organised Hull side who have only conceded twice against Chelsea in their opening game. Steve Bruce’s sides are tough to beat so City will need Toure making powerful runs to open up the newly promoted side. Only 9.66% of the Ivorian’s passes have gone backwards which shows that he is more forward thinking than last season as the addition of Fernandinho gives him more freedom to express himself offensively.

Allan McGregor will play a huge part in this match for obvious reasons. He had a shaky start on his debut against Chelsea as he conceded a penalty and was beaten by a Lampard free kick which he should have saved. He did manage to save the penalty that he gave away so he redeemed himself there. In his next game, he gave an excellent display to maintain Hull’s one goal advantage with ten men. With City desperate to bounce back after their defeat against Cardiff, he could be in for a tough afternoon, but if Hull are to get anything out of this match, the Scottish number one will have to be in top form. His clean sheet against Norwich will give him confidence; he averages a save every 22.5 minutes which makes it 8 saves overall so far this campaign. He missed out on playing in the Capital One Cup as the experienced Steve Harper made his Hull debut. Having Harper as competition will push McGregor to keep up his good form, and I don’t think it will be easy to find a way past him on Saturday.

Team News

City will still be without Vincent Kompany who has a hamstring injury which will keep him out until late next month. New signing Stevan Jovetic is a doubt after picking up a knock. In better news Micah Richards is nearing a return from injury and could feature. This will be welcomed by City fans as he could slot into central defence in the absence of Kompany, a role currently filled by a midfielder. There have been rumours that Joe Hart may get dropped for Costel Pantilimon after recent poor performances by the English number one. Alvaro Negredo will be hoping he gets his first league start after opening his account in the Premier League last weekend.

Hull will be missing Yannick Sagbo as he serves the second match of his ban. They will also still be missing Stephen Quinn and Abdoulaye Faye who won’t return until next month. George Boyd and Danny Graham are the two players who will hope to replace Sagbo. It will be interesting to see if Bruce ditches his 3-5-2 formation against stronger opposition and employs a more defensive 4-5-1 or maybe even a 5-4-1. If he does choose to play one up front, Graham will be better suited than Sone Aluko as the on loan Sunderland striker can hold up the ball while Aluko can be shifted out wide by Bruce.

Prediction

Its very likely that Manchester City will win this match comfortably and the odds at Pinnacle Sports reflect that. If you want to tip City, you can get a very short price of 1.193. The odds of a draw look a little more tempting at 7.89. While if you fancy an upset the odds you can get for a Hull win stand at 18.240.

I feel Manchester City will win this easily 4-0 so a bet on there being over 3 and 3.5 goals is one that is very attractive. The odds for this stand at 2.040.

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