Sunday December 1st sees the newly named Hull City Tigers welcome second placed Liverpool to the KC Stadium. Hull will be looking to bounce back from their first home  league defeat of the season to Crystal Palace last week whilst Brendan Rodgers’ reds will hope to come away with more than the one point they picked up away at local rivals Everton in their last away game.
Liverpool go into the game on the back of a terrific run of form that sees them picking up 11 points in their last 6 games ( W3, D2, L1) and scoring 16 goals.
Hull on the other hand are struggling for goals and points, having only picked up 7 points in their last 6 games ( W1, D1, L4) and only managing to hit the back of the net 3 times in those 6 games.
Interesting Facts:
- Hull City have never beaten Liverpool in the history of this fixture which dates back to 1954 with the last game at the KC Stadium being a boring 0-0 and bringing an end to Rafa Benitez’s reign as Liverpool Manager.
- Hull manager Steve Bruce has guided his teams to four wins and eight draws in his 19 matches against Liverpool as a manager.
- Liverpool are yet to lose a game this season that Glen Johnson has started.
Team News:
Hull City have a doubt over Robbie Brady (groin) whilst Paul McShane is certain to miss the game due to a knee injury . Sone Aluko is a long term absentee and is not expected to appear again until after the New Year.
Liverpool have Jose Enrique out until the New Year following a knee operation and England striker Daniel Sturridge left training on Friday with an ankle injury which rules him out also. ( The Guardian)
Key Men:
Hull City – Tom Huddlestone
If Hull want to get anything from the game they will need to control the midfield area. Former Spurs man Huddlestone has started 11 of Hull’s 12 games in the league so far this season and he has proven to be one of their most reliable performers. With an overall passing accuracy of 90% an attacking half passing accuracy of of 62% and a final third passing accuracy of 56% it is clear that all of Hull’s best moments come through him.
Liverpool – Glen Johnson
England man Johnson is a vital attacking option for Liverpool. He adds genuine width to the right side of the attack and that creates the space for the likes of Phillipe Coutinho and Luis Suarez. For a defender, he spends most of his time in the opponents half and 206 passes in the attacking half tells its own story. Of those passes 75% of them reach their intended target. In the final third Johnson is just as effective, with 76% of all passes reaching their intended target. When Johnson is on form then Liverpool look a far more potent threat going forward.
Match Prediction
I can only see a Liverpool win being the outcome of this game. Â I feel that the Hull City defenders such as Paul McShane, Curtis Davies and Maynor Figueroa will find Luis Suarez far to difficult to contain, even without Sturridge, and I would expect Liverpool to run out easy winners in the end by a score of 3-1.
