Manchester City travel to Hull this weekend looking for their first win in three league games, with Hull themselves looking to pick up a win for the first time since their opening day victory over QPR.
Both teams have had very different weeks, with Hull surrendering yet another lead to go down 3-2 at West Brom whilst Manchester City demolished Championship side Sheffield Wednesday 7-0 both in the Capital One Cup. So in terms of confidence, Man City will look to seize the upper hand in the game. Hull meanwhile will be looking at when Stoke travelled to the Etihad a couple of weeks ago, and they managed to come away with a win thanks to Mame Biram Diouf's winner and they be looking to identify City's weak links.
For City, Pablo Zabaleta will be back for the game at the KC Stadium after serving his suspension, with David Silva and Sergio Aguero expected to make their comebacks after missing the midweek win. Samir Nasri and Fernando are likely to miss out along with Stevan Jovetic, who is not expected to be back until next week.
Hull's only absentees are David Meyler and Robert Snodgrass, who is likely to miss the whole season with a dislocated knee cap. Mohamed Diame and loanee Gaston Ramirez are likely to be reinstated to the squad after being cup-tied for the midweek game at The Hawthorns.
Man City manager Manuel Pellegrini praised Hull in his press conference on Friday morning. "Hull is a difficult team to play away. Last season we played really well and we won. I hope it will be the same." Steve Bruce however, decided to focus on Hull's biggest current problem in his press conference. "There is a disappointment hanging over us at the moment about the inability to see things through," Bruce went on to mention that "if you don't give yourself a solid base, you're going to get punished and we have been."
Hull have squandered leads in four of their last five games in all competitions, giving up a 1-0 lead against Stoke, a 2-1 lead against West Ham and a 2-0 lead at Newcastle, all of which ended up resulting in draws and it was no different in the midweek defeat, after being 2-1 up at West Brom. Hull have dropped 6 points in the league as a result, and found themselves knocked out in the League Cup Third Round. If Hull had won all those games, they'd be sitting a stunning second in the table, above their visitors, but instead they sit tenth on six points.
Manchester City have picked up great results this season, a home win against Liverpool and draws against Arsenal and title favourites Chelsea. With the home loss to Stoke being their only real blemish of the season so far, perhaps a momentary lapse in concentration for the champions, who will be confident of grabbing another win from the Yorkshire team. Man City currently occupy sixth place in the Premier League table, two points better off than their hosts.
It'll be a tough game for Hull, with Man City seemingly finding their feet again and are really starting to hit form. Hull's defence will need to steady up if they are to stand any chance of getting anything from Saturday's tie.