Hull City vs Newcastle

February 28, 2014
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Hull City have made a nice cushion between them and the bottom three with two wins in last three and having also made it to FA Cup quarter-finals, the Tigers will fancy their chances of beating out-of-sorts Newcastle. The Magpies ended a dismal run of results thanks to a last-gasp goal against Aston Villa, but they, nonetheless, face a difficult trip to KC Stadium.

Huddlestone overlooked for England

Hull City fans probably thought they would never live to see one of their players receive an England call-up, but Tom Huddlestone, Jake Livermore and Curtis Davies have all been tipped to make Roy Hodgson’s squad following some impressive showings this season. This speaks volumes about the quality of performances Steve Bruce’s side have been putting in all season long and nobody is really surprised to see the Tigers safely tucked away in the middle of the standings. Despite impressing in the first part of campaign, the experienced manager ensured his team would have the best possible chance of avoiding the drop by adding the likes of Nikica Jelavic and Shane Long to his ranks, thus addressing the only issue that could have potentially hurt their survival bid. And while both players needed some time to regain match fitness having seen little action at their previous clubs, Jelavic and Long have seriously raised their form of late, establishing a nice partnership up front. Hull City appear to be on top of their game at the moment, with 4-0 away triumph over Cardiff City followed by FA Cup victory over Brighton and I can definitely see them outclass struggling Newcastle on Saturday.

Tom Huddelstone, Alex Bruce and Liam Rosenior have all recovered from their respective injuries, but Robbie Brady and Paul McShane are unlikely to feature.

Loic Remy saves the day

Following a slow start to the season, Newcastle showed a great deal of improvement to climb to European positions and there was talk they could mount a serious challenge for Europa League places. However, the team suffered a huge dip in form at the turn of the year, with their small squad struggling to cope with the busy schedule, losing three straight Premier League games and crashing out of the FA Cup at the hands of Cardiff City. And rather than reinforcing the squad that also had their share of injury problems, the Magpies were forced to sell key midfielder Yohan Cabaye and only signed out-of-form striker Luuk de Jong from Borussia M’gladbach. And with quite a few important players struggling through injury, Newcastle have been utterly disappointing of late, conceding 10 goals in defeats to Sunderland, Chelsea and Tottenham before finally ending the barren run against Aston Villa last weekend. Nevertheless, it is perfectly clear Newcastle are still struggling for form and if Hull City manage to keep Loic Remy quiet they will have a great chance to pour more misery on the team they already defeated this season.

Hatem Ben Arfa and David Santon are both injury doubts, whereas Gabriel Obertan, Gael Bigirimana and Ryan Taylor are definitely out.

Verdict

Hull City are making giant strides towards ensuring survival, with the return to form of Jelavic and Long giving the team new quality. Meanwhile, Newcastle are still trying to recover from the run of three disappointing defeats, while it is perfectly clear Yohan Cabaye continues to be sorely missed.

Top pick: Hull City Draw no bet   1.73 (8/11) @ Coral

Alternative pick 1: Home win   2.45 (29/20) @ bet365

Alternative pick 2: Both teams to score   2.10 (11/10) @ Betfair

We Highly Recommend These Places
Share your Opinion!