Hull v Villa Preview
By Tiger Tim
December 29 2008
Hull take on Aston Villa at the Kc stadium on Tuesday night looking to bounce back from 2 defeats. Hull have lost their last 2 heavily to Sunderland and Manchester City and will be looking to restore confidence when Villa arrive into town. Aston Villa are unbeaten in 7 in the league winning 4 and drawing 3 and have won 6 of their 9 away games this season.
Team news
Hull have Sam Ricketts back from suspension, Andy Dawson,Caleb Folan and Anthony Gardner are all still ruled out.
Aston Villa are without injured captain Martin Laursen. Willfred Bouma is still a
month away from a return. John Carew and Carlos Cuellar are both doubtful.
Manager views
Phil Brown
"I think we have been sucked into the pretty Premier League."We are not pretty by any stretch of the imagination - we are ugly Hull. We need to be ugly again against Aston Villa.
"Friday we were pretty, we played some pretty football but Man City are a good side."If you don't bring your 'ugly head' to the table then Man City will play some football against you.
"It was uncharacteristic but we have been sucked into the way the Premier League play."In the first 10-15 games I don't think we did. I think we brought Hull City's game to the table."
Martin O'Neill"We will be trying to search around to improve the squad.
"The players are really enjoying it here but we had three out on Boxing Day against Arsenal that put a serious dent in things for us.
"What we had over the Christmas period wouldn't be sufficient for us to try and keep going on all fronts."
Head 2 head
Aston Villa have beaten Hull on the last three occasions they've faced each other (one in the old Second Division and twice in the FA Cup), but have only won one of their last seven league visits to the East Yorkshire club.
Villa have scored nine goals without reply in their last three matches against the Tigers.
Villa's only league victory at Hull since 1959 was 1-2 in the old Second Division on 7 April 1973.
Home and away
League (inc PL): Hull 5 wins, Villa 6, Draws 5
Prem: Hull 0 wins, Villa 0, Draws 0
at Hull only
League (inc PL): Hull 4 wins, Villa 2, Draws 2
Prem: Hull 0 wins, Villa 0, Draws 0
Possible starting 11s
Hull Myhill,Mcshane,Zayette, Turner, ricketts, Marney, Boateng, Geovanni, Ashbee, King, Windass
Aston Villa Friedel, Reo-Coker, Knight, Davies, L Young, Milner, Barry, Petrov,Sidwell, A Young, Agbonlahor,
Referee
Steve Bennett (Orpington, Kent)
| Matches | Red | Yellow | Average |
| 12 | 0 | 48 | 4.00 |
Venue: KC Stadium Date: Tuesday, 30 December Kick-off: 2000 GMT
Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Humberside, BBC WM 95.6FM; updates on BBC Sport website & highlights on Match of the Day. Also on Sky Sports.com and Live on Skysports 1 from 7:30