Saturday 15 April 2017 07:46, UK
Hull City will look to boost their Premier League survival hopes on Saturday when facing a Stoke side who have lost four games in a row.
Marco Silva's side are 17th and sit two points above Swansea, who travel to Watford in another of the league's 3pm games.
Hull lifted themselves out of the drop-zone with April wins over West Ham and Middlesbrough, though their mini-revival was cut short with defeat at Manchester City last weekend.
Stoke appear to be safe on 36 points with six games to go, but Mark Hughes will not be sitting easy having not won in five league games and last recording three points against Middlesbrough at the beginning of March.
Team news
Goalkeeper Jack Butland is moving closer to his long-awaited Stoke return and could make the bench against Hull.
Ibrahim Afellay's season is likely to be over after the Stoke midfielder travelled to Spain for knee surgery. Joe Allen will also miss Hull visit.
The Wales midfielder has a minor knock while Ireland forward Jonathan Walters has also missed training this week and is doubtful.
Hull will assess the fitness of key defender Harry Maguire, who remains doubtful due to a knee injury which kept him out of last week's 3-1 defeat at Manchester City, despite returning to training on Wednesday.
Right-back Omar Elabdellaoui (back) remains sidelined, but striker Dieumerci Mbokani is back in contention after missing the last six games due to a hamstring problem.
Opta stats
Stoke have only lost one of their nine previous Premier League meetings with Hull (1-2 in November 2009), winning the last two in a row.
Hull have failed to score in their last three league visits to the Bet365 Stadium (L3), with their only goal there coming in a 1-1 draw in November 2008.
Indeed, Hull have not won a league game at Stoke since January 2006, but they did win an EFL Cup tie there earlier this season (2-1 in September).
Hull City have won 17 points in the Premier League since Marco Silva was appointed manager, but just one of these points have come away from home (P6 D1 L5).
Since Marco Silva's appointment on January 5, Hull City have won the most points from losing positions in the Premier League (nine). They have sealed three wins from behind in this period in the competition.
Hull have conceded a goal in 29 of their 32 Premier League games this season; more than any other side.
Stoke have never lost five in a row in the competition and the last time they did this in a single top-flight campaign was back in May 1985 (10 defeats in a row).
Merson's prediction
Stoke have had some tough fixtures recently, which partially explains their losing run, and what follows difficult games is easy ones.
Hull away from home are struggling - they are great at home - and I don't like going against Stoke at the bet365.
That's making it easier for me to pick them this weekend but it will be very tight. This result keeps the relegation battle going.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-1 (Sky Bet odds 15/2)
Betting
Stoke are marginally odds-on with Sky Bet at 19/20 for the victory with Hull 3/1 for a first away win since August, while the draw is priced at 12/5. Saido Berahino, Peter Crouch and Marko Arnautovic share favouritism in a wide-open first goalscorer market, as Abel Hernandez and Oumar Niasse are both 7/1 shots for the visitors.
