Alan Hansen’s Premier League Picks: Manchester City v Hull

Manchester City host Hull this weekend looking to end a sequence of 6 consecutive draws which has dented their hopes of a top four finish this season. However, despite these results, the Citizens are still only 4 points behind 4th placed Tottenham and have still only lost once in the Premier League. They face a Tigers team with just one point on their travels this season so my money would be on Mark Hughes’ side to end their drawing run this weekend.

Phil Brown’s team’s may have started to pick up results of late but those have all come at the KC Stadium where Hull are unbeaten in five. Unfortunately for them, this match is being played at Eastlands where the Tigers were thrashed 5-1 last season. The visitor’s away form is worrying; they’ve lost 5 of their 6 matches, their only point coming at newly-promoted Wolves. They’ve now lost their last four on the road while conceding 14 and scoring just twice. Hull have failed to score in their last two away trips so won’t be confident of picking up points against a City side that may have gone off the boil but still possesses plenty of firepower.

Mark Hughes’ team are certainly not struggling for goals at Eastlands after netting 13 times in their five home games. In fact, since Boxing Day 2008, City have scored 34 goals in fifteen home games, an average of 2.3 a match. Only one team has managed to win at Eastlands in 2009 and that surprisingly is Fulham. However, despite plenty of goals and few defeats, defensively City have not been as impressive.

Their multi-million pound defence has conceded in the last four home games including two against Arsenal, one against West Ham, two against Fulham and three in their last encounter v Burnley. What will worry Hughes is the way his team are throwing away leads of late. In three of the last four games, City have thrown away winning leads only to draw. The six points they lost would have placed them third in the table which shows just how costly these defensive lapses could prove to be. However, despite their obvious defensive frailties and just one clean-sheet in the last nine games, I can only see them winning this weekend.

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City may have their defensive problems but they don’t compare to Hull’s. The Tigers have conceded 30 league goals which is the 2nd worst record in the Premier League behind Wigan who conceded 9 at White Hart Lane last weekend. They’ve been thrashed on a few occasions too, 5-1 against Tottenham, 4-1 against Sunderland and 6-1 against Liverpool. All of those thrashings came against teams of a similar standing to Man City which doesn’t bode well.

Man City didn’t start playing against Liverpool until they went behind but they showed enough attacking quality in the final half an hour of the match to suggest they will cause Hull plenty of problems. In front of their own fans I’d expect City to attack from the off and even though they are hardly watertight at the back, I’d expect them to outscore Hull. Therefore, I’m backing a home win on this weekend’s £45,000 Premier 10 rollover.

Tags: Alan Hansen, Hull, Man City, Premier 10, Premier League

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