PRE-MATCH BRIEFING: HULL CITY V CHELSEA

Wounded animal' and 'unexpected top of the table clash' will be phrases heard in the build-up to tonight's game. Chelsea club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton look a little deeper.

TALKING POINTS
After the unusual taste of home defeat everyone associated with Chelsea is hungry for something a bit tasty again. The 86-game unbeaten run was truly exceptional, but it is not the end of the world if the Blues can win our first league game at the KC Stadium and put more than goal difference between ourselves and the Tigers.

And Chelsea have travelled especially well this season. Even before Sunday, Chelsea's away form had been far superior to results at Stamford Bridge. Four wins in four compares very favourably to two wins, two draws and now one loss on the Fulham Road. Our away goal difference is also twice as good as that at home: +10 compared to +5.

KEY STAT Liverpool's deflected goal on Sunday was only the fourth Chelsea have conceded this season in 13 games. We have kept nine clean sheets.

What was more worrying, perhaps, was the nature of Sunday's home defeat. Of course, there were telling absences that make the difference in a tight encounter: the cleverness of Michael Ballack, the power and dynamism of Michael Essien and Didier Drogba. And had Ashley Cole shown more composure when set up brilliantly by teenage striker Franco Di Santo, we may all have gone home far happier. But Chelsea need to find an answer to the swamping tactic that currently nullifies our full-backs and reduces goalscoring opportunities to a handful.

It's debatable whether Phil Brown's commendable Tigers have the personnel to tame Chelsea in the Liverpool/Roma fashion. The 0-5 home defeat by Wigan suggested Hull would make Derby look a side to the Premier league manor born. They have recovered superbly since that one-off, and are not in a false position on matches played so far. But they have most impressed when going toe-to-toe with opponents and overcoming them with greater commitment, and not many teams outdo Chelsea like that. And there were signs against West Brom last weekend of an over-dependence on keeper Boaz Myhill and the wastefulness of the opposition. Never the less, Brown is obviously a shrewd tactician, and he may yet have a surprise planned for this evening.

Goalkeeper Myhill has been one of the foundations of Hull's success. He is a stalwart of their remarkable three promotions since 2003, and was there when Brown arrived in December 2006 to save a team pencilled in for relegation from the Championship. They survived, rebuilt by Brown around the principles of hard work and little expenditure, and clawed their way to promotion through the Championship play-offs. Amazingly, this time last season they were in 14th place of the second tier.

The setback against Liverpool means that Luiz Felipe Scolari has matched the best-ever league start by a Blues boss, set by José Mourinho. The Brazilian's first defeat came in his ninth Premier League game, the same point as José Mourinho's loss at Man City in 2004. (We all know what happened next.)

Only goals separate their two starts of played 9, won 6, drawn 2, lost 1.

Under Luiz Felipe Scolari Chelsea have scored 19 and conceded four, a goal difference of 15; José Mourinho's side scored eight and conceded two, margin of +6.

Can new manager (and childhood Gooner) Harry Redknapp inspire Spurs to their first away win at Arsenal since 1993? And can his old club West Ham inflict a 1-0 win on Sir Alex Ferguson, as they have in three of the previous seven visits to Old Trafford? And can his previous club, Portsmouth, take the wind out of Liverpool's sails? Poor old Pompey haven't won at Anfield since August 1951. But records, as we know, are there to be broken.

Wednesday's Barclays Premier League fixtures
Arsenal v Tottenham - 8pm Sky Sports
Aston Villa v Blackburn - 7.45pm
Bolton v Everton - 8pm
Fulham v Wigan - 7.45pm
Hull v Chelsea - 7.45pm
Liverpool v Portsmouth - 8pm
Man Utd v West Ham - 8pm
Middlesbrough v Man City - 8pm
Stoke v Sunderland - 7.45pm

Barclays Premier League table

Top		P	GD	PTS
1	Liverpool	9	8	23
2	Chelsea	9	15	20
3	Hull	9	3	20
4	Arsenal	9	12	19
5	Aston Villa	9	6	17
6	Man Utd	8	8	15

Watch the full 90 minutes of Hull v Chelsea on Chelsea TV tonight, starting at midnight.

TACTICAL BRIEF
In late August, the 0-5 home humiliation by Wigan rang the alarm in east Yorkshire. Myhill, Sam Ricketts and Wayne Brown were equally culpable in a porous defensive display, but City were also overpowered in midfield by Cattermole and Palacios.

In fact, their worst spell this season has coincided with the absence of physical middleman George Boateng (pictured below challenging Dennis Wise at the 2000 FA Cup Final), a player who always seems to reserve extra animosity for Chelsea. Fellow central midfielder Ian Ashbee has also been outstanding, as well as Hull's most yellow-carded player. But at 33 and 32 respectively there must be doubts over their ability to maintain the hard-running and tenacity their manager requires over a whole season.

Since the narrow 2-1 win at Newcastle that followed, Brown has had a settled team, and casualties have included Brown (now on loan at Preston) and former Spurs centre-back Anthony Gardner. Another former White Hart Lane departure, Dean Marney, roves down the right.

With Boateng available again in midfield, the defence was shored up with young Kamil Zayatte, a tall, Guinea international centre back, and right back Paul McShane, a regular with Ireland.

Upfront, Hull have a classic duo. Marlon King is what is often called 'a handful' to defences, especially sluggish ones. He is elusive, has clever, speedy feet, and he never gives up. In contrast Daniel Cousin, recently snapped up from Rangers, is a big, strong target man, but he didn't contribute enough for the Gers' management other than score goals.

Geovanni, a two-footed winger, is the one who has captured the media attention with his spectacular swerving strikes from distance and important goals. The Brazilian, now 28, has not yet played for his country, but Luiz Felipe Scolari will know all about him from spells with Benfica and Cruzeiro of Brazil.

Commonly used on the left flank, the South American has also been used in the 'hole' behind strikers King and Cousin. That was most successful in Hull's spectacular win at the Emirates.

'We threw them a little bit of a curve ball with that one,' said Brown, 'and Arsenal couldn't handle it.' The same tactic is unlikely to bamboozle Chelsea's midfield in quite the same way it did the Gunners' young holding player Denilson.

Another Arsenal weakness Brown had identified was at set-pieces. But Chelsea do not have the lack of height at the root of the Gunners' problems in those situations.

Other than that it is the 'old-fashioned' virtue of hard work that has raised them to the European places in the Premier League. Brown was schooled at Bolton under Big Sam, and although his side play a more subtle game, they use purposeful diagonal long balls and are exceptionally well-organised. They can remind the spectator of the bustling Reading side of 2006/7 that surprised the top flight.

But perhaps they're closer to Bolton the same season. Like Hull, they were third after nine games, on 20 points back then, and had lost only once. Chelsea were second and Manchester United first, tied on 22 points. Bolton lost their next match 0-4 at home to United, but persevered to finish seventh in May (after a slower start, Reading claimed eighth spot).

Both those sides had decent goalkeepers, and that's definitely the case with Boaz Myhill, one of the key men in Hull's early success story. California-born, an England youth international but now a Wales senior, his athleticism and concentration have been vital in the matches against Everton, Arsenal and West Brom.

The most recent of those, at the Hawthorns was also interesting. Without such steely resolve and good fortune the visitors might have been behind by a couple of goals at half time. Albion's lack of firepower, coupled with chaotic defending, was their undoing and Hull were decisive in front of goal, eventually winning 3-0.

The only blow from that game was the injury to regular left-back Andy Dawson which threatens to end Brown's run of four successive unchanged starting elevens.

Chelsea's difficulty in breaking down defences when wingers double the numbers facing our full backs, shown again on Sunday, will not have gone unnoticed in east Yorkshire.

It would be a severe test of Hull's resources if they asked Marney and Geovanni to do the same as Liverpool's Riera and Kuyt, though, and if they take the game to Chelsea there are few midfields better at maintaining possession and rapidly exploiting gaps.

WE HAVE HISTORY
The old Housemartins' album title 'London 0 Hull 4' has been trotted out by City fans following a quartet of wins over capital clubs. But a pleasant 'Hull 0 London 4' is still fresh in the minds of Blues fans. Last season Chelsea visited Kingston upon Hull in the League Cup at the end of September with Avram Grant newly promoted from director of football.

In a comfortable win, Scott Sinclair scored the first goal of Grant's managerial career. It is likely only three of Hull's starters that evening will figure tonight. One will be Myhill, who picked the ball out of his net on four occasions, twice from Salomon Kalou (pictured below).

Chelsea will be visiting the Kingston Communication (KC) stadium for the second time on Wednesday. The ground was opened in December 2002. The capacity is 25,404 all-seater.

Marlon King, on loan from Wigan, was a late substitute for the Latics in the damaging 1-1 at the Bridge last season. He has also figured twice against Chelsea for Gillingham - 4-2 in the FA Cup in 2001 and again in the League Cup the following year, when he scored a late consolation in Chelsea's 2-1 win.

Hull's Dean Marney was Spurs' golden boy wide midfielder back in January 2005 when Chelsea won 2-0 at the Lane with a brace from Frank Lampard.

OUR MOST RECENT MEETING
Hull City 0 Chelsea 4
League Cup third round, Wednesday September 26th 2007 at Kingston Communication Stadium.
Referee Chris Foy
Crowd 23,543

Hull Manager Phil Brown Myhill Ricketts Turner Brown Delaney Ashbee (c) Livermore Pedersen Okocha Elliott McPhee Substitutes Dawson for Delaney (52), Garcia for Elliott (52), Featherstone for Pedersen (72) Booked Brown Kalou Pizarro Sinclair Sidwell Essien Wright-Phillips A Cole Terry (c) Ben-Haim Belletti Cudicini Manager Avram Grant Chelsea Substitutes J Cole for Wright-Phillips (48), Bridge for A Cole (64), Makelele for Essien (72) Scorers Sinclair 36, Kalou 47, 80, Sidwell 51

Most recent away league meeting
25 Oct 1988 Old Division Two, Boothferry Park
Hull City..........3 Chelsea.........0
Smith Att: 6,953
Edwards 2

Our entire previous league meetings have been played in the old Second Division.

Previous 10 away games at Hull in all competitions

1928/29	Drew 2-2	Old Division 2
1929/30	Chelsea won 3-1	Old Division 2
1965/66	Chelsea won 3-1	FA Cup 6th round replay
1975/76	Chelsea won 2-1	Old Division 2
1976/77	Drew 1-1	Old Division 2
1981/82	Chelsea won 2-0	FA Cup 3rd round replay
1988/89	Hull won 3-0	Old Division 2
1991/92	Chelsea won 2-0	FA Cup 3rd round
1999/00	Chelsea won 6-1	FA Cup 3rd round
2007/08	Chelsea won 4-0	League Cup 3rd round

Hull City v Chelsea in all competitions
Games played 36
Chelsea wins 24
Hull wins 4
Draws 8

Head to head in the League at Anlaby Road, Boothferry Park and KC Stadium
Games played 13
Chelsea wins 6
Hull wins 4
Draws 3

Biggest league win at Hull for each team
25/10/1988 Hull 3-0 Chelsea
15/03/1930 Hull 1-3 Chelsea

CHELSEA STATS
Chelsea are on the longest run in the top flight of 14 unbeaten away games (12 wins, two draws) since the 1-0 defeat at Arsenal on December 16 2007 and are looking for a eighth successive away league victory. We will need to beat Hull and Blackburn to equal our club record (and Premier League record) nine successive away league wins.

Chelsea hold the only 100 per cent away record of all 92 league clubs and have conceded one goal in winning the last seven away.

Chelsea have not lost when scoring first in the Premier League since the 1-2 defeat at Tottenham in November 2006.

Chelsea's previous six games

Sep 27	Stoke City	A	W 2-0
Oct 1	CFR Cluj	A	D 0-0 Champions League
Oct 5	Aston Villa	H	W 2-0
Oct 18	Middlesbrough	A	W 5-0
Oct 22	Roma	H	W 1-0 Champions League
Oct 26	Liverpool	H	L 0-1

2008/09 Premier League scorers
Anelka 4, Kalou 3, Lampard 3 (1 pen), Belletti 2, J Cole 2, Deco 2, Bosingwa 1, Carvalho 1, Malouda 1. Total 19.

MILESTONES
Frank Lampard needs a brace for 100 career Premier League goals for West Ham and Chelsea.

Joe Cole's next league appearance will be his 150th in a blue shirt.

John Terry is due to move ahead of our 1955 league championship captain Roy Bentley into 15th in the club's all time list on 368 games. His next target is George Smith and Bobby Tambling on 370.

HULL CITY STATS
Last season Hull were third in the Coca-Cola Championship with a record of 13 wins, seven draws, three defeats scoring 43 and conceding 19.

Hull will be looking for a fifth successive victory. They have won 16 from 18 points since their only defeat at home to Wigan, 0-5 on August 30th.

That Wigan defeat is the only one at the KC Stadium since January 12th (14 games).

The Tigers have won all four games against London clubs this season. At home to Fulham (2-1) and West Ham (1-0) and away at Arsenal (2-1) and Tottenham (1-0).

With six wins and two draws from their first nine games, the Tigers have made the best start by a top-flight debutant in 115 years.

Hull's managers this decade
Warren Joyce Nov 1998 - Apr 2000
Brian Little Apr 2000 - Feb 2002
Jan Molby Apr 2002 - Oct 2002
Peter Taylor Oct 2002 - Jun 2006
Phil Parkinson Jun 2006 - Dec 2006
Phil Brown Dec 2006 to date

Hull have never won a major trophy.

TIGERS IN THE PREM
Hull City were formed in 1904 and had never played in the top flight before this season.

On Friday October 9th 1998 Hull lost 2-1 at home to Cardiff and remained bottom of the fourth tier and 92nd in the Football League with seven points from 12 games. A little over 10 years on, Hull stand third in the Premier League, an incredible journey.

	Pts	Pos
1998/99	53	21st	fourth tier
1999/00	59	14th	fourth tier
2000/01	74	6th	fourth tier
2001/02	61	11th	fourth tier
2002/03	59	13th	fourth tier
2003/04	88	2nd	fourth tier
2004/05	86	2nd	third tier
2005/06	52	18th	second tier
2006/07	49	21st	second tier
2007/08	75	3rd	second tier - promoted via play-offs

Hull's 20 points out of 27 is the second best start to a Premier League campaign by a promoted club. Nottingham Forest had 21 points at the same stage in 1994/95.


MOST RECENT PREMIER LEAGUE LINE-UP
Oct 25, 2008 West Bromwich Albion (away) Won 3-0

Myhill McShane Turner Zayatte Dawson Marney Ashbee (c) Boateng Geovanni King Cousin Substitutes Ricketts for Dawson (10), Hughes for Ashbee (75), Garcia for Geovanni (78) Scorers Zayatte 47, Geovanni 62, King 66.

Phil Brown named an unchanged side for the fourth successive match.

Hull's previous six games

Sep 13	Newcastle	A	W 2-1
Sep 21	Everton	H	D 2-2
Sep 27	Arsenal	A	W 2-1
Oct 5	Tottenham	A	W 1-0
Oct 19	West Ham	H	W 1-0
Oct 25	WBA	A	W 3-0

2008/09 Premier League scorers
Geovanni 4, King 3 (1 pen), Turner 2, Cousin 1, Folan 1, Garcia 1, Zayatte 1, own goal 1 (Neville, Everton). Total 14.

NEW BOYS
Hull's summer transfers

Ins Anthony Gardner (Tottenham, £2.5m), Peter Halmosi (Plymouth, £2m), George Boateng (Middlesbrough, £1m), Craig Fagan (Derby, £750,000), Geovanni (Man City, free), Tony Warner (Fulham, free), Bernard Mendy (Paris St Germain, free), Daniel Cousin (Rangers, undisclosed), Marlon King (Wigan, loan), Paul McShane, Sunderland, loan), Kamil Zayatte (Young Boys, loan). Outs Henrik Pedersen (Silkeborg IF, free), David Livermore (Brighton, free), Michael Bridges (Carlisle, loan).

THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE
The referee is Andre Marriner. This is his first Chelsea game of 2008/9, but he was in charge of Hull's 2-1 win at Newcastle, handing Hull a penalty and sending off Toon defender Guthrie for a terrible late challenge. Last season he officiated during Chelsea's 2-0 away win at Derby and the damaging home draw with Wigan, when Heskey scored in stoppage time.

OTHERWISE ENGAGED
There are no suspensions on either side. Tigers skipper Ian Ashbee's has a one-match ban for reaching his fifth booking at the Hawthorns on Saturday starts, but it kicks in after seven days, so he will miss the visit to Old Trafford on Saturday and is available tonight.