Match Preview: Hull City AFC vs Chelsea FC

Chelsea play Hull City Tigers in the final away match of January, before returning to the comforts of Stamford Bridge. Having secured three points against Southampton in the last PL fixture and a win in the FA Cup last week, Chelsea will look to carry forward the momentum and streak of good form.

DATE & TIME: January 11, 2014 at 07:45 EST; January 11, 2014 at 12:45 GMT; January 11, 2014 at 13:45 WAT; January 11, 2014 at 14:45 CAT; January 11, 2014 at 15:45 EAT; January 11, 2014 at 18:15 IST.

VENUE: KC Stadium, Hull, United Kingdom.

TV/STREAMING NEWS: The match will be telecast live on Fox Sports 1 on Australia, Supersport 3 Africa in African sub-continent, Sportsnet East/West/World/Ontario/Pacific in Canada, DirecTV in Colombia, beIN Sports Arabia 1 HD/11 HD in Egypt, Canal+ Sport in France, Sky Sport 1/HD in Germany, Star Sports 4 & Star Sports HD2 in India, Fox Sports HD in Italy, J Sports 2 in Japan, Astro Supersport HD in Malaysia, Fox Sports 2 in Netherlands, Gol T, Canal+ Fútbol/HD & Gol Stadium in Spain,  beIN Sports Arabia 1 HD/11 HD in UAE, BBC One & BT Sport 1 in United Kingdom and NBCSN in USA.
The match is available online on Fox Sports Go in Netherlands, NBC Sports Live Extra in USA, Sky Go in Germany & UK, Sportsnet World Online in Canada, SuperSport Streaming in Africa.
Chelsea TV will have live audio of the game.
You can also catch the game on TalkSport Radio if you’re in Australia, Canada, Malaysia or US and BBC Radio 5 Live if you’re in UK.

HULL CITY AFC SQUAD NEWS: Hull have a few injury concerns in Paul McShane, Sone Aluko and Robby Brady.
Predicted Starting XI: McGregor, Rosenior, Chestor, Davies, Figueroa, Elmohamady, Livermore, Koren, Huddlestone, Boyd, Sagbo.

CHELSEA FC SQUAD NEWS: Marco van Ginkel, Branislav Ivanoviv and Frank Lampard will miss the game due to various injuries.
Predicted Starting XI: Cech, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Terry, Cole, Ramires, Mikel, Mata, Willian, Hazard, Torres.

REFEREE: Mark Clattenburg

FORM INDEX: Hull – DDDLWL; Chelsea – LWDWWW

THOUGHTS FROM THE ENEMY: Steve Bruce considers Chelsea to be a big test & understands his team has to be at their absolute best to get a result against the Blues.

“The one thing we’re going to have to do is play well. When you look at Chelsea and the team they can put out, we’re going to have to defend well and pose a threat when we’ve got the ball. We have played well in these games so far, although maybe not got the results. We’ve given all of them a run for their money and let’s hope that continues. But we know that, on their day, these teams can come and give you a hiding so we have to be at our best.”

FUN TRIVIA:

• Petr Cech, who equalized Peter Bonetti’s 208 clean sheet record against Southampton, needs just one to achieve the all-time club record.
• If selected, Gary Cahill will make his 50th Premier League appearance for the club.
• Chelsea have won 12, drawn 4 and lost 5 at Hull over the years.

Chelsea have an opportunity to go top of the table with three points, albeit temporarily, as Arsenal & City do not play on Saturday. Newly-promoted Hull have been relatively good, sitting in the middle of the league table and Chelsea must avoid complacency to get a result.

“It was a week without a match, so it was a positive week for us and hopefully tomorrow we can play a good game and reflect the good work the players did.”