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Hull City and Stoke City meet in what is expected to be a tightly contested affair at Kingston Communications Stadium. Match counting for the second round of the Premier League.
Hull invested over 20 million pounds in the transfer window and made some excellent signings, including Robert Snodgrass, Tom Ince or Jake Livermore. They started the season in the Premier League (after playing Europa League qualies) with a solid 1-0 win away at QPR but went on to lose 1-0 midweek to Lokeren in the EL playoffs. However, it was an unlucky defeat and most importantly Hull did not use the best players in that match.
Stoke was very disappointing in the 0-1 home loss to Aston Villa, a team they really should have defeated at home. Stoke made some good moves in the summer, most notably bringing in Bojan Krkic, but they were poor in the Premier League opener, failing to create too many goalscoring chances. The result came after some below-par performances in friendlies so maybe there are some small issues to sort out right now with Stoke.
Team news & lineups
Hull will be without Sagbo and Snodgrass, with Bruce doubtful. Stoke won`t be able to count on Ireland, while Huth is a question mark.
Hull City: McGregor – Chester, Bruce, Davies – Elmohamady, Huddlestone, Livermore, Robertson – Ince, Boyd – Jelavic.
Stoke City: Begovic – Bardsley, Shawcross, Wilson, Pieters – Whelan, Nzonzi – Bojan, Moses, Arnautovic – Diouf.
These two teams are evenly matched in terms of quality, but the fact is Hull looked better in the first round and might end up being better than Stoke this season with the good transfers they made. Additionally, both these sides are traditionally very strong at home and poor away, so Hull holds a big advantage by playing at the Kingston Communications Stadium. Even if the Tigers have the Lokeren game next week, surely they are only focused on Stoke for now and if they keep up the momentum from the first round they should win. The odds are solid, so I`m going with high stakes on Hull to win, but I`ll secure the bet a little bit with the -0,25 asian handicap. Prediction: Hull City – Stoke City 2-1.
Pick: Hull City (-0,25 Asian Handicap)
Odds: 2.10 @ Bet365
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 8.8
Event date: 24 August
