Duo impressed at Stamford Bridge on return to first team
Manchester City vs Hull City
Competition: F.A. Premier League
Date: 3.00pm, Saturday 8th April 2017
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Referee: Jonathan Moss Assistants: E Smart, A Halliday Fourth Official: M Jones
Odds: City 1/5, Draw 6/1, Hull 12/1
Tickets: On sale via www.mcfc.co.uk
TV: Match of the Day (highlights)
Manchester City
Manager: Pep Guardiola
Squad (from): Bravo, Caballero, Gunn, Adarabioyo, Clichy, Kolarov, Kompany, Otamendi, Stones, Zabaleta, De Bruyne, Delph, Fernandinho, Fernando, Garcia, Navas, Nolito, Sane, Silva, Sterling, Toure, Aguero, Iheanacho
Injured: Jesus, Gundogan, Sagna
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Form guide: DWLDDL
Hull City
Manager: Marco Silva
Squad (from): Jakupovic, Mannion, Marshall, Davies, Dawson, Robertson, Lenihan, Tymon, Meyler, Clucas, Maloney, Hernandez, Diomande, Olley, Luer, Hinchcliffe, Bowen, Evandro, Niasse, Markovic, Ranocchia, N'Diaye, Grosicki
Injured: Maguire, Elabdellaoui, Mbokani, Mason, Keane, Odubajo
Doubtful: Hernandez
Suspended: Huddlestone
Form guide: DLWLWW
Vincent Kompany and Fabian Delph will be assessed ahead of the visit of Hull, after they each played the full ninety minutes at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night. Both players impressed on theur return to the first team, and manager Pep Guardiola was effusive in his praise at today's press conference.
“We are going to train this afternoon and see if people are okay,” he said.
“Both of them played good. Fabian was excellent and maybe deserves more minutes than he had.
“Vincent the problem was he was injured all the time and, of course, he was ready for the last two, three weeks.
“I am happy for both of them because they deserve to play. I am always happy when I can give minutes to players who haven’t played too much. Their performance was outstanding.
Guardiola, meanwhile, is wary of the threat posed by Marco Silva's Hull side, and warned his players against any complacency:
“I know this manager when he was in Greece [with Olympiacos] and playing Champions League football and I was in Bayern Munich,” he said.
“He is making an outstanding job because it was absolutely at the bottom and he make some great results.
“I like the way they play. I liked the way they played when we were there and now they have players with a lot of talent in the way they want to play. It’s offensive, not just long balls.
“They play with a lot of quality and that’s why they are there
City's last home game against Hull ended in a 4-1 victory, with Wilfried Bony, Kelechi Iheanacho and Kevin De Bruyne (2) on the scoresheet for City. Overall City have won 15 of the 29 games played against Hull, with 8 draws and 6 defeats.
Predicted line-up: Caballero, Zabaleta, Stones, Kompany, Kolarov, Delph, Silva, De Bruyne, Sterling, Sane, Aguero
Score prediction: City 2 Hull 1