STAR PREVIEW: Hull v Leicester
[dropcap]D[/dropcap]ay of days…. the Premier League is back.
Back exactly to where we ended to be precise, with Leicester City beginning the defence of their title at 12.30pm with a trip to Hull City. A vastly contrasting tale of two Cities.
I really fancied Leicester this time 12 months ago to go on and win the title……….. er, of course I didn’t – even Leicester didn’t fancy Leicester.
Their success has been a breath of fresh air and will ensure EVERY side starts the new campaign with a spring in their steps, on the pitch at least, even if respective bank balances destroy the equilibrium.
Luke Tarr from Star Sports has been previewing the start of the new season with his excellent video blogs each day CLICK HERE – he is forecasting that Hull will finish the season in 18th. I think he might be being generous. For me, it is no coincidence that Hull rhymes with dull.
The last four matches between these two have produced an AGGREGATE score of, wait for it….
Leicester 2 – Hull 1
Three goals in 360 minutes, or one goal in every two hours of play. However you stack it up, it really has been that bad. Or as Luke put it…. “there is no more sombre place than Hull in the Premier League at the moment.”
Not helped of course by the fact that they are manager-less since Steve Bruce left in July and will be led out by caretaker boss Mike Phelan. Hull have also so far been inactive in the transfer market and Phelan reportedly could only have 13 senior players to choose from.
Phelan said: “It’s a small squad, but small squads before have worked well together. There definitely need to be additions to this football club. At the moment it is all purely picking up the phones, trying to find the targets – new targets because people we went for earlier in the pre-season have now moved on and gone to other clubs.”
He added: ”We have to start again, I know it’s a short window, the pressure is on now to do some business.”
Hull finished behind Brighton in the Championship last season but gained a priceless Premier League spot courtesy of the play-off final at Wembley where they beat Sheffield Wednesday, 1-0, thanks to a Mohamed Diame 72nd minute strike.
In contrast to the Hull mess, Leicester’s manager Claudio Ranieri has a fully fit squad to choose from and I can only see this going one way.
Hull City v Leicester City
Premier League
12:30 Sky Sports 1 / Sky Sports 1 HD / Sky Sports Ultra HD
HEAD TO HEAD RECORD
(Maximum 10 matches)
Oct 2015 CAPITAL ONE CUP Hull 1 – 1 Leicester
Mar 2015 PREMIER LEAGUE Leicester 0 – 0 Hull
Dec 2014 PREMIER LEAGUE Hull 0 – 1 Leicester
Dec 2012 CHAMPIONSHIP Hull 0 – 0 Leicester
Sep 2012 CHAMPIONSHIP Leicester 3 – 1 Hull
Mar 2012 CHAMPIONSHIP Leicester 2 – 1 Hull
Dec 2011 CHAMPIONSHIP Hull 2 – 1 Leicester
Jan 2011 CHAMPIONSHIP Hull 0 – 1 Leicester
Oct 2010 CHAMPIONSHIP Leicester 1 – 1 Hull
Mar 2008 CHAMPIONSHIP Leicester 0 – 2 Hull
Leicester to be winning at both HT and FT can be backed at 9/4 (boosted from 15/8) with Star Sports and will do very nicely for me.
At lunchtime Leicester will be leading the Premier League. A case of same old, same old.
RECOMMENDED BETS (scale of 1-100 points)
BACK LEICESTER / LEICESTER HT/FT 12 points at 9/4 with Star Sports
PROFIT/LOSS SINCE EUROS: +55.50 points