Coming off a win in his return to the Stadium of Light, Steve Bruce looks to take 11th place Hull City Tigers into the league’s top half when they host Southampton at the KC Stadium. The action kicks off at 2:45 p.m. ET, with the game available for streaming via NBC Sports Live Extra.
Despite returning home, Hull will find today’s game much more difficult than Saturday’s, with the Saints defense unlikely to bless the Tigers with a third minute red card as Wes Brown did at Sunderland. Instead, Bruce will have to stall a Southampton side that’s unbeaten since Jan. 1 – a five-game streak that’s allowed the team to pull within one point of eighth place Newcastle.
That five game streak has featured three draws, however, with the Saints giving up two leads this weekend when Stoke visited St. Mary’s. Despite first half goals from Ricky Lambert and Steve Davis, Mauricio Pochettino’s men were left with only one point after former Southampton striker Peter Crouch equalized just before halftime.
WATCH LIVE ONLINE VIA NBC SPORTS LIVE EXTRA
Having only scored 25 goals this season (in 25 games), Hull will find it difficult to match Stoke’s output, with their two-goal effort at Sunderland marking their first multi-goal game since routing Fulham 6-0 on December 28. Given the Tigers gave up four to Southampton in the teams’ first meeting of the season, Bruce faces significant challenges at both ends of the park.
He’ll meet those obstacles without wingback Liam Rosenior, who will miss today’s match with a thigh problem. Starting goalkeeper Allan McGregor will join him on the sidelines as he continues a red card suspension.
For Southampton, Dejan Lovren and Gaston Ramirez are expected to be out with ankle injuries.
LINEUPS
Hull City: Harper; McShane, Figueroa, Bruce, Davies; Elmohamady, Huddlestone, Livermore, Meyler; Long, Jelavic
Subs: Aluko, Brady, Koren, Jakupovic, Boyd, Sagbo, Quinn
Southampton: Boruc; Chambers, Yoshida, Fonte, Shaw; Schneiderlein, Cork; Lallana, S. Davis, Rodriguez; Lambert
Subs: Clyne, K. Davis, Wanyama, Ward-Prowse, Guly, Hooiveld, Isgrove