Manchester City will try to continue their recent revival with a third consecutive win when they visit Hull City at the KCOM Stadium on Boxing Day. The two sides have met in the League Cup last season and Manchester City secured a comfortable 4-1 victory. The season before, when Hull got relegated, the Tigers clinched a surprising 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium after a 4-2 loss at home.
Hull are at the bottom of the table, as many had expected at the start of the season, but they are not as weak as some might have predicted. They have not won a league match since the start of November and then lost four of the following five games. Manager Mike Phelan still has a long list of injured players, but Ryan Mason should be able to return into the starting line-up.
Manchester City have bounced back after consecutive defeats against Chelsea and Leicester and secured good wins over Watford and Arsenal, moving into third place and seven points behind leaders Chelsea. Their defence seems to be struggling as they conceded no less than seven goals in those two defeats, but they have scored at least one goal in all their last eleven matches in all competitions. Sergio Aguero is still suspended, while Vincent Kompany and Ilkay Gundogan are unavailable through injury.
Probable line-ups:
Hull: Marshall - Maguire, Dawson, Davies - Elmohamady, Livermore, Huddlestone, Clucas, Robertson - Snodgrass - Mbokani
Man City: Bravo - Zabaleta, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov - Fernandinho - Sane, Toure, Silva, De Bruyne - Sterling
My prediction: Manchester City to win 3-1.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Hull win - 10.00
Draw - 5.50
Man City win - 1.30
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