Palace v Hull City

Selhurst Park, Saturday 3.00pm

Story so far

Hull City are looking alright at the moment - not quite consistant enough to be challenging for a top 6 spot, but not quite as inconsistant as Palace.

During the summer, Hull had a change at the top of the hierarchy with Adam Pearson, who had already ploughed millions into the club, selling up and resigning from the board.

He claimed that he had done all he could for Hull and they needed someone who could invest a significant amount of money into the club.

The board now expect Hull to challenge for a top half finish, and to compete for a play off position next season.

Team news

Striker James Scowcroft is the latest Palace player to join the injured list as the ex-Coventry man has a thigh injury.

It means Clinton Morrison is set to be re-called to the first 11 as veteran forward Dougie Freedman still has a hip problem.

Ben Watson is also set to start after having to settle for a bench place in the midweek defeat at Plymouth. He may replace Matt Lawrence with Dany Butterfield keeping his slot at right-back.

Mark Kennedy (thigh) and Paul Ifill (hamstring) plus Victor Moses (thigh) are still absent.

For Hull, Ian Ashbee is baned, while Jay-Jay Okocha, Andy Dawson and Caleb Folan are all doubts with various knocks.

Hull manager Phil Brown hopes to get in Middlesbrough defender Andrew Davies to bolster his squad.

Quotes

Peter Taylor said: "If we don't get a result, I know that the position we'll be in will not be good enough. Even if we do win, I know that won't be good enough either because two wins so far this season is not what I wanted.

"It's a results business and I know that. It doesn't matter how you are performing, if you're not getting results you will be under pressure.

"People have asked me if it's even more important as tomorrow's game is against Hull but it doesn't matter who it's against, we need to win.

"Crystal Palace are expected to be higher up the table and the fact we're not means we're under pressure.

"But I'm confident we've got the players with the experience to stick together and handle the pressure."

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Hull City - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
13th	9	3	2	4	11

Full league table

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Hull City - current form

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
5	2	0	3	5	8

Full form table

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Our home record v Hull City

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
20	7	6	7	27	23

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Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
20/01/2007	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 1	Hull City
30/09/2006	League	Hull City	1 - 1	Crystal Palace
14/01/2006	League	Hull City	1 - 2	Crystal Palace
10/09/2005	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 0	Hull City
30/09/1997	League Cup	Crystal Palace	2 - 1	Hull City

All time results

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One to watch

Jay-Jay Okocha

Who would have thought that we'd see Jay^2 Okocha at Selhurst whilst we are in the Championship? What makes it slightly stranger is that he is playing for Hull.

The former Paris St Germain and Bolton star has the passing ability and creativity to rip teams to pieces.

Hull don't have the best strikeforce in the league, but Okocha can even provide the perfect throughball for Dean Windass to run onto - and Windass running onto a ball isn't something you're likely to see very often.

Ref watch

R J Beeby

Last meeting

Palace 1-1 Hull City

Saturday January 20 2007

Palace: Flinders, Lawrence, Hudson, Ward, Cort, McAnuff, Fletcher, Green (Ifill, 62), Kennedy (Morrison, 83), Freedman (Soares, 70), Kuqi

Subs not used: Kiraly, Butterfield

Goals: Fletcher 51

Hull City: Myhill, Dawson, Delaney, Turner, Ricketts, Marney, Ashbee, France (Elliott, 82), Forster, McPhee (Windass, 37), Parkin

Subs not used: Duke, Coles, Duffy

Yellow Cards: McPhee, Turner

Goals: Ashbee 72

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