Hull City vs. Manchester City: Date, Time, Live Stream, TV Info and Preview

It's last year's champions against a club that finished just four points clear of relegation last season. It's the budget of a small country against the budget of a relatively small club. It's Champions League versus Europa League qualification due to a technicality. 

It's Manchester City vs. Hull City. Let's break it down.

When: Saturday, September 27 at 10 a.m. ET/3 p.m. BST

Where: KC Stadium, Kingston upon Hull, England

Watch: Premier League Extra Time; NBC Sports Live Extra

Preview

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Manchester City are probably a bit relieved to face Hull City. That's not an insult to Hull, of course, but when you've opened your season with matches against Arsenal (one loss, one draw), Liverpool (win), Bayern Munich (loss) and Chelsea (draw), well, Hull popping up on the fixtures list may not be a walk in the park, but on paper it should be a win. 

Well, unless Manuel Pellegrini isn't done sniping at Jose Mourinho. The normally composed manager is the latest to join in a war of words with his Chelsea counterpart, though more recently he was focused on the club's 7-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday midweek in the Capital One Cup and what that might mean going forward.

His comments, via Sky Sports:

"

We were not playing bad but we were not winning, and it was important to win in the way we did. I hope this can continue in the future, especially tomorrow against Hull because in the Premier League we cannot drop many points.

For all the teams, it is not good to drop points near the beginning because finally you could win or lose the Premier League by just one point. But for the moment, I think we are not worried.

"

One thing he might be just a bit worried about is the form of Yaya Toure in league play, where according to WhoScored.com he's earned just a 6.78 average match rating and has yet to score a goal or register an assist. How many times do City need to wish him a happy birthday?

Toure was the best player in the Premier League not named Luis Suarez last season, so his form to open the season has been somewhat worrisome. Barney Ronay of The Guardian aptly described his performance against Chelsea last weekend:

"

...One of the main issues in City’s recent run of middling results, Yaya Toure's strangely flat, strangely absent run of form, was only partially answered.

Manuel Pellegrini’s thick blue line was hardly outplayed here, but at times the champions simply looked short of devil, a high-pressure unit without the change of pace, that sudden spike of incision; which was once, of course, Toure’s own speciality.

Ah, Yaya. City’s midfield colossus did not have a bad game. In many ways this was even a return to form. His passing was crisp in the first half and he had as many touches as any other central player. If there was a slight lack of spark then there was undoubtedly a little more presence from Toure, for whom an absent performance in Munich added to a general sense of low-throttle coasting—Toure hasn’t scored a goal for City since April—and some slightly gleeful revisionism too. 

"

A goal midweek (though from the spot and not the run of play) surely helped, too. Against Hull City, the Citizens would surely love to get him back on track once and for all.

Hull City have been defined by just how, well, average they've been this season. They're 10th on the table, they have a win, a loss and three draws and they've scored seven goals and allowed seven more. If they were a baseball player, they'd be hitting .270. If they were a quarterback, they'd be Alex Smith. 

Hey, whatever works, right?

The key for Hull in this one will be remaining defensively organized and relying on players like Abel Hernandez and Nikica Jelavic to provide some magic on the counter. Even at home, winning this one is a long shot.

Prediction

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City needs a win in this game, and they'd probably like a convincing one. Beating up on Sheffield Wednesday doesn't count. The Citizens have had a brutal open to the season, but they also haven't looked as dangerous as last year's side. It's hard to repeat as champions, sure, but with Chelsea looking like the team to beat already, City can't fall too far behind.

For Hull, latching on to a point and holding on to it for dear life is essentially the game plan. Maybe they can catch a lax City off guard. Maybe the home supporters will inspire them to victory. More than likely, however, a City side that knows it needs every last point will hold on to the victory.

City take this one, 2-0.