Compelling Soccer

Liverpool v. Hull City

Liverpool 12 points, 3rd in the Premiership
Hull City 4 points, 19th in the Premiership

Stakes: Liverpool is rolling; since dropping two of the first three, Liverpool has won three straight Premiership games and five straight overall. Hull City comes in having dropped two straight home games. It's early, but Hull City could use road points to get themselves out of the relegation zone. Hull's at the bottom of the table, tied with 4 teams for the 16-19 spots. Hull's lousy goal differential (-8) drops them down to 19th. Liverpool needs to beat up teams like this to get truly back into the Premiership title battle. Hull needs to steal points from teams like this to make up for losses at home to teams like Birmingham City.

Thoughts on the Opposing Side: My interest in Hull City is entirely based around the development of one Josimer Altidore. American fans love to rank on manager Phil Brown, but he's been true to his word in giving Altidore time and Jozy seems to be acclimating to the English game well. He could have a very interesting match up against a suddenly struggling Jamie Carragher, who struggled with the speed of Zevon Hines and the size of Charlton Cole in last week's game against West Ham United. Altidore possesses both size and speed, though it is raw. He could cause lots of problems for the Liverpool back line.

Questions I Have: As mentioned, how does the Liverpool center backs, namely Carragher but to a lesser degree Martin Skrtel, handle Altidore? The answer to that could well decide whether this game is an easy win like Burnley or a nail biter like West Ham.

I'll also be trying to watch two games at once; the US Under 20 World Cup team is playing. My focus will be on the Liverpool game since it interests me more, but I'll see how much of both I can absorb.

Will I Be Watching: Barring my cable going out, I plan on it.

Expectations: Hull City's down in the relegation zone. Even if they're better than that, they should not be able to walk into Anfield and pick up a point, let alone three. Liverpool showed Burnley what playing a top draw side on the road entails a few weeks back. One would think Hull gets a similar lesson today.