IN-DEPTH STATS: Hull vs Aston Villa

Hull vs Aston Villa 15:00

– A disputed penalty from Robbie Brady gave Hull a 1-0 victory over West Ham last weekend in a result which propelled them to 7th in the Premier League.

– Despite pulling off the win last weekend, it was a mark of how hard Hull were made to work for the victory that Allan McGregor made the joint highest number of saves of any stopper in the league last weekend with 5.

– Curtis Davies has shone at the back so far Hull this season, and has even over-taken Southampton’s Jose Fonte to now lead the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index for total defensive contributions this term (block, clearance, interception, tackles won) with 89.

– On the subject of defense, midfielder Ahmed Elmohamady boasts some of the best tackle statistics of any player in the league. He’s successfully completed an excellent 90.9% of his 11 attempted challenges so far this season.

– Steve Bruce must be bracing himself for several potential bids for Sone Aluko when the next transfer window rolls around, such has been the forward’s form this campaign. He leads the Hull squad for attacking contributions (shots on goal, dribbles, assists, crosses) with 25 according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index. Aluko is 3/1 with 888sport.com to score at any time this weekend.

– Aston Villa provided one of the upsets of the season so far as Andreas Weimann’s 75th minute goal gave his side a quite remarkable 3-2 win over Manchester City. In a first half where their opponent’s found themselves on top for large periods, and even after conceding twice, Villa showed tremendous spirit to fight back for deserved, if surprising, victory.

– Although noted for his talent for being on the receiving end of assists, Gabriel Agbonlahor is apparently now equally comfortable in playing the role of provider. He sits second on the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index for assists with 3 to his name already this season. Agbonlahor is an industry best 37/13 to do what he does best this weekend though and get himself on the scoresheet with 888sport.com.

– Fabian Delph’s form this season continues to be nothing less than outstanding in all areas of his game. He has racked up the highest number of defensive contributions (blocks, clearances, tackles won, interceptions) of any player to have completed 10 or more dribbles (15).

– Paul Lambert must be very pleased with the current defensive form of Karim El Ahmadi, the midfielder racking up an impressive tackles success rate of 83.3% from 30 attempted challenges so far this season according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.

– Despite the fact that his side managed to put 3 goals past Man City last time out, Lambert will also undoubtedly be keen for star striker Christian Benteke to make his return from injury sooner rather than later. At present, no other Villa player has a shot accuracy rate of greater than 50% except for the powerful Belgian, who boasts a 77.8% on-target rate from 9 attempts on goal.