Palace v Hull City

Selhurst Park, Saturday 3.00pm

Story so far

This sesaon for Hull has almost been Palace-like. After Simon Jordan and Iain Dowie parted company at the beginning of the season, Jordan pounced for the then Tigers boss Peter Taylor.

Hull then swooped in for the highly-rated manager, Phil Parkinson, who guided Colchester to the Championship via the League One second automatic promotion spot.

Hull only managed four wins from the start of the season until the end of November and the Tigers found themselves languishing in the relegation zone, four points from safety. Parkinson departed from the club following a 5-1 thrashing away at his former club Colchester.

Phil Brown, brought into the club as first team coach in October, was handed to caretaker reigns whilst Dowie turned down the chance to return to management at the KC Stadium.

Since Brown took over at the helm at the beginning of December, Hull have managed to equal Parkinson's win record and pulled themselves out of the bottom three with a four-point gap seperating them from the third relegation spot.

Team news

Ifill, who signed from Sheffield Utd last week, made his debut as a sub in Saturday's win at Coventry.

But the 27-year-old is set to replace former Hull player Stuart Green on the right flank.

Gabor Kiraly is back from is loan spell at Aston Villa and will start on the bench with Scott Flinders keeping his place in goal.

Gary Borrowdale (hernia), Marco Reich (arm), Julian Speroni (groin) and Danny Granville (back) are still on the Eagles' treatment table.

New Hull loan signing Dean Windass is in the squad and will partner Jon Parkin or Nicky Forster.

David Livermore is suspended and Nick Barmby is out with an ankle injury.

Quotes

Taylor on Hull

"I had three and a half lovely years there and really enjoyed it. I was proud of what I achieved there and I'm delighted that they're picking up now.

"It will be a really tough game for us because they are in good form and I know the players inside-out and they're a very determined bunch.

"For them to go out of the bottom three recently, they will kick on from that and I hope we give them a load more problems on Saturday but I'm confident they will stay up.

"We know from our own situation that when you get a few results, you get some togetherness and the players there are an honest bunch who will not want to see their team get relegated."

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Hull City - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
21st	28	8	6	14	30

Full league table

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Hull City - current form

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
5	3	1	1	10	7

Full form table

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Our home record v Hull City

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
19	7	5	7	26	22

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Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
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
16/09/1997	League Cup	Hull City	1 - 0	Crystal Palace

All time results

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One to watch

Dean Marney

Marney began his career at Spurs where he pushed himself through the ranks from acadamy lad to first team pro.

The London born lad has had a few stints on loan to Football League teams in his bid to impress at White Hart Lane.

Marney took part in a 5-2 rout over Everton, putting in an outstanding display in his first appearance under manager Martin Jol. Jol went on to describe the attacking midfielder as a 'complete player'.

At the beginning of last season, the 22 year old went on loan to Norwich in a bid to prove his worth to Spurs. However, injury ruined that plan and the attacking midfielder returned to Spurs reserves in a bid to return to fitness.

Marney struggled for form early on in the season, but Brown appears to be getting the best out of Dean's attacking skills. Taylor knows all about Marney's ability when he selected him for the England U21s.

Probable line-up

	Kuqi	Freedman
McAnuff	Kennedy	Fletcher	Ifill
Lawrence	Cort	Ward	Hudson
Flinders

Ref watch

Mr C Penton.

Last meeting

Hull City 1-1 Palace

Saturday September 30 2006

Hull City: Myhill, Thelwell (France, 71 ), Turner, Danny Mills, Dawson, Fagan, Ashbee, Marney, Yeates, Parkin, Bridges (Forster, 71)

Subs not used: Duke, Coles, Welsh

Yellow Cards: Fagan

Goals: Turner 90

Palace: Kiraly, Lawrence, Ward, Cort, Borrowdale, Scowcroft, Watson, Kennedy, McAnuff, Morrison (Green, 45), Kuqi (Freedman, 77)

Subs not used: Speroni, Hudson, Hughes

Yellow Cards: Morrison

Goals: Cort 57

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