PREMIER LEAGUE
WEST HAM V HULL ko 3pm

Hull City's key man, Jimmy Bullard may start in Saturdays six pointer. The midfielder damaged his left knee in City's defeat by Aston Villa on December 5 and limped off the field in tears.

The blow came less than two months after he had returned to action following surgery to his right knee which kept him out for nearly 10 months.

"Jimmy in his own head needs one or two games, not full games necessarily, and a little bit of contact from opposition," said Brown.

"Probably on Saturday he might play some part in terms of the bench but he won't be ready to start. Then we've got a game against Wigan in the reserves next Tuesday and we've arranged a game over in Ireland and again that will be earmarked for Jimmy.

"Jimmy's raring to go and it's just managing that situation. We did it very successfully last time.

"It's piecing that jigsaw together and making sure when he crosses the white line in his first game back that he's ready not just to play but to grab a hold of the game in that fashion that only Jimmy Bullard can do."

And Brown is confident the former Fulham midfielder's natural exuberance on the park will not be affected by yet another serious injury.

"The knee is not 100% but it's getting somewhere near," Brown explained. "It's a new reference point because it's a completely fresh injury on a different leg.

"Jimmy's feeling confident about it, the twisting and turning that he's done, and now a lot of work with the ball. If you can control the ball and control the game like Jimmy does, then the confidence follows.

"Psychology plays its part in any recovery and Jimmy has had a whole host of injuries that he's come back from. So that suggests to me that psychologically Jimmy is very strong.

"He's relishing the challenge. He had that challenge at Fulham, they were in dire straits and he came back in and arrested it. He gets players playing."

Looking at the game, Brown reflected, "It was a place(West Ham) last year where we went and let ourselves down," said the Tigers boss. "It was also a bad night for us with regards to Jimmy Bullard but it's up to us now to put that right."

We believe Hull are much better equipped than the Hammers, provided they get Bullard back, to avoid the drop. We still need convincing Zola has the full backing of the board and the players. They got a vital win over Birmingham last time. Both sides have not played for two weeks, and can have no excuses on that score.

Hull look over priced to get a vital away win at 4s with several firms. You would have to be mad to back a side that concede goals like West ham do at odds-on.

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Published 19-02-2010

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