Two clubs in the top half of the Premier League table will do battle today in a league match between Aston Villa and Hull City. The first-division clash scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET will be held at Villa Park in Birmingham and can be live streamed here free.

Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert had this to offer ahead of today's league encounter (via Goal): "I couldn't ask the lads for any more [after that scoreless draw against Newcastle last Saturday], but bearing in mind, we've got [Christian] Benteke to come back, [Libor] Kozak to come back. I'm pretty sure if one of them was there, we'd have got at least a couple of goals."

"Christian should start training after the international break and we'll see how he is," he added. "I think Cissokho was outstanding and he was that good, they had to put [Moussa] Sissoko back to stop him."

Tactical Preview

Player to Watch: Hull City's Curtis Davies has been the club's stalwart defender in two appearances this season. The 29-year-old enters today averaging a staggering 11 clearances per match in addition to two tackles and two interceptions.

Aston Villa's Projected Lineup (4-3-3): Guzan; Cissokho, Senderos, Vlaar, Hutton; Delph, Sanchez, Westwood; Richardson, Agbonlahor, N'Zogbia

Hull City's Projected Lineup (4-4-1-1): McGregor; Robertson, McShane, Davies, Rosenior; Quinn, Livermore, Huddlestone, Elmohamad; Ince, Jelavic

Note: Credit all statistics to officially licensed data from Opta Sports (statistics and lineups via WhoScored).

Standings

RnkTeamMPWDLGFGA+/-Pts
1Chelsea330011479
2Swansea City33006159
3Tottenham Hotspur22005056
4Manchester City32015236
5Arsenal21104314
5Southampton31114314
7Hull City21102114
8Aston Villa21101014
9Stoke City31112204
10West Ham United310245-13
11Liverpool210134-13
12Queens Park Rangers310215-43
13Sunderland302134-12
14Manchester United302123-12
15Newcastle United302135-22
16Everton3021710-32
17West Bromwich Albion302125-32
18Leicester City201124-21
19Crystal Palace301258-31
20Burnley301214-31