Coventry City v Hull City: Key stats and talking points

A first top-flight meeting between Coventry City and Hull City becomes the 1,454th different fixture to be played in England's top division and the 942nd since the Premier League was formed. BBC Sport takes a look at some of the key themes going into Saturday's match. These newly promoted sides face each other having had contrasting fortunes from tough assignments on their Premier League comebacks. Having been roundly tipped to make an immediate return to the Championship, Hull City were in dreamland after confounding their critics as the Tigers tore into Manchester United . The doom-laden pre-season predictions had irked everyone at the club, with head coach Sergej Jakirovic calling it "disrespect", so a 2-0 victory over the 13-time Premier League champions will have tasted particularly sweet. "We are trying to prove people wrong," he said afterwards. "I know there are 37 games to go, but this is a good base for the future. "We showed last season we are mentally very strong and that we can compete against everyone - maybe that is the key. This victory is amazing because now they are convinced they can compete at this level." His assistant, Dean Holden, revealed after the game that they had been planning for weeks to play a back three to target weaknesses they had spotted studying Manchester United's matches in pre-season. Victory was achieved despite having just 28% possession and similar low figures are set to become the norm for Hull this season. "We are comfortable without the ball," Holden said. "It isn't like we are coming up here having dominated the Championship and now we have to change our style. We are comfortable in a mid-block - that is one of our biggest strengths - and playing on the counter-attack is as well." [BBC] Coventry desperate for points amid tricky start Coventry, of course, cannot be properly judged on their opening match given facing Arsenal is arguably the toughest gig in club football at the moment. In what was a baptism of fire in their first top-flight game for 25 years, they found themselves two goals down and on the ropes at the Emirates after just 23 minutes. To their credit, the Sky Blues didn't cave in, but it was a salutary lesson in the gulf in class between the Championship and the Premier League. [BBC] Their first Premier League home fixture since a 0-0 draw with Bradford City in May 2001 is on paper an much easier test than the facing the Gunners, but that performance by Hull against Manchester United has heaped more pressure on Frank Lampard's side. As defeat for the Sky Blues would leave them six points adrift of their fellow promoted side after just two matches, a far from ideal scenario especially as Opta's calculations rate Coventry's opening schedule as being the toughest of any team. Picking up points at the CBS Arena will be crucial and they boasted the best home record in the Championship last season, amassing 55 points from their 23 games (W17, D4, L2). Lampard will be desperate to improve on a record of just one win in his past 18 top-flight games as a manager, and no clean sheets in his past 17. But he can at least fall back on excellent results against Hull City. Eight matches without defeat versus the Tigers is the best record of his managerial career, while he was also unbeaten against them in six top-flight matches as a player.