Intro:

Hull City manager Steve Bruce talks about the relegation battle ahead of his side's match against Liverpool.

Script:

SOUNDBITE (English) Steve Bruce, Hull City manager:

"Well, I mean I've always said that I think it's your home form... if you're going to stay in this division I've said all along that your home form's going to be imperative. It kept us in the division last year. It's so difficult for any Premier League team to win away from home - and that's why we're at the bottom end of the table - we find that very difficult. So you hope that your home form can stack up, and certainly since Christmas anyway, it has stacked up. We hope that we can win a couple of games. It looks as if we need a couple of results... But we've give(n) ourselves a great chance. We're in a better place than we were 48 hours ago. But that's all we're in. We're still right in the thick of it, still got it all to do. But it gives a little bit of confidence back to the team, and reminds them that we've got some good players here.
"The one thing you're going to have to do is play well. When you play against a Liverpool, or a big team, then you're going to have to play well and defend well. And we've defended really, really well against pace. At Crystal Palace at the weekend we did it fantastically well. So let's hope we can have a little bit more of the same. And of course, at the other end you've got to be a threat. We've done that before against Liverpool, and let's hope we can play to that level which we played at the weekend. And if we play to that level and we're not quite good enough, then you accept that. But we're quietly confident that we can... you know, starting with Liverpool... we can get enough points at home here to make sure we stay in this league - and I think that's going to be critical."