Brown braced for run-in

Everton and Arsenal first up in make or break fixture run

By Jamie Casey   Last updated: 5th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Brown braced for run-in

Brown: Relegation fight

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Phil Brown believes the pressure is off his Hull City side in their upcoming two fixtures before a run of crucial games.

The relegation-threatened Tigers travel to Goodison Park to take on in-form Everton on Sunday before hosting Arsenal at the KC Stadium the following weekend.

Brown admits his side are big underdogs in both encounters, but sees the two fixtures as a calm before the storm with a series of relegation six-pointers on the horizon.

"We are 18th in the Premier League, consequently that's the 18th best team or third worst - whatever way you look at it," Brown said on Sky Sports News.

"We understand what's to come. We've got two tough games coming into the final 11 matches - Everton at Goodison Park and Arsenal at the KC Stadium.

"Two games where probably nobody is expecting us to get anything. The pressure is off us to a certain extent.

"But then it comes back on us with a run of games where an awful lot of us, myself included, would expect us to get some points on the board."

Hull head into the game at Goodison on the back of a 3-0 defeat at West Ham but Brown is not accepting defeat to Everton just yet.

He added: "If we can raise our gallop, raise our game, raise our standards - better than what we did at Upton Park - and take what we've got to Goodison and then give Everton a game."