Stoke City v Hull City: Tigers set to keep pressing Hammers

The Tigers breathed new life into their season last week with a victory over Fulham that dramatically altered the relegation picture.

Not only did the 2-0 triumph over Roy Hodgson's men banish the memory of the devastating manner of their last-gasp defeat at Portsmouth the previous week, it also brought City level on points with fourth-bottom West Ham.

Judging by their complaint to the Premier League this week over the Cottagers fielding a weakened team at the KC Stadium, the Hammers are feeling the pressure and Fagan insists that is something Hull can seize upon. He said: "The situation West Ham are in takes the pressure off us. They are a massive club and people are aiming attention at them because of that.

"That is good for us because it lets us get on with our business and, hopefully, get ourselves out of it.

"A lot of people will have been counting us out of it and saying we were down not too long ago. To them, it was done and dusted but we know we can surprise a few people. We have the belief we can get out of this. Even after losing to Portsmouth, we still felt we had a chance."

Hull's win over Fulham brought to an end the five-game damaging run that had badly dented hopes of survival.

Four of those came under previous manager Phil Brown and Fagan believes the arrival of Iain Dowie midway through last month could prove to be the turning moment of the season.

He said: "The manager has been very positive and you can tell that he is enthusiastic about managing again.

"That attitude has been passed on to the lads and every day training has been exciting. Maybe that freshness was what we needed.

"I am not going to dig anyone out and say it had gone stagnant, but a new manager always brings a new face and new ideas.

"The sessions are fitness based so it is not something that bothers me. I can understand why some lads might have said it is a shock to the system, though."

Dowie was one of five names on City's shortlist to replace Brown along with Mark Hughes, Gary Megson, Terry Venables and Alan Curbishley.

With many fans preferring Hughes or Curbishley, it meant his appointment did not prove universally popular.

Fagan, however, insists those who were underwhelmed by Dowie's arrival may have started to change their minds after his first two games in charge.

He said: "Everyone has their own opinions in football and they are entitled to them. But maybe they should wait until the end of the season.

"I think there will be a few opinions that have changed by then. We saw the start of that last weekend (against Fulham) when we played some good stuff.

"The last two weeks have brought us all together looking to prove people wrong again.

"The manager spends a lot of time out on the training pitch with us. You will also find him taking a session on his own on an afternoon, that is not something I have seen in a while. You want to be out there training and there is no hiding place from his enthusiasm, it has lifted the whole place."

With West Ham in action at Everton tomorrow, Hull will move out of the relegation zone today if they avoid defeat.

It means, however, that City will have to improve on a wretched record on the road that has seen the club fail to win in 21 games and collect just four points this season.

Fagan said: "It is difficult to put your finger on it. We don't go away from home thinking we are going to lose the game.

"It was the opposite way round last season so it is strange how it can work out.

"We know that we have to improve our away form, we wouldn't be in this situation now if we had have just picked up a couple of wins away from home.

"Our home form has been tremendous and kept us in with a shout but we can't afford to rely on that. We need to win games away from home to make it a lot easier on ourselves, we can't be pinning all our hopes on four home games.

"At Stoke, a point would be a good point and would bring a lot of teams back in it around us.

"There are teams above us who thought they might have been out of it a week ago but even the teams on 35 points are looking over their shoulders now."