Bristol City chief Nigel Pearson's verdict on Hull City and Shota Arveladze

Bristol City's former Hull City boss Nigel Pearson believes his side will be coming up a much stronger Tigers side on Saturday, compared to the one they met when Grant McCann was in charge earlier this season.

The pair shared a 2-2 draw at the MKM Stadium in early December in what proved to the final game of the Tigers' resurgent six-game unbeaten run under McCann, who then lost his job the following month following Acun Ilicali's £30m takeover of the Championship club.

Away from home, the Tigers have been in fine form under Arveladze, winning three on the spin before succumbing to defeat at Millwall on Easter Monday, a result which ended a seven-game unbeaten run on the road, and within that, Shota Arveladze's men have been difficult to break down., something Pearson is acutely aware of as he prepares for the Robins final Ashton Gate outing of the campaign.

Victory for the East Yorkshire outfit would also see them leapfrog Pearson's men into 17th with one game apiece to play, before the curtain comes down on a fascinating campaign for the Tigers.

"We want to beat Hull because they're below us," Pearson said. "We can't make a lot of headway up the league in terms of positional but we can try and accumulate as many points as possible, so that's the target for the rest of the season. A win would be nice. The win would be something which people would enjoy, but I'm no fool.

"Since the new guy has been in there. Seven games, seven goals conceded. They've been a lot tighter, they want to win the game for their own reasons. It's not players' swansong or players' chance to say goodbye to everyone for the season in a flamboyant way. First and foremost, we go out there and try to win the game.

"I don't care what stage of the