Chelsea's Deco (left) and Livepool's Javier Mascherano battle for the ball during their English Premier League soccer match at Stamford Bridge, London, on Sunday. Liverpool won the match 1-0. - AP

LONDON (AP):

Hull's amazing start to its first season in the top flight of English football could reach new heights today with a victory over Chelsea.

Four away victories, including one at Arsenal, have lifted the Tigers to third in the Premier League and level on points with Chelsea. Only Liverpool are above them both.

Rated a firm favourite for relegation at the start of the season, Hull have defied the critics, under manager Phil Brown, who was little known before the Tigers won promotion through the League Championship play-offs.

Huge impact

Brown's collection of comparative journeymen have made a huge impact to sit proudly alongside Chelsea and the other traditional title contenders, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United, who also are in action in today's nine Premier League games.

Brazilian attacking midfielder Geovanni, a former Barcelona and Benfica player who moved to the Tigers on a free transfer from Manchester City, has scored four goals, including long-range strikes in victories at Arsenal and Tottenham.

Despite Hull's dream start, Geovanni is not looking too far ahead.

"I always think about things game to game. We need to be very careful and not allow ourselves to get carried away by the euphoria because there are very difficult games coming up," he said ahead of today's home match.

The fight

Leaders Liverpool, which hold a three-point advantage after ending Chelsea's 86-game unbeaten league record with a 1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, host Portsmouth, which lost manager Harry Redknapp to Tottenham on Monday.

Pompey wasted no time in promoting former England captain Tony Adams from assistant manager to the top job yesterday and a visit to Anfield is one of the toughest debuts imaginable.

Redknapp won his first game in charge of Spurs - a 2-0 victory over Bolton on Sunday - and now goes to neighbour Arsenal hoping to win there for the first time in the league since May 1993.

"It's a tough task, going to the Emirates is difficult," Redknapp said yesterday. "They're a fantastic team and they pass superbly. But we passed brilliantly on Sunday. (Luka) Modric, (Tom) Huddlestone, (Jermaine) Jenas - they all kept hold of the ball great."

Fifth-place Aston Villa hope to stay in touch with the pacesetters by beating Blackburn at home and Manchester United, stuck in sixth after being held 1-1 by Everton, need to beat West Ham at home.

Today's other games are Bolton vs Everton, Fulham vs Wigan, Middlesbrough vs Manchester City and Stoke vs Sunderland.