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• Walter proud of 'courageous' Hull after comeback win

  Tim Walter says he is proud of his "courageous" Hull City side after earning his first win in charge, beating Stoke City 3-1.

  Narcis Pelach led the Potters out for the first time on Friday and saw his side take a 1-0 lead through Ben Wilmot into half-time. 

  However, Hull came out fighting in the second half to claim three points for the first time this season.

  Kasey Palmer saw a penalty saved just after the hour mark but turned in the rebound before goals from Regan Slater and an own goal from Wilmot completed their late turnaround.

  It is a win that propels the Tigers from 19th to 13th in the Championship, above Stoke, and Walter believes it has been a long time coming.

  "It's hard to describe because I never had this feeling before. I've never not had a win in five games, so for me, it's a new situation," Walter told Sky Sports.

  "But I also knew the whole time that we can win. Today we did it and that's the reason I'm really proud of my boys. They deserved to win.

  "I'm happy because they always believed they can win and that's important.

  "After conceding the goal, we were better. We were more courageous. We showed more bravery and that's the key to the result."

  Pelach succeeded Steven Schumacher as Stoke's manager following his shock sacking earlier this week, having won two of the five matches under the Englishman at the start of the season.

  Stoke managed 14 shots against Hull, but only two efforts on target, with both of those coming in the first 45 minutes.

  Despite starting with a defeat, Pelach is looking for the positives after such a short time with the squad.

  "It's a pity we couldn't win the game," Pelach told BBC Radio Stoke.

  "We wanted to take the points, but I think the lads tried to put a new style of play in place.

  "But in the second half, we lost control and ran out of energy. We should have pressed more, but we will try to explain this tomorrow and keep working on the defensive style.

  "There is some things to work on mentally and we will do it. We will take the positives, and we will improve."

• San Jose Earthquakes v St. Louis City: Hackworth wary of hosts' 'fight'

  St. Louis City interim head coach John Hackworth says they will treat San Jose Earthquakes with respect as he is wary of their fighting spirit.

  St. Louis sit 13th in the Western Conference, one place above Saturday's opponents, but are 10 points better off than San Jose on 28.

  Their four-match unbeaten streak came to an end last weekend, as they failed to defend their early lead in a 3-1 defeat to Minnesota United.

  Hackworth is still without an away win since stepping into the hot seat, and he expects a big challenge as he attempts to change that weekend.

  "[San Jose] have a lot of consistency, and I've been really impressed by their spirit," Hackworth said.

  "They don't look like a team that should be last in the west right now. They have a lot of fight left in them.

  "They are not a team that we can take lightly, we need to give them our full respect, but focus on us because we believe we are a much better team than our record shows."

  Meanwhile, San Jose returned to MLS after the Leagues Cup with a shock win over Real Salt Lake but are winless in three since.

  They snatched a late 2-2 draw against Seattle Sounders on Wednesday, and interim head coach Ian Russell is targeting a strong finish to the season.

  "We always come out and plan to try and push the game," Russell said. "As a coach, I want to be on the front foot and I want to attack, but you have to understand that being pressed is part of it.

  "But you also have to hurt them as well. We always want to start fast. We've never had a gameplan where we're set up to absorb pressure, that's not part of it."

  PLAYERS TO WATCH

  San Jose Earthquakes – Cristian Espinoza

  Cristian Espinoza delivered his 11th and 12th assists of the regular season on Wednesday against Seattle Sounders.

  This is Espinoza's fourth regular season with more than 10 assists for San Jose (also 2019, 2022, 2023), with no other player in team history having more than two such seasons.

  St. Louis City – Cedric Teuchert

  Cedric Teuchert's fourth-minute goal for St. Louis on Saturday was the club’s sixth goal in the opening five minutes of matches.

  The only team with more goals in the first five minutes of matches since St. Louis City joined MLS in 2023 is the Vancouver Whitecaps (seven).

  MATCH PREDICTION: ST. LOUIS CITY WIN

  St. Louis have won all three meetings with San Jose, outscoring them 7-1 over the three games. The Earthquakes are the only team St. Louis have faced more than once and won every match.

  However, St. Louis are winless in 17 straight away matches in all competitions (D8 L9) dating back to the end of last season, though their last three on the road have all been drawn. They have never gone unbeaten in four straight away matches in all competitions before.

  Meanwhile, San Jose came from behind to earn a 2-2 draw at Seattle on Wednesday. It marked the first time the Earthquakes had earned a point from a losing position since a come-from-behind 3-2 win over the Colorado Rapids in May, after losing their previous 13 regular-season matches when going behind.

  OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

  San Jose Earthquakes – 34.3%

  Draw – 25.8%

  St. Louis City – 39.9%

• Chelsea 1-0 Aston Villa: Rytting Kaneryd hands Bompastor first win

  Johanna Rytting Kaneryd's first-half goal was enough to secure Chelsea a 1-0 win over Aston Villa, getting Sonia Bompastor off to a winning start in the Women's Super League.

  In a tightly contested tie that could have gone either way, the reigning champions showed their quality to earn the first three points of the WSL season.

  Missy Bo Kearns almost got the first goal of Robert de Pauw's reign at Villa 13 minutes in, but was narrowly wide of netting on her debut, while Guro Reiten narrowly missed two glorious chances for the hosts.

  Rytting Kaneryd scored the winner in the 36th minute – it looked like she had overrun the ball, but she expertly cut back inside to whip a lovely shot past Sabrina D'Angelo into the back of the net.

  Villa made a lightning-quick start to the second half, with Kenza Dali's early cross being met by Rachel Daly, but her looping header only rattled Hannah Hampton's crossbar.

  The visitors then had two brilliant opportunities to level the score in stoppage time, but Hampton superbly defended her clean sheet, first denying Daly before tipping D'Angelo's header onto the crossbar.

  Data Debrief: Off to a flyer

  Chelsea's game against Aston Villa is the first time they have played a game in the WSL without Emma Hayes in the dugout since July 2012 (a 4-2 loss under Matt Beard).

  Bompastor ensured the reigning champions got off to a winning start though, maintaining their 100% record against Villa by stretching their run to nine wins in a row.

  In the opposite dugout, though De Pauw is still waiting for his first win and goal in charge of the Villans, he did get a small slice of history, becoming the first Dutch manager to manage a game in the WSL.