CITY must learn to be bullies in the Premier League playground if they want to avoid an unwanted piece of history.

The Blues stand just one more draw away from an outright club record - and lowly Hull City will be heading for Eastlands tomorrow intent on another stalemate.

But City cannot afford to secure anything less than three points, especially as Hull boast the second worst away record in the league going into the game.

The problem City face is that in their last home game they faced the side with THE worst away record in the competition - and were 2-0 down inside 32 minutes!

With United and Chelsea striding away at the top, and Arsenal, Tottenham and Aston Villa wedging themselves between the Blues and the Champions League places, another such slip is unthinkable.

But City first-team coach Eddie Niedzwiecki believes that the team has learned from the sloppiness which handed Burnley the initiative.

And he says the key is to maintain the same level of focus and desire, whether you are facing Barnsley or Barcelona.

The coaching staff concentrated minds on that point at a team meeting this week because, in some ways, the visit of Hull is a bigger game than last week's trip to Anfield.

Niedzwiecki flagged up the difficulties of motivating the team, especially when a clash with unglamorous Hull is slotted between a trip to Anfield, a Carling Cup quarter-final with Arsenal and a showdown with leaders Chelsea.

And right-back Pablo Zabaleta is fully aware of the dangers of that, and urged his team-mates not to let their minds wander away from the job in hand.

"We cannot even think about what else is coming up, because we have to get three points from the Hull game," said the Argentine utility man. "It will be tough but we have to win because we've lost points in our last six games.

"We have only taken six points from 18 and that's too many lost. We have got to start winning again if we want to be looking at getting up to the top of the table.

"They are all difficult games but we're at home and must make that count. Arsenal and Chelsea will be hard - we have a good chance in front of our own fans, but we must concentrate on Hull first."

That is exactly what Hughes and his staff want to hear from the players, and Niedzwiecki quoted one of Europe's top managers to underline the message they are trying to ram home.

"Jose Mourinho said ahead of the Barcelona v Inter Milan game this week that he finds it easier for the bigger games, because he knows the players will focus," said Niedzwiecki.

"He said a Chelsea v Liverpool game was easier in some respects than Chelsea v Birmingham, as his players had a problem with motivation for the latter."

Niedzwiecki believes that may have been part of the problem in the slack display against the Clarets, who picked up their first away point of the season in a 3-3 draw.

"We don't mean any disrespect to Burnley, it's just the way the players' thoughts can work," he said.

"We know the dangers, but we also know there is a job to be done. It's an important week and it's important we get it started on the right foot."

In terms of avoiding defeat, the Blues boast the best record in the country, with just one loss in 15 games in all competitions - and that a controversial injury-time defeat in the seven-goal thriller against United.

But Spurs, who have already lost four league games, stand four points clear of the Blues, because they have won eight.

They have developed a knack of destroying the small fry, with Burnley bashed 5-0, Hull hammered 5-1 on their own pitch, and - of course - Wigan despatched 9-1 at the weekend.

City drew with two of those teams, and face the third tomorrow, with a real need to avoid another slip-up.

A win tomorrow would, City believe, change the complexion of the battle for the top four spots, and get their rivals whispering their name again.

"It's a big difference with three points for a win, and we need to keep pressure on the teams around us," said Niedzwiecki. "With the way people are speculating about us, they are very much aware of us, and the more we keep on top of that and use it to our advantage, we can let it play on their minds rather than ours."