As former team-mates at Manchester United, Steve Bruce and Mark Hughes know all about dealing with expectation - their problem is that the performances of Hull and Stoke have raised the bar for the campaign ahead.
Both managers led their respective clubs to their highest Premier League finishes last season and, in Bruce's case, to a first major cup final and into Europe.
The much-debated Europa League presents Hull with an additional challenge.
Stoke themselves proved you can embrace it and still survive when they progressed through the group stage in 2011-12 before pitting their wits against Valencia.
However, Newcastle are one of many recent examples of how it can badly affect your league form.
Bruce is well aware of the need for reinforcements and their opening-day win at QPR was tainted by the serious injury to summer signing Robert Snodgrass.
What gave Hull their platform last season was their excellent start and solid home form - a repeat of both would be a huge help. Twenty five of their 37 points came at the KC Stadium.
Stoke only managed three away wins last season and have already had what Mark Hughes described as a "wake-up call" by suffering a surprising home defeat to Aston Villa.
After the addition of Victor Moses, Hughes says their transfer business is now done and there's no doubt that his squad has more depth and quality about it.
He now has to integrate his new faces and try to find the consistency with which they finished last season, when they lost only two of their last 11 matches on their way to a top-half finish.
There might not be too many goals in this fixture. Stoke would love to win and, given their schedule, Hull might need to win.