Tottenham centre-half Michael Dawson, five years Andy's junior at 24, is the most successful of three footballing brothers having established himself in the Barclays Premier League and been involved in England squads.

Michael, already an England Under-21 international, was catapulted into the big time after £4million move to White Hart Lane from Nottingham Forest in 2005.

Andy's route has been more circuitous having left Forest for the less-glamorous surroundings of Scunthorpe before moving to Hull on a free transfer five years ago.

Since then his rise has been understated but dramatic, the left-back playing a key role as Hull won three promotions to reach the top flight for the first time in their history.

Remarkably, Andy is now in the ascendancy with Hull travelling to London on the back of a superb win at Arsenal while Spurs languish at the bottom after a dreadful start to the campaign.

"It is a massive game for myself and Mike and for the family it will be a very proud moment," said Northallerton-born Andy, whose other brother Kevin also began at Forest but is now with non-League Worksop.

"I was the older one, so in the back garden I was always the boss, but in the last few years things have changed.

"I am proud of him and he has done very well. We are always the first to ring each other after each game and we are very close.

"I want him to do well and he is the same with me but it is going to be a little bit different tomorrow.

"We have obviously had a bit of banter for the last few weeks. It is a big game for ourselves and a big game for both clubs.

"We are going there full of confidence after a great result last week.

"They haven't had the best results of late but they are a good team. They are going to pick some points up sooner rather than later and it is up to us to make sure it doesn't happen tomorrow."

Hull's victory at the Emirates Stadium last week has been hailed as the greatest in the club's history, eclipsing even last May's play-off final victory over Bristol City.

The Tigers have claimed a superb 11 points from their first six matches of the season, the best start by a promoted club since 1992-93.

However, Dawson - not forgetting August's 5-0 thrashing by Wigan - insists feet remain on the ground.

"We know there is a long way to go," he said. "Just because we beat Arsenal things don't change.

"We know it is going to be a long season and we have got to perform week-in, week-out to the maximum of our ability. Otherwise we will get turned over - we saw that against Wigan.

"We would rather be playing them now than when they have won five or six on the bounce but we cannot take them lightly.

"We have got to perform to our very best, like we have done all season."