Howe is looking to end a run of four successive defeats but for Barmby, a big favourite at the KC Stadium, it is a first home game in charge after being given the job following Nigel Pearson's return to Leicester City after almost a season and a half in charge.
Barmby, like Howe earlier in the season, got a win at Derby last week in his first match in charge and now, looking forward to his first home game, admitted they were not concerned with our current league placing.
"We've studied the opposition like we always do," Barmby said. "We won't be treating them lightly because of where they are because when you look at the squad they've got, they have some dangerous players.
"You look back to when we played Watford here and people thought that was a foregone conclusion because of where they were in the league, but they took us all the way. In this division there are always teams that slip up and we can't treat anybody lightly. The lads know that and we've put that across."
For Howe and Burnley, it is simply a case of bringing this losing run to an end and the manager has been speaking about that ahead of this game.
"You take it hard because you care deeply about what you are doing and you want to win every game and I want the Burnley fans to be proud of their team and go home after every game happy," he said.
"That's my ultimate aim, to please the Burnley supporters, and at the minute I am well aware that they are not going to be very happy and they are going to be disappointed as much as I am.
"I care deeply about what I do. I am very passionate about what I do and I want to do it to the best of my ability, but I do believe that in these times you find out a lot about yourself, you find out a lot about your team and you find out a lot of what you are capable of.
"I have said to the players when we do come through this period we will be stronger for it. I've got no doubt that we will come through this period, but at this moment in time we have to batten down the hatches and really stick together.
"I still believe in my coaching team, I still believe in the players I have here and I believe the club can be successful for a long period of time, but we need to come through this spell and I am aware we need results."
Looking forward to Hull, he added: "The last two games have been tough ones to take for us. We feel we should have four more points on the board.
"We are just having that run at the moment where things are just going against us so we need to be strong and believe in each other and keep going, because things will turn.
"The margins between success and failure at this level are so small, either way. Everyone could be saying what a fantastic side we are in the top half and I don't think there is a lot of difference between that and where we are now.
"It might just be a little bit of naivety in our play at times, but we know we need to halt the run we are on. We know it's not a good run and we are not pleased with ourselves and we will look to do that now. We need to get a win and get the confidence back within the group.
"We would like to get a couple of back-to-back wins and then everything looks different and everyone feels different. We have to deal with where we are and we have to focus on getting a result at Hull. We need to believe in ourselves and show everybody the team we can be.
"It will be a difficult game and it perhaps looks more difficult on the back of our last two results, but I say it week after week, we have nothing to be fearful of. We are capable of going there and winning, no doubt about that, and I would love to see us grind out a 1-0 win.
"Nothing would please me more, because that's a side of us we perhaps need to see with more regularity."