Hull City grabbed a point after their 1-1 draw against Barnsley in the midweek fixture but there is a lot more to be done by them to ensure their safety at the end of the season. The Tigers have garnered 33 points from 34 games and are currently placed at the 20th spot in the league standings.
On Saturday, Nigel Adkins’ side are due to make a trip to the Portman Road Stadium to face Ipswich Town. Here is the latest team news of Hull City and how we expect Adkins to roll out his starting line-up against the Tractor Boys.
Team News
Evandro has already missed four months of action this campaign owing to his hamstring problem and is expected to be sidelined once again. Ondrej Mazuch, Abel Hernandez and Markus Henriksen are also doubtful for the clash against Mick McCarthy’s troops.
Goalkeeper
Allan McGregor should keep his place between the sticks once again for Hull City. The 36-year-old custodian has notched up 8 clean sheets from 34 Championship outings, making 2.47 saves per game on an average, and the chances of Hull City’s survival in the English second tier hinges massively on how McGregor would perform until the end of the season.
Defence
Temitayo Aina is expected to get the green light to start from the right-back position whereas in the absence of Robertson, Max Clark should retain his place on the left-back. Michael Dawson and Angus MacDonald should be getting the nod to start from Adkins, with the former scoring an important equalizer against the Tykes.
Midfield
The partnership between Sebastian Larsson and Jackson Irvine has yielded decent output for Adkins’ side of late. While Larsson has immense experience under his belt and would aim to join the attack at times, Irvine is better suited to the deeper role and is more than capable of shielding the backline meticulously.
Jon Toral has scored 1 goal and registered 3 assists in 19 appearances in the second tier so far this season. The 23-year-old central attacking midfielder has lots of areas to improve on and really needs to up the ante from this point of his career. Toral is likely to be handed the no.10 role.
Attack
Nouha Dicko might have scored just 4 league goals so far from 27 appearances but the goals he has scored have been important ones for Hull City. He is expected to spearhead his side against the Blues this weekend and he needs to be very clinical up front.
Jarrod Bowen is expected to start on the right-wing. He has smashed 12 goals already in the Championship this season from 32 games and he would unarguably be one of the first names on Adkins’ starting line-up. On the left-wing, Adama Diamonde is likely to be stationed.
Statistics Credits: WhoScored & Squawka