Hull Cityvs.Leeds

The visitors have extended an unbeaten streak to seven matches and moved to the summit of the division over the festive period, while their hosts dropped back into the relegation zone following a New Year's Day defeat.

Match preview

Hull City head back to the MKM Stadium on Saturday aiming to move out of the Championship's bottom three, having moved into a more competitive position under the new management of Ruben Selles over the last month.

Following the dismissal of Tim Walter and a temporary spell under Andy Dawson, Selles arrived in Yorkshire with the Tigers sat at the foot of the Championship table on just 15 points from 19 games, and he was initially unable to arrest a slump as a winless streak was stretched to 13 matches in his first two games at the helm.

The Spaniard has since overseen his side's fourth and fifth league wins of the campaign either side of Christmas, though, with a home victory over Swansea City and an away success over Blackburn Rovers separated by a Boxing Day defeat to Preston North End.

After Ryan Longman netted the only goal in the trip to Blackburn last Sunday, the Tigers most recently hosted Middlesbrough on New Year's Day and looked set to take a pleasing point from a goalless draw, only for Alex Gilbert to break the deadlock and snatch all three points for the visitors in the 93rd minute.

Left wounded by that agonising defeat and having dropped back into the relegation zone as a result, albeit only trailing Portsmouth by a single point, Hull City will now hope to bounce back to winning ways on home turf and move back out of the bottom three at the weekend.

They face a particularly tough test, though, as their visitors arrive aiming to extend an unbeaten run and stretch their lead at the top of the Championship.

Aiming to win promotion back to the Premier League at the second time of asking under the management of Daniel Farke, Leeds United have enjoyed a strong campaign thus far, amassing 52 points from their 25 outings thus far.

Across those games, the Whites have managed 15 victories and only suffered three defeats, having won five and drawn two of the seven games since the most recent of those losses in late November.

After only collecting 14 points from their first 10 away league games, Farke's men have now managed back-to-back wins on the road, beating Stoke City and Derby County 2-0 and 1-0 respectively after Christmas, before most recently hosting Blackburn Rovers on New Year's Day and settling for a point as Danny Batth levelled the scores at a goal apiece in injury time after Pascal Struijk broke the deadlock for the Whites in the 88th minute.

With fellow promotion-chasers Burnley and Sheffield United having also dropped points on the turn of the year, Leeds United now find themselves top of the table, three points clear of Sunderland and Sheffield United and five ahead of fourth-placed Sunderland, and they will aim to further strengthen their standing with a 16th league win of the campaign on Sunday.

Hull City Championship form:

D

L

W

L

W

L

Leeds United Championship form:

W

D

W

W

W

D

Team News

Hull City continue to contend with a long list of absentees, as Oscar Zambrano remains suspended while Carl Rushworth, Charlie Hughes, Mohamed Belloumi, Liam Millar, Kasey Palmer and Ryan Longman are sidelined by injuries.

Abu Kamara and Chris Bedia will compete for starts in attack, after Abdulkadir Omur, Joao Pedro and Mason Burstow were preferred for their recent meeting with Hull City.

Elsewhere, Alfie Jones and Sean McLoughlin will continue at the heart of a back four, while Regan Slater, Steven Alzate and Gustavo Puerta will hope to keep their places in the midfield despite competition from Xavier Simons and Harry Vaughan.

Leeds United remain without defender Junior Firpo and midfield Ilia Gruev due to injuries on Saturday, while full-backs Jayden Bogle and Sam Byram are fresh doubts for the trip to the MKM Stadium after picking up their own concerns.

If Byram is unable to feature, Max Wober will come in on the left-hand side of the defence, while Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk will continue their partnership in the centre and captain Ethan Ampadu could join Ao Tanaka in midfield.

Joel Piroe, who leads the squad with nine league goals this season, should continue to spearhead the attack, while Manor Solomon, Brenden Aaronson, Daniel James, Largie Ramazani and Willy Gnonto will compete to line up in support, with Aaronson having contributed seven goals and two assists in the Championship, Gnonto having notched up four and five respectively and James having added five goals and three assists.

Hull City possible starting lineup:

Pandur; Coyle, Jones, McLoughlin, Giles; Slater, Puerta, Alzate; Omur, Bedia, Burstow

Leeds United possible starting lineup:

Meslier; Schmidt, Struijk, Rodon, Wober; Tanaka, Ampadu; Gnonto, Aaronson, James; Piroe

We say: Hull City 0-2 Leeds United

Written by

Sam Varley

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