Yet another chance of moving out of the relegation zone went begging as Hull City suffered a 1-0 defeat against Middlesbrough earlier this week. The Tigers are one place above Swansea, who are rock bottom of the league table.
Mike Phelan’s side saw an emphatic win over Newcastle United in the EFL Cup when the game was stretched to penalties, but such a huge dose of confidence wasn’t enough for the Tigers to get back to winning ways. Their next opponents are Crystal Palace, yet another under-performing side in the league this season.
The Tigers beat Palace twice with 2-0 scorelines in the 2014/15 season when they last met in the league and Palace have failed to score more than once in each of their last seven visits to Hull. Hence, Phelan might just be able to squeeze out a win this time. Palace, however, pulled off a surprise win over Southampton last weekend and will be riding high on confidence.
Defence
There isn’t too much Phelan can change in terms of the defensive setup. Their last one-goal defeat was largely due to lack of creativity up front. We expect the boss to stick to the back four he started against Boro.
Andrew Robertson seems to have his manager’s confidence and is expected to start in the left-back position. The central defensive role will undoubtedly be taken by captain Michael Dawson and Harry Maguire as they look most reliable for Phelan at the moment. Elmohamady will once again take over the right-back position. David Marshall is expected to start in goal.
