2026/2027 season

Premier League

Team page
Premier League · Team page
Hull City
Head coach: Sergej Jakirović · 4-2-3-1. Vérifié sur les deux compositions officielles Sky Sports : 22/08/2026 contre Manchester United et 29/08/2026 à Coventry, avec le même bloc (Tzolakis - Mendy, Ajayi, Egan, Coyle/Giles - Slater, Belloumi/Crooks - Stroud, Morita - McBurnie). Réserve : l'étiquetage des postes par Sky au 22/08 est incohérent (Coyle noté arrière gauche, Giles noté piston gauche) ; seul le 4-2-3-1 est commun aux deux feuilles de match.
Rank
9th
Pts
9
P
7
Form
🟠 Poor

The essentials at a glance

The summary of this page: estimated level of play, form trend and qualitative verdict. For the details, head to the other tabs.

Editors' ratings
4/10
Attack
9/10
Defence
2/10
Form
4/10
Confidence / mood
Current risk:Low

9th with 9 pts from 7 matches: 2 wins, 3 draws, 2 defeats.

8 goals scored, 7 conceded.

Hull City manager Sergej Jakirovic says Fulham were "much better" during his side's 1-0 defeat at Craven Cottage.

BBC Sport · 17 Oct 2026

The Fulham of Alvaro Arbeloa was imposed for 1-0 to Hull City in Craven Cottage thanks to Alex Iwobi in the first half. The Londoners dominated the party from beginning to end and had opportunities to expand the advantage, but the lack of success and good defense of the Hull kept the uncertainty to the end. & nbsp;

Mundo Deportivo · 17 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

How the team has played recently

Match-by-match results, record and rhythm of the current season.

Latest matches
Lvs Fulham FC (A) · 0-1
Dvs Everton FC (H) · 2-2
Lvs Newcastle United FC (A) · 1-2
Dvs Chelsea FC (A) · 2-2
Dvs Aston Villa FC (H) · 0-0
WWDDDLL
8 scored / 7 conceded over 7 matches played
Rest: 1 day since the last match · 2 matches played in the last 15 days
Home form
1W - 2D - 0L
Away form
1W - 1D - 2L
Statistics

Computed from this season's scores, every time the page is shown.

Goals scored per match
1.0
Goals conceded per match
1.4
At home
2 scored · 2 conceded in 2 matches
Away
3 scored · 5 conceded in 3 matches
Over 2.5 goals
3 of 5
Both teams score
3 of 5
Clean sheets
1 of 5
Failed to score
2 of 5
Cumulative points vs league average

Not enough matchdays recorded yet for this curve — history builds up with every standings refresh.

How Hull City play

System, playing identity, and what sets the team apart at both ends of the pitch.

Playing identity
Preferred system
4-2-3-1. Vérifié sur les deux compositions officielles Sky Sports : 22/08/2026 contre Manchester United et 29/08/2026 à Coventry, avec le même bloc (Tzolakis - Mendy, Ajayi, Egan, Coyle/Giles - Slater, Belloumi/Crooks - Stroud, Morita - McBurnie). Réserve : l'étiquetage des postes par Sky au 22/08 est incohérent (Coyle noté arrière gauche, Giles noté piston gauche) ; seul le 4-2-3-1 est commun aux deux feuilles de match.
Philosophy
Not documented by a first-hand source. No formal statement of Sergej Jakirović's playing principles could be verified; his only recent comments gathered are a call to “stay humble and work hard”, stating that the team has “a lot of work” to do and can “improve its game” (Sky Sports, 29/08/2026). What can be observed over two matches: a disciplined block, little possession and direct play towards Oli McBurnie.
Attacking strengths
Modest output but maximum efficiency: 3 goals in 2 matchdays, all decisive. Semi Ajayi (17') and Nobel Mendy (38', header) against Manchester United, then Liam Millar (82', on the counter) at Coventry. A signal to watch: two of the three goals came from defenders, which raises questions about the source of goals over the long run.
Defensive solidity
Best defensive record in the league at this stage: 0 goals conceded in 2 matchdays, including a clean sheet against Manchester United (Sky Sports table as at 30/08/2026). Konstantinos Tzolakis has played both matches, with new signing goalkeeper Jack Butland injured.
Pressing
Unverified: no numerical data could be found. The Sky Sports report of 22/08 attributes the win against Manchester United to Hull's “intensity and physicality” — a journalistic assessment rather than a measurement, to be treated as such.
Transitions
An apparent strength, but on a tiny sample: the winning goal at Coventry came from a counter-attack (Belloumi to Millar, 82') while Coventry were dominating possession, and the Sky Sports report notes that Millar had already missed a counter-attacking chance in the 74th minute.
StrengthA perfect start (2 wins out of 2, 6 points, 2nd in the table as of 30/08) and total defensive solidity. Summer recruitment funded by promotion: Mohamed-Ali Cho from Nice for around £15m, Lucas Gourna-Douath (RB Salzburg), Joe Gelhardt (Leeds), Nobel Mendy (Rayo Vallecano), Elliot Stroud (Mjällby), Jens Hjertø-Dahl (Tromsø). The club have also reached the 3rd round of the League Cup for the first time in six years, on penalties at Stoke.
WeaknessA very crowded treatment room: PremierInjuries lists eight players unavailable or doubtful, including Eliot Matazo (cruciate ligaments, estimated return in February 2027), Jack Butland, Charlie Hughes, Darko Gyabi, Óscar Zambrano and Matty Jacob. A squad deemed insufficient by the club itself: Sky Sports reported on 25/08 that Hull were targeting “at least five more signings” before the deadline. Finally, 3 goals scored in 2 matches leave a very narrow margin if the efficiency drops.

The mood around the club, and who is missing

Internal climate, relationship with the supporters, and known absences before the next match.

Mood
Squad confidence
At its peak, and now openly embraced by the head coach himself. After the win at Coventry, Sergej Jakirović summed up the start with “two matches, six points, that is not bad” before promising that the team “will grow with every match”, pointing out that the Premier League is a new experience for him as well as for his squad. The table backs him up: third on 31 August, level with Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea, and the only side along with Arsenal yet to concede. The head coach tempers that physically, however, referring to players who arrived late and uneven sharpness, and his satisfaction rests as much on the team's ability to defend deep and punish on the break as on their volume of play.
Coach / players / board relationship
No tension reported. Sergej Jakirović was appointed on 11/06/2025 on a two-year contract, with Dean Holden as assistant, and took the club from 21st place in the Championship in 2024-25 to promotion via the 2026 play-offs. The sources consulted report no disagreement with the board.
Mood with the supporters
Very strong fervour at the MKM Stadium after a promotion snatched at Wembley in front of 84,506 spectators (play-off final of 23/05/2026, Oli McBurnie goal on 90+5 against Middlesbrough) and a perfect start to the season. No climate of protest reported.
Pressure on the head coach
Non-existent, and in fact the reverse: the club is discussing a three-year extension with Sergej Jakirović, when he was signed for only two years on arriving from Kayserispor. Talks accelerated after the 2-0 win against Manchester United, and the head coach was already using it as a recruitment argument. Nothing in the sources consulted suggests the slightest question, from either the board or the dressing room.
Club objectives
Acun Ilıcalı (owner) has not set a numerical sporting target: speaking to supporters after promotion, as reported by Turkish Football (10/06/2026), he summed up the club's ambition as “our main objective is to establish roots and scale progressively”, while accepting a budget that will remain “toward the lower end” of the Premier League scale against rivals with far greater means. External projections are unanimously pessimistic and converge, despite the club's very good start on the pitch (2 wins out of 2, 2nd in the table as of 30/08 according to the data already verified): the Sky Sports supercomputer (21/08/2026) and Opta's, relayed by Sports Illustrated (20/08/2026), both place Hull 20th, with 81.6% and 42.25% relegation risk respectively, the highest probability of the three promoted clubs in both cases. Bookmakers via Oddschecker (26/08/2026) moreover make Hull the overwhelming favourites for relegation (odds of 2/7, i.e. 77.8% implied probability), in stark contrast with their current sporting record.
Recent internal tensions
No tension reported at this stage.
Absences
InjuredJack Butland — Elbow injury, return estimated in the second half of November.
InjuredEliot Matazo — Knee injury, return estimated in February 2027.
InjuredCharlie Hughes — Groin problem, return estimated in mid-October.
InjuredDarko Gyabi — Thigh injury, return estimated in the second half of November.
InjuredOscar Zambrano — Hamstring injury, return estimated around 12 September.
InjuredMatty Jacob — Hip injury, no return date given.

Before kick-off

What to know before the next match: statistical form, qualitative analysis, and a computed estimate of the 1/X/2 probabilities.

Next match

Hull City — Brentford

At homeSunday 25 October at 15:00Matchday 8
In 7 days. Kick-off time confirmed by the league. Paris time · football-data.org fixtures.

Prediction, odds and form of both teams →

What the press says

No preview found for this fixture. The press mostly covers the big games, and usually the day before.

Prediction
EstimateHull City — Brentford
35 %
1 · Hull City
27 %
X · draw
38 %
2 · Brentford
In-house calculation, from this page's standings data alone: 7 matches played by Hull City, 7 matches by Brentford. Confidence: medium
The formula, in plain words — with this match's figures
  1. League average. 189 goals scored over 130 team-matches played (20 teams taken into account), i.e. μ = 1.45 goal scored per team per match. This is the reference point: everything that follows is expressed relative to it.
  2. Attacking and defensive strengths. Goals scored (or conceded) per match, divided by μ. 1.00 = exactly average; in defence, above 1.00 means “concedes more than average”.
    TeamGoalsRawKept
    Hull City — attack8 in 7 matches0.790.88
    Hull City — defence7 in 7 matches0.690.83
    Brentford — attack13 in 7 matches1.281.15
    Brentford — defence8 in 7 matches0.790.88
    The “Kept” column is the result of shrinkage towards the mean: weight = P / (P + 6), i.e. 0.54 for Hull City and 0.54 for Brentford. The rest of the weight goes to the league average. This is what stops a lone 5-0 from producing an attack at 3.3 times the average — and hence a 95% probability.
  3. Home advantage (γ). Measured on the league itself: 1.42 goal scored on average by the host against 1.42 by the visitor, over the 52 fixtures present in each team's last 5 matches. Raw ratio 1.00; shrunk towards 1 (weight 0.44, on the log of the ratio) then capped at 1.25 → γ = 1.00. Shrinkage goes towards 1, i.e. no advantage at all: while the sample is small, the model does not assert a home advantage it cannot measure.
  4. Venue correction, specific to each team. Drawn from the home/away split: points per match at the venue concerned are compared to points per match over all fixtures, with stronger shrinkage (weight = P / (P + 8)) and a bound of ±12%.
    Hull City at home: 1.67 pts/match versus 1.29 overall over 3 matches → ×1.081
    Brentford away: 1.00 pts/match versus 1.43 overall over 3 matches → ×0.918
  5. Expected goals. One side's attack is set against the other's defence. γ applies to the host only: applying it the other way round too would count the home advantage twice.
    λHull City = 1.45 × 0.88 × 0.88 × 1.00 × 1.081 = 1.23
    λBrentford = 1.45 × 1.15 × 0.83 × 0.918 = 1.28
  6. Poisson grid. Probability of every exact score from 0-0 to 8-8, assuming the two goal totals are independent, then adding up the cells: home win 35.5%, draw 26.9%, away win 37.6% — displayed rounded to whole numbers so that they add up to exactly 100. Most likely exact score in the grid: 1-1 (only 12.8%, which says enough about how unpredictable an exact score is).
Limits of this model — they are not anecdotal.
  • It only knows goals and a venue. Neither absences, suspensions, line-ups, fatigue, stakes, weather nor club context enter the calculation — while the other tabs of this page show that they matter.
  • The assumption that the two goal totals are independent is false in reality: it slightly underestimates tight scores, hence the draw.
  • γ is measured over a rolling window (each team's last 5 matches), not over the whole season.
  • The shrinkage constants (6, 60, 8) and the bounds are choices, not measurements. They were tuned to be cautious early in the season; they were not calibrated on a results history, as none is available here.
  • No after-the-fact evaluation has been made: at this stage, nobody knows whether this model is better or worse calibrated than another.
What other sources say
No external source has been collected for this match. That is the normal state: readings are taken by hand, and an empty box is better than an unverified figure.
This block shows probability estimates, not predictions, and carries no advisory value. The in-house estimate is the result of a formula applied to a small sample; the figures from external sources are reproduced as they were collected, without their method having been verified.

The full squad

The professional squad by position, captain marked with an armband.

Goalkeepers
  • Konstantinos Tzolakis
  • Dillon Phillips
  • Jack Butland
  • Thimothée Lo-Tutala
  • Archie Howard
Defenders
  • Lewie CoyleC
  • Semi Ajayi
  • John Egan
  • Nobel Mendy
  • Ryan Giles
  • Charlie Hughes
  • Paddy McNair
  • Matt Targett
  • Cody Drameh
  • Matty Jacob
  • Lucas Herrington
  • Stan Ashbee
  • Calvin Okike
Midfielders
  • Regan Slater
  • Mohamed Belloumi
  • Matt Crooks
  • Kieran Dowell
  • Hidemasa Morita
  • Elliot Stroud
  • Liam Millar
  • Lucas Gourna-Douath
  • Jens Hjertø-Dahl
  • Darko Gyabi
  • Eliot Matazo
  • Óscar Zambrano
  • Abdüs Ömür
  • David Akintola
  • Cathal McCarthy
  • Nathan Tinsdale
Forwards
  • Oli McBurnie
  • Mohamed-Ali Cho
  • Joe Gelhardt
  • Tyrell Sellars-Fleming
  • Hugh Parker
Squad last verified on 31 Aug 2026 — source: Cross-referencing of the 2026-27 list on 11v11.com, the worldfootball.net page (summer arrivals and departures) and the official Sky Sports line-ups of 22/08 and 29/08/2026 (Coyle wears the armband in both matches). Players reported as having left by worldfootball.net (Ivor Pandur, Harvey Cartwright, James Debayo, Mason Burstow, Kyle Joseph, Kasey Palmer, Abu Kamara, Enis Destan) have been removed. Non-exhaustive list and subject to change, the window still being open as of 31/08 and Hull stating they are targeting at least five more signings..

What has been said recently

Chronological feed of verified information about the club.

rss17 Oct 2026
'Men against boys' - Jakirovic criticises Hull City after Fulham defeat
Source: BBC Sport
rss17 Oct 2026
The Fulham of Arbeloa adds a necessary victory to Hull City
Source: Mundo Deportivo
rss17 Oct 2026
Fulham pressure on Arbeloa lifted after Alex Iwobi sinks Hull for first win
Source: The Guardian — Football
rss17 Oct 2026
Fulham - Hull City, live - 124; Premier League
Source: Mundo Deportivo
rss11 Oct 2026
Hull continue good start with entertaining Everton draw
Source: BBC Sport
rss11 Oct 2026
Emotion until the last moments in Hull; Glasner defeated on his return to Selhurst Park
Source: zerozero
Club3 Sep 2026
Matchday 3: Hull host Aston Villa on Saturday 5 September at 17:30, in Saturday's latest slot. The Tigers face, along with Tottenham, the only other side in the league still without a goal after two matchdays.
Source: Football Web Pages
Other3 Sep 2026
Konstantinos Tzolakis is among the eight nominees for the Premier League player of the month award for August, alongside Rayan Cherki, Bruno Fernandes, Cole Palmer, João Félix, Riccardo Calafiori, Mamadou Sangaré and Yoane Wissa. Voting is open and the winner will be announced on 11 September.
Source: Manchester City (site officiel)
Injury3 Sep 2026
The injury list is the heaviest in the league: goalkeeper Jack Butland is out with an elbow injury until the end of November and Eliot Matazo, with a knee problem, is not expected before February 2027.
Source: SportsGambler
Institutional2 Sep 2026
Sky Sports give Hull's window 8 out of 10. Their correspondent Tim Thornton believes the club “added depth, targeting young players who can develop and improve”, at the end of a summer with eighteen signings, six of them on deadline day.
Source: Sky Sports
Institutional2 Sep 2026
The Yorkshire Post puts Hull's net summer spend at more than £100m, unprecedented for the club. Six arrivals were completed on 1 September: Christos Mouzakitis, Sorba Thomas, Tim Iroegbunam, Brooke Norton-Cuffy, Ilyas Ansah and the loan of Robinio Vaz, taking the summer's signings to eighteen.
Source: The Yorkshire Post
Transfers1 Sep 2026
The promoted side closed their window with the arrival of forward Ilyas Ansah, signed from Union Berlin for £21m, and the loan of winger Sorba Thomas from Stoke.
Source: Sky Sports
Result31 Aug 2026
Table as it stood on 31 August: Hull are 3rd on six points, level with Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea, and share with Arsenal the only clean slate in the league, no goals conceded in two matches. Aston Villa, Saturday's opponents, are bottom in 19th with no points, no goals scored and five conceded.
Source: Football Web Pages
Head coach29 Aug 2026
Sergej Jakirović after the win at Coventry: “Two matches, six points, that is not bad”, then “we will grow with every match; this is a new experience for us, and even for me”. He highlighted young midfielder Lucas Gourna-Douath, who arrived without any real pre-season, “a good young player we can develop”, while acknowledging sharpness problems in the squad and claiming a team able to exploit space on the counter-attack.
Source: VAVEL
Result29 Aug 2026
Hull City won 1-0 at Coventry on 29 August thanks to a goal from substitute Liam Millar and have a perfect record of two wins, six points and two clean sheets on their return to the top flight.
Source: Reporters At Large
Other29 Aug 2026
Second win in a row at Coventry (0-1, Millar 82' from a Belloumi assist), lifting Hull to 2nd place with 6 points and no goals conceded. Jakirović: “We have to stay humble and work hard.”
Source: Sky Sports
News last verified on 17 Oct 2026. Sources: sports press (L'Équipe, Le Parisien, Foot Mercato, regional press…) and official club websites — see the link on each item.
Editorial content (playing style, mood, absences, external prediction sources) last verified on 3 Sep 2026. The standings/form data above are refreshed automatically — as is the 1/X/2 estimate, recomputed on every view.