Steve Bruce’s Hull are now favourites to be relegated from the Premier League
Hull City’s 2-0 defeat at Tottenham on Saturday means that the Tigers are now on the brink of playing in the Championship next season.
The last day scenario is simple for Hull, defeat Manchester United next weekend and hope that Newcastle or Sunderland slip-up in their games or the Tigers will be relegated to the Championship.
Difficult
Hull have endured a difficult week or so. Last Saturday they suffered a devastating 1-0 home defeat against Burnley.
Then there was midfielder Jake Livermore failing a random drugs test. Yesterday’s defeat in north London just added to the Tigers problems.
Inconsistent
Hull’s main problem this season has been consistency. When Bruce’s side have been consistent, it has been consistently poor. Throughout the season it seems the players have been hoping for victories rather going out and working hard for wins.
Hull have struggled to string together any sort of good run, with their recent two game winning run seemingly the best they could offer this season.
Money
For a club the size of Hull they have shelled out an awful lot of money on players who were highly-rated. The likes of Tom Huddlestone, Jake Livermore, Michael Dawson, Nikica Jelavic and Abel Hernandez have all arrived for relatively big fees.
Most have disappointed in Hull shirts. For the likes of Livermore, Huddlestone, Dawson and Jelavic the move to Hull was supposed to re-ignite their careers after seemingly failing at bigger clubs in Tottenham and Everton.
However, none of the quartet have really covered themselves in glory in a Hull shirt, although Jelavic is the team’s top scorer with eight goals this season.
The recent drug test controversy aside, Livermore has completely let himself and the club who showed so much faith him down. His performances this season has been lacklustre to say the least and showed why Spurs decided to sell him.
Huddlestone was being talked about as a potential England international last season, but this season he has been poor in the centre of the Tigers midfield. These are the sort of players that the fans and even teammates look to when in need of inspiration.
Dawson played for Spurs for a long time at a high level and would surely be regarded as a leader. The Hull defence have been relatively secure, with Hull conceding more than just one of the bottom seven teams in the Premier League table.
Uruguayan international striker Abel Hernandez arrived at the club for £10million from Italian club Palermo last summer. The 24-year-old was highly-rated prior to his move to the KC Stadium. However, Hernandez has scored just four times in 24 Premier League appearances for the Tigers.
The current Hull squad have underachieved this season. The Tigers squad does have quality within it, but they just have not played to their full potential.
Goals
One of Hull’s biggest problems this season has been scoring goals. Only Sunderland, Aston Villa and Burnley have scored less than the Tigers tally of 33 league goals this season. The fact that Jelavic on eight goals is the Tigers top scorer says everything really.
Dame N’Doye, who only joined in January, is the team’s second top scorer with five goals, which also tells you a lot about the team’s other strikers. Hull simply have not scored enough goals in the top-flight this season.
Chance
Hull still have a chance of surviving the drop, but they need to claim victory whatever happens to stand any chance of survival. Sunderland who are currently 16th place, have two games remaining and are just three points clear of the Tigers.
The Black Cats need just a draw in either of those games to ensure survival, but those last two games are away at Arsenal on Wednesday night and then at Chelsea on Sunday. It is not impossible that Dick Advocaat’s side fail to pick-up the point they need for survival.
Newcastle host midtable West Ham at St James Park in their final game of the season and are just two points above Steve Bruce’s side. The Magpies need a victory, something which they have not achieved in 11 Premier League matches.
The side from the north east have lost nine and drew one of their previous ten top-flight games and their form will give Hull fans a sense that their team can survive.
However, for the other team’s results to matter the Tigers need to come up with a big performance to beat Champions League-bound United on the last day.
Favourites
It is difficult to see Hull getting out of trouble now. They do still have a chance to make it out of trouble, but there destiny is no longer in their own hands and the team’s lacklustre performances may just come back to haunt them.
Will Hull City be relegated to the Championship?
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