Hull City vs Leicester City – English Premier League – Preview

Posted on August 13, 2016 by Sreya

The English Premier League champions Leicester City will begin their title defence at the KCOM Stadium against Hull City on 13th August, Saturday. While the odds of Leicester City retaining the English Premier League title are pretty much next to impossible, the probability of yet another fairy tale season will keep the Foxes fans optimistic.

Hull City were promoted to the top flight after a memorable play-off win, while Leicester finished top of the pack with eighty-one points. Hull City have had a disastrous pre-season with the fans protesting against the club’s ownership, which was confounded with Steve Bruce’s resignation from the managerial post.

Team News

Hull City have an extremely small squad owing to a lot of injuries with Allan McGregor, Michael Dawson, Moses Odubajo and Alex Bruce sidelined. Harry Maguire and Shaun Maloney are doubtful. Midfielder Jake Livermore is likely to start as a centre-back alongside Curtis Davies for a lack of options.

Leicester City have a completely healthy squad, although Robert Huth is suspended. Matthew James is likely to make his return, after the midfielder missed the entire last season due to a knee injury.

Thoughts From Both Camps

“It’s a small squad, but small squads before have worked well together. There definitely need to be additions to this football club. We have to start again, I know it’s a short window, the pressure is on now to do some business.”

– Mike Phelan, Sunderland.

“I work to be safe and continue to build a team, anything more that happens is fantastic. All the world is curious, what will happen with Leicester. I am very curious to see where we finish.”

– Claudio Ranieri, Leicester City.

Contributor’s Pick

According to Head-2-Head statistics, Leicester City have won three and lost only one of their last six matches against Hull City. Leicester City are undefeated in twenty of their last twenty two Premier League matches and are likely to win 2-0 in their opening fixture.