City must now turn their attentions to the daily grind of the battle for Championship points
Sergej Jakirovic will be targetting a return to form against QPR(Image: Nigel French/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
It wasn’t to be for Hull City on Friday night as their brief foray in this season’s FA Cup was ended by Chelsea, who were convincing 4-0 winners at the MKM Stadium.
Boss Sergej Jakirovic made six changes to the side beaten last time out by Bristol City, and opted to deploy Lewis Koumas as the central striker, after resting Oli McBurnie.
Jakirovic’s starting XI was strong, but much-changed and gave a clear indication of where his priorities lie, and understandably so. City sit fourth in the Championship with 15 games to go. They have a seven-point cushion to the chasing play-off pack, and face seven games in 21 days starting with Saturday’s visit of QPR to the MKM Stadium.
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While there would have been some frustration from the paying punters about the strength of the line-up, the Croatian has to balance the desire to beat Chelsea and boost the club’s coffers at a time when they could really do with the extra income, against the £200m-plus life-changing prize on offer if promotion is secured.
Kieran McKenna, who, with respect to Hull City, has a bigger and better squad and one that cost an awful lot of money to assemble, admitted after Ipswich Town’s exit at Wrexham on Friday night, that an FA Cup run would, in his view, be detrimental to their promotion hopes.
Jakirovic wouldn’t say that in public, but privately, he may well be of the same viewpoint, and you can understand it. City’s squad has been blighted by injuries all season. They’ve already got the rearranged game with the Tractor Boys to come early next month amid a crazy fixture list.
Victory over Chelsea, while great for confidence and kudos, etc, would have seen the Millwall game shoehorned into another mid-week and extra strain put on a squad feeling the impact of a relentless Championship season. One in the past couple of weeks has looked a tad jaded.
Attention now turns to Saturday, and the first of two huge home games in the space of a few days. Given his decision to rest some key figures, City must now deliver a performance and result against QPR.
Their home form so far in 2026 has not been convincing. Things have got a little bit sticky. They’ve produced two poor performances and results in the draw with Watford and defeat to Bristol City, and they need to regain their composure.
QPR and Derby are two mammoth games, and two that require City to shake their recent wobbles and get back to what they’re good at, and that’s winning games of football.
The Chelsea display was a decent one given the strength of both squads. City gave a good account of themselves, but now the showbiz circus has departed, Jakirovic and his players must return to the grind with the biggest possible prize at the end of it.
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