The Tigers head to The Hawthorns in search of a first win there since October 2008
Hull City have been the form team on the road in the Championship this season(Image: Phil Oldham/Shutterstock)
West Brom’s interim head coach James Morrison says Hull City‘s unpredictability makes them especially dangerous ahead of their meeting on Saturday.
Albion haven’t won a league game since the end of December and are inside the bottom three with only nine Championship games remaining.
The Baggies looked to be on course for that first win of 2026 on Wednesday night when they were leading play-off-chasing Southampton, until they conceded a stoppage-time equaliser.
On the flip side, City’s win at Wrexham 24 hours earlier was their 11th on the road this season. Sergej Jakirovic’s Tigers have won eight of their last 10 away from the MKM Stadium, and sit fifth in the league.
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Sergej Jakirovic’s men showed their tactical flexibility against Wrexham, switching to a back three and moving away from their preferred 4-3-3 shape, and that fluidity is something Morrison is aware of.
“We’re up against another team on Saturday who are performing well right now. Hull are a very good side, and they’re playing really well away from home and picking up plenty of victories,” Morrison said. “They’re quite unpredictable in terms of their approach – sometimes they’ll go with a back four and other times they’ll go with a five.
“They can use different players, and they’ve got a good striker in Oli McBurnie. He’s a threat and a focal point in their team. There are plenty of things that we have to be aware of, but it’s our home game, and we’ll be doing all we can to make sure we get three points.
“We’ve got to keep working and fighting. We’re focused, we’re positive, and we’re pushing each other to be the best we possibly can be in these remaining fixtures.”
In a slightly different change of approach ahead of City’s visit to the West Midlands, Morrison sent his players to the spa on Thursday to recover from their tough finish against the Saints.
“We let them be free on Thursday. We did something a little bit different from previously. They just come in, we had some breakfast, had a little chat and then I said they can go up to the spa, where they could have a recovery with a different way of recovering really. That’s the main idea of it,” he told the Express and Star.
“I just wanted them to breathe a little bit in these situations. It can be full-on all the time. You’ve got to breathe at the right times and going into the game being clear of the consequences and stuff like that and then we came in and we were back at it and prepared really well. I was happy the way today went and with the mood.”
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