The Tigers head to St James’ Park on Saturday afternoon
Lucas Herrington could be handed a first Premier League start(Image: Molly Darlington/Getty Images)
Sergej Jakirovic is set to make at least one change to his Hull City line-up this weekend when the Tigers head to Newcastle United.
City remain unbeaten in the Premier League after four rounds of action and they’ve earned the right to fancy their chances of picking up more points against the Magpies at St James’ Park this weekend.
Unfortunately, the Yorkshire side will be without Nobel Mendy through concussion protocols after the blow to the head he took last week against Chelsea.
Jakirovic has confirmed that the Senegal international is well, but the rules ensure he must sit out of this weekend’s game before he meets up with his national team during the international break.
With that in mind, here’s how we think City could line up against Newcastle.
Well, Jakirovic’s choice at centre-back seems fairly straightforward with Mendy set to be replaced by Lucas Herrington. The Australian has looked the part so far this season when stepping off the bench to replace Mendy and he’ll surely get the nod to start this weekend at St James’ Park, with Ryan Giles on his left shoulder and John Egan on his right.
Coyle has done enough to keep Brooke Norton-Cuffy at bay at right-back so far and Semi Ajayi surely makes up the five-man defensive line.
Regan Slater and Matt Crooks started at Stamford Bridge and after a testing start, they recovered to play well in west London. Tim Iroegbunam and Lucas Gourna-Douath will be pushing to force themselves into Jakirovic’s plans alongside Slater, but Crooks doesn’t deserve to be dropped.
The only other change might well come in the front three, with Sorba Thomas pushing for a start after impressing off the bench now on two occasions. Elliot Stroud struggled to make the desired impact against Chelsea and Thomas might just provide more of an attacking threat against a back line which Leeds United found plenty of joy against on Monday night.
Hull City predicted XI: Konstantinos Tzolakis; Lewie Coyle, Semi Ajayi, John Egan, Lucas Herrington, Ryan Giles; Regan Slater, Matt Crooks; Mo Belloumi, Oli McBurnie, Sorba Thomas.