Former QPR striker Charlie Austin has praised Hull City for the way in which they’ve started the new Premier League season, and believes the Tigers will now avoid relegation.
Austin has warned more established clubs that are below the Tigers, currently sitting in eighth, that they should be concerned about the way the season has begun.
City moved onto nine points from their first six games of the new campaign with a spirited 2-2 draw against unbeaten Everton on Sunday, with their only loss so far coming at Newcastle United before the international break.
The Tigers were almost everybody’s tip to sink without a trace following their dramatic promotion in the play-off final at Wembley, but have performed the best of any of the newly promoted clubs.
Ipswich Town, who finished second in the Championship, are also on nine points after their late comeback win over struggling Fulham on Saturday, while Coventry City secured a second straight win with an impressive 4-1 hammering of Newcastle on Monday.
All three newly-promoted clubs have shown that they can compete and take points off the more established Premier League clubs in the early weeks of the season, and with 40 points widely regarded as what’s needed to survive, the ex-forward says City and Town are well on the way to reaching that target.
“Listen, all three, they’ve been a breath of fresh air for the Premier League,” Austin told Sky Sports. “Let’s be honest, at the start of the season, you’re going ‘Hull, they’re going straight back down. Why? Well, they finished sixth in the Championship, 95th-minute winner in the play-off final. They’re gonna come up. We expect them to go back down.
“They’ve been brilliant, they’ve come in. They’re a quarter of the way, if we say 40 points (for survival), I know you say about having 38 points and a point a game, but they’ve got nine points, and so have Ipswich. They’re a quarter of the way to their target of 40 points.
“You look at Ipswich, Gary O’Neill, the experience, the players he’s brought in, the know-how, great result again at the weekend against a team (Bournemouth) that’s going to be down the bottom there with the manager under pressure.
“And then you’ve got Coventry City who, if they can put in performances like that last night (Monday), week in, week out, they give themselves a hell of a chance.”
Austin was then quizzed on whether or not the three promoted clubs could become just the fifth set to survive relegation in their first season.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen, obviously, with the Manchester City scenario, so there could potentially only be two relegation spots, but I wouldn’t be surprised if two of them stay up. I’m not sure if all three will because I don’t know if it will catch up with one of them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if two out of the three stay up.
“If I supported one of the clubs that’s near the bottom that are used to being in the Premier League and not performing, I would be worried.”
All three clubs have invested heavily in their squads this summer, with City themselves breaking their transfer record on two separate occasions to sign Kostas Tzolakis from Olympiacos and Nobel Mendy, while spending big money on other new arrivals to bolster Jakirovic’s ranks.
Austin feels that the quality of the signings made by all three promoted clubs have been a key reason why they’ve started the season with points on the board, coupled with the likes of Fulham and Bournemouth finding the going really tough after making managerial changes.
“I think it’s come down to recruitment, getting the right players in, the players that are coming in that buy into what the club’s about, that’s the biggest thing, no big egos,” he continued. “They seem to stick to their structure of what they want to do with the manager.
“They trust the manager’s scenario coming in through, and that’s what they’ve got right this year. That’s the biggest thing and then you look at it, and you can only say it’s a bonus to them.
“The teams that are around them that were in that bottom mini league of the Premier League before the season started, you look at them and go, ‘We can get after you’. Fulham are a prime example. The three promoted sides look at them and say, ‘That’s one we can get right after.’ There are a number of teams down there, and like I say, Ipswich and Hull are a quarter of the way through where they need to get to.”
Austin was one of those pundits who predicted City would make an instant return to the Championship, along with Coventry City and Sunderland, but after the opening six games, the former striker believes it will be “Fulham, Sunderland and Manchester City.”
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