The Tigers continue to be hammered by injuries to key players
Hull City manager Sergej Jakirovic has yet more injury problems to contend with(Image: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)
Hull City will have 11 players absent from their squad when they return to Championship action at Southampton on Saturday, as their injury crisis reaches new levels at a key point of the season.
That presents boss Sergej Jakirovic with more selection issues as he goes in search of a first goal and league win of 2026 against the Saints at St Mary’s.
Darko Gyabi, Matt Crooks and Cody Drameh are the latest to join the growing list of absentees. Semi Ajayi won’t be back from AFCON until next week despite Nigeria’s exit against hosts Morocco on Wednesday night, while Enis Destan is sidelined with a knee problem.
Ryan Giles, John Lundstram and Joe Gelhardt are edging closer to returns, but the Tigers remain without Mo Belloumi, Eliot Matazo and Brandon Williams as numbers continue to dwindle and hamper the Tigers’ play-off hopes.
Crooks and Lundstram could feature on the South Coast, but Jakirovic is understandably cautious and more likely to see them return next week, along with Joe Gelhardt, with games against Preston North End in midweek and Swansea City next Saturday afternoon at the MKM Stadium, which does offer some light at the end of the tunnel.
Jakirovic will be forced to name the majority of his senior players in his starting XI in the first of a three-game week, which sees City travel to Deepdale on Tuesday night, followed by a home clash with the Swans, when the Tigers will hope to be boosted by the arrival of Toby Collyer, as well as Lundstram and Gelhardt.
Predicted starting XI: Pandur, Famewo, Hughes, Egan, Coyle, Slater, Hadziahmetovic, Joseph, Palmer, Millar, McBurnie.
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