Some of City’s play-off rivals have their games in hand this week
Hull City’s Cody Drameh looks on after the Tigers were well beaten at West Brom(Image: Cody Froggatt/PA Wire)
For the first time in almost a month, Hull City have a clear week without any midweek games to prepare for. It will give boss Sergej Jakirovic some welcome time for reflection after a dismal display at West Brom on Saturday afternoon.
Over the last few weeks City have played Derby County, Ipswich Town and Wrexham, sandwiched in between Saturday outings in the Championship.
It’s been a gruelling schedule, but now City can afford to sit back and watch what happens for two of their main rivals for a place in the top six, albeit looking nervously over their shoulder after Southampton’s impressive win at Coventry City closed the gap to six points, coupled with their own 3-0 loss in the Black Country.
Derby County slipped nine points adrift of City last Tuesday when the Tigers were winners at Wrexham, and the Rams lost at in-form Millwall, but they head to struggling Pompey on Monday night knowing they really need victory to keep in touch.
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! Latest Hull City news and analysis on our Hull Live FB page
Wrexham, who were beaten by City in North Wales, play their game in hand away at unpredictable Watford on Tuesday evening, with the Hornets also knowing victory is crucial to their hopes, though they’ll be buoyed by beating Swansea City on Friday.
On Wednesday, Southampton, who have been flying in recent weeks and secured an eye-catching success at the CBS Arena, have their game in hand on City, and host resurgent Norwich City at St Mary’s Stadium, and Tigers’ fans will be hoping the Canaries can get a result on the South Coast to lessen the blow of what happened on Saturday.
Should Southampton win, the gap between them and the Tigers would suddenly be cut to three points, having been nine at the start of the weekend, showing how quickly things can change in this league.
Come Thursday, everyone in the top 12 bar Ipswich Town will have played 38 games, and there will just be eight games and 24 points left to play for.
Everyone is then in action over the course of this weekend, in the final round of fixtures before the international break. When we return after that, it’ll be the pivotal Easter weekend and the end will be in sight.
Here’s the fixtures to keep an eye out for this week
Monday night: Portsmouth vs Derby – Fratton Park – 8pm
Tuesday night: Watford vs Wrexham – Vicarage Road – 7:45pm
Wednesday night: Southampton vs Norwich City – St Mary’s – 7:45pm
Here at Hull Live , we are dedicated to bringing you the best Hull City coverage and analysis. Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest City news by joining our free WhatsApp group.
You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe. You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.