Sideways Sammy

Victory over Derby County on Friday night leaves Coventry City eight points away from a return to the Premier League, with six games remaining. It’s not quite in the bag yet but this team continues to jump over the hurdles in their path to leave the teams below them in the table requiring perfection to deny the Sky Blues their place in the top-flight next season.

Having to make a relatively long trip so shortly after what felt a momentous win on Friday may not be ideal but the benefit is that it leaves little time for Coventry to stew over the scenarios ahead of them. The hosts, Hull City, need a win here to keep in touch with the promotion race, while the Sky Blues know that any kind of positive result will nudge them closer to the end goal. This is a situation where a calm attitude needs to prevail for Coventry City.

Expected Line-Up

Starting Ephron Mason-Clark, Jack Rudoni and Haji Wright on the bench on Friday night proved an inspired move by Frank Lampard, leaving him with ace up his sleeve to utilise when the team needed a pep-up in the second-half while keeping that key trio fresh for what could be the tougher game out of the two Bank Holiday fixtures.

While there might be some concern over starting both Jack Rudoni and Haji Wright after extended spells out with injury, this could well be the last game this season where such risks are worth taking. The only downside to starting Rudoni, Mason-Clark and Wright is that it leaves the team with fewer game-changes to bring on from the bench, if that’s required, however, starting strong here could negate such a need. If Brandon Thomas-Asante were to be fit enough for a bench place here, there really would be no argument for not playing the strongest possible starting XI here.

Elsewhere, Frank Onyeka went down with a knock during the Derby County game and while he went on to last the entire 90 minutes, there has to be some concern as to whether he’s at full fitness. Again, this is a situation where the need to manage players’ minutes is much lower than the rest of the season and he’ll probably start here.

There’s probably a temptation to bring Joel Latibeaudiere back into the defence after his international travels. While Liam Kitching was far from terrible on Friday night, that pairing of Bobby Thomas and Latibeaudiere has looked the calmest duo Coventry City have had over the second half of the season and with this being a game that could go a long way towards getting the job of promotion done, Latibeaudiere could well be favoured here.

Last Time We Met

It back on the opening day of the season, when Coventry City’s expectations were firmly set on making the play-offs again, with the Sky Blues hosting Hull City on a sunny August afternoon at the CBS Arena. What played out was a dour stalemate between a Hull side that had clearly showed up to shut up shop and a Coventry outfit lacking the gumption to break them down.

The Opposition

The Manager – Sergej Jakirovic

The Bosnian has proved a smart managerial appointment for a Hull City that battled relegation last year and faced a (incredibly lenient) transfer ban last summer. While Hull have been something of a data outlier this season for their ability to convert chances at a freakishly high rate and keep them out at the other end, that gritty performance at the CBS Arena in August was not reflective of the kind of open, chaotic team that the Tigers have been this season.

It has to be noted that Hull City’s chaos factor has declined as the campaign has worn on. The defence has started to tighten up, while the attackers have taken confidence from scoring goals earlier this season to be more consistent threats throughout games. They are a team that likes to sit back then swarm forward together and always seems to have a knack of nicking a goal from somewhere.

Who To Look Out For?

The addition of experienced Championship centre-forward, Oli McBurnie, on a free transfer this summer looks to have been a key move to spark Hull City into one of the most clinical attacking units in the division. The forward’s physicality, hold-up play and penalty area instincts has helped get the best out of the hard-running Joe Gelhardt and Kyle Joseph, who have gone from raw attacking prospects into some of the best in the division.

The return to fitness of skilful winger, Mohamed Belloumi, has provided greater variation to Hull’s attacking play, beyond getting into McBurnie and looking for Joseph and Gelhardt to run into the gaps. The Algerian winger is an excellent ball-carrier who can drift inside and produce quality in his final ball to help open teams up who look to sit in against the Tigers.

At the back, the giant Semi Ajayi plays a key role at centre-back in trying to marshal the end-to-end nature of Hull City’s games, capable of using his lengthy frame to deny opponents with last-ditch efforts. Alongside him, former Coventry City transfer target, Charlie Hughes is excellent on the ball but has been left exposed for long periods this campaign due to the gaps the rest of the team leave around him.

In goal, Ivor Pandur’s shot-stopping has been another key reason why Hull City have defied the number of chances they let up to keep them on the fringes of the automatic promotion battle. The Croatian was rested on Good Friday but will return here, despite a strong performance from his stand-in, Dillon Phillips.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

Hull City are going to look to make this game chaotic and it’s Coventry City’s job to try and be calm amid that, trying to take advantage of the gaps that will leave at the other end. The Tigers are energetic and niggly in attack, capable of scoring goals from nowhere, so concentration will be key.

Having a plan to deal with Oli McBurnie’s physical presence is likely to be similar to how the Sky Blues dealt with Carlton Morris, then Patrick Agyemang, on Friday night, with one centre-back engaging physically and the other dropping off. The downside of that approach against Hull is that they have other forwards who can take advantage of the space that marking their centre-forward will open up. Matt Grimes and Frank Onyeka will have to be switched on trying to plug those gaps. In addition, Jay Dasilva is going to have to keep a close eye on opposing winger, Mohamed Belloumi.

At the other end, there will almost certainly be gaps and spaces for Coventry City to take advantage of. Teams have consistently found ways to get in behind Charlie Hughes specifically in Hull City’s defence, which should be the kind of thing that Haji Wright can make gains from with his pace and movement.