Hull City looking to finish season on a high against playoff contenders Nottingham Forest

Hull City will welcome Nottingham Forest to the MKM Stadium this Saturday as they wrap up their Championship campaign following promotion from League One last summer.

It’s been an eventful but ultimately successful first season back in the second tier after a concerning start to the season and worries that they would struggle to make the step up over 46 games.

City were in the bottom three until late October, when Grant McCann’s side started to find their feet at Championship level. With the influential George Honeyman returning from injury and the likes of Sean McLoughlin drawing confidence against tougher opposition, The Tigers became a different proposition after picking up a vital win before the November international break.

Four wins on the bounce lifted them out of the bottom three, but a 2-1 defeat, ironically at The City Ground in mid-December, started another tense period of worrying defeats.

On the back of a difficult festive period leading into early January, optimism was rising off the pitch with the takeover of Turkish businessman Acun Ilicali on the brink of being completed.

Whilst that may have begun to affect matters on the pitch, Grant McCann managed to galvanise his players once more to pick up some important wins against Blackburn Rovers and Bournemouth to take them clear of the bottom three once more.

With the takeover completed and The Allam family no longer in control, the feeling of despondency lifted and the home support have fully embraced a new beginning of the club.

Sadly for McCann though, his tenure was to come to an end, with plans already thought through by the new owner. He was replaced by ex-Glasgow Ranger Shota Arveladze.

The Georgian initially hit the ground running with 2-0 win over Swansea City, but from that point on, results have stuttered, particularly at home, where City have really struggled for form.

It promises to be an interesting summer with survival secured and whether the owner will look to put some serious investment into the first-team squad. Will there be an overhaul, or will it be tweaked?

City have suggested at times, particularly during crucial battles, that they have got the nucleus of a young squad to take the club forward.

Keane Lewis-Potter has been their standout player with eleven goals and four assists. The 21-year-old was recognised for his achievements at the recent end of season awards night, picking up Player of the Season, Players’ Player and Supporters accolades.

Defender Jacob Greaves has not been far behind him in the pecking order; he also picked up an award for the club’s Young Player of the Season. Captain Richie Smallwood has been a key man in the midfield and was crucial in picking the team up on the pitch when signs were looking ominously towards the drop zone.

With no fresh injury concerns, Arveladze revealed when speaking to club media that they will be looking to finish their season on a high and leave the fans with plenty of optimism for the next campaign.

“No (injuries were picked up against Bristol City). It was a painful game for us. It was very hard (to accept) but we’ve got another game which is important. It’s our last game of the season at home.

“Apart from against Bristol City, I think we’ve done well and in front of our own supporters this will be a nice game.”

Nottingham Forest will need to put Tuesday’s disappointment behind them fairly quickly with the playoffs beginning next week. The Reds started to look leggy and carrying a few knocks against a strong Bournemouth outfit on Tuesday and it will be interesting to see what lineup Steve Cooper goes ahead with.

There will be an argument to keep the momentum going with the first team but having secured the playoffs, there may well be temptation to rest some key players. The squad have battled their way through a treacherous April fixture list that brought them within a whisker of securing automatic promotion.

“It’s always disappointing not to win a game of football, but what you’ve got to make sure you do whenever that happens is learn from it.

“You learn, you put it behind you, we now focus on Hull and then prepare for the play-offs which we are all really excited about.

“The teams that succeed are best defined by how they recover from setbacks. Any team that wants to succeed, you have bumps in the road along the way, so we embrace it.

“Our approach will be to go to Hull and to win. I want a winning team, I want a winning mentality, I want us to play well and play our way. It’s the last game of the domestic season and as usual we are taking a lot of fans, so we owe it to them to put in a good performance.”

Picking up key injuries to Keinan Davis and Lewis Grabban have been significant blows to contend with, but with Sam Surridge the only experienced striker at the tender age of 23, Forest cannot afford to lose any more firepower.

Davis’s physicality was missed against Bournemouth with his ability to hold the ball up and provide an outlet for Forest to get a foothold in the game.

Cooper may see it as an opportunity to field the likes of Joe Lolley, Alex Mighten, Xande Silva and Cafu, who have all been waiting patiently in the wings.

Canadian defender Richie Laryea may also be given a run out to get him more minutes of English football under his belt. If Forest were to draw Middlesbrough in the playoffs, Djed Spence would be ineligible to play, and so taking the opportunity to blood Laryea could be significant particularly up against the threat of Lewis-Potter in a free-hit of a fixture.

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