Seven points from three games - are Hull on track to avoid relegation? — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Hull City have taken 7 points from their first 3 Premier League games — beating Manchester United and Coventry City before a 0-0 draw with Aston Villa — with 3 clean sheets leaving them 2 points behind pacesetters Manchester City
- Hull were the Premier League's busiest summer spenders with 18 new signings for approximately £150m, including £22m deadline-day midfielder Tim Iroegbunam from Everton
- History strongly favors their survival bid: no newly promoted side has been relegated after taking 7+ points from their opening 3 PL games, and only 3 of 78 teams to do so (4%) have gone down — Wolves 2011-12, West Brom 2017-18, and Leeds 2022-23
- Hull have had just 29% possession this season, the lowest in the division, with only West Ham in 2023-24 (27%) posting a lower figure over their first three matches since 2003-04
- Hull join Charlton (1998-99) and Huddersfield (2017-18) as the only promoted sides to keep clean sheets in each of their first three league games, anchored by a three-man defense of John Egan, Semi Ajayi, and Nobel Mendy
- Head coach Sergej Jakirovic signed a two-year contract extension on Friday and set a survival target of 38-40 points, with Hull having narrowly avoided League One relegation on goal difference just last season before winning promotion via the Championship play-offs
Why it matters: Hull's historically dominant start — 7 points, 3 clean sheets, no goals conceded — puts them in elite promoted-side company, with only a 4% historical relegation rate for teams matching their opening. But with a 38-40 point target to hit and a squad featuring 18 new signings, the £150m rebuild leaves little margin for the kind of regression that caught Wolves, West Brom, and Leeds after similar fast starts.
Ask SkimNews
