The season’s early surprise package, Hull City, go for three wins on the spin when they host Aston Villa on Saturday and yesterday, boss Sergej Jakirovic spoke on the challenges of facing something of an unknown quantity after so much transfer activity at Villa Park.
Ezri Konsa, Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans, Lucas Digne, Emi Martinez and Ollie Watkins have all moved on during the summer while Unai Emery’s side have brought in a raft of new faces – with former Chelsea forwards Nicolas Jackson and Alejandro Garnacho, Swiss World Cup star Johan Manzambi, new goalkeeper Zion Suzuki and former Manchester United full-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka hoping to make their mark.
‘It’s been a great start to joining the league for us, but we are always looking forward and we have a new challenge in Aston Villa,’ Jakirovic said.
‘It’s a difficult game for us, Aston Villa might not have had a great start because there’s been a lot of change and they’ve lost several excellent players. Maybe they need more time but we have our own goals and we will do everything we can to take something from the match.
‘This is a very demanding league, so no matter if they have zero points or six points, they will be a difficult opponent.
I’m aware that they will need time because they have signed 10 new players and they lost seven players that to me were excellent players.
‘They need time but they are still dangerous, especially with players like (John) McGinn, who has very high levels of individual qualities. Our performance must be excellent.’
