Grant McCann insists Hull City's lofty league position is 'irrelevant' ahead of clash with struggling Shrewsbury Town

Having won four of their last five in the league, the in-form Tigers host struggling Shrewsbury at the KCOM Stadium on Saturday, though their head coach is anticipating anything but an easy game.

"Being top of the table is irrelevant at this stage," McCann said.

"What I would say is that it's been a good start, but that's all it is.

"We have to keep going. We have to keep the foot on the pedal and keep motoring along.

"We've got a tough test coming up at the weekend. From the outside looking in, people will think 'it's first against second-bottom' but they've got a manager in there now in Steve [Cotterill] who is very, very experienced. I know him very, very well, his teams are very organised.

"They've picked up a couple of good performances and results over the last few weeks, so every game is a challenge. It really is and we have to be right."

McCann is likely to be without attacker Martin Samuelsen for Saturday's showdown with the Shrews due to a calf problem, while targetman Tom Eaves is awaiting the results of a Covid-19 test result which will determine whether he can be involved.

Midfielder Dan Batty is set to resume training today (Thursday) and thus could come into contention.