MK Dons v Hull City: Bruce insistent Tigers must retain their focus

Eldin Jakupovic, who helped Hull City win their League Cup penalty shoot-out, will be a substitute against MK Dons.

The Tigers make their first trip to stadium:mk sitting second in the Championship after back-to-back home wins over Ipswich Town and Birmingham City.

Hull also claimed a second Premier League scalp of the campaign after knocking Leicester City out of the Capital One Cup to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in the club’s history.

It means there is a feel-good factor surrounding Hull, but Bruce has warned there can be no room for complacency today despite the Dons lowly position.

“We have had a good week or 10 days,” said the Tigers’ chief. “We have beaten Ipswich, we have beaten Birmingham and we have beaten Leicester.

“Now we are going to MK Dons and everyone fancies us to do something there. So, this is where we have to remain focused on the job.

“MK Dons are a good side. They get the ball and try to play. They are expansive and, looking at them in more detail this week, I think there has only been one game this season where the opposition has had more possession than them.

“It will be a difficult game and, again, we have got back-to-back Saturday-Tuesday games, which is what the Championship is all about.

“We have had a good week. We are playing well at the moment and long may that continue. But we can’t lose our focus.”

Hull are unbeaten in nine games and Bruce is expected to return to the starting XI that performed so admirably in beating Birmingham a week ago.

That will mean disappointment for Tom Huddlestone and Mohamed Diame, who both came in to start against Leicester in Tuesday night’s penalty shoot-out triumph. Sone Aluko is again missing with a side injury sustained in the warm-up against the Blues, while Curtis Davies is also still out with a calf problem.

Both Robert Snodgrass, who last played on the opening day of the 2014-15 campaign, and Adama Diomande have trained this week. Neither has suffered a reaction but Bruce’s plan remains to only consider the pair once the upcoming international break is out of the way.

Eldin Jakupovic returns to the bench despite his shoot-out heroics in earning Hull a quarter-final tie at Manchester City on December 1.