Norwich City v Hull City: Tigers intent on ensuring Canaries draw another blank

Hull City's Kevin Stewart, right, battles with Norwich City's Emi Buendia during the sides' goalless draw at KCOM Stadium last November (Picture: Simon Cooper/PA Wire).

The Tigers head to Norwich City on the back of a run on the road that few saw coming when a 2-0 victory at Leeds United brought the curtain down on 2018 in fine style.

That triumph at Elland Road was Hull’s fourth win in six away games, but since then the East Riding club’s record has tailed off horribly.

Just one point has been claimed from a possible 15 away from the KCOM Stadium, Hull’s troubles underlined by those five outings having seen 15 goals conceded.

“We were the last team to keep a clean sheet against Norwich when we played them at home,” said Adkins, whose side drew 0-0 at home to the Canaries in late November.

“But they are up the top of the league for a reason. We have got to be right at the top of our game to give ourselves an opportunity there, but it is a game we should look forward to.

“We defended well when we last played them, we had a good solid shape about ourselves.

“It was like that against Nottingham Forest (on Saturday) until they scored a wonder strike to change the complexion of the game.”

Hull’s 3-0 defeat at the City Ground was a big blow to hopes of a late charge for the play-offs that had been raised by back-to-back home wins over Millwall and Birmingham City the previous week.

Adkins added: “Norwich are excellent. It was good performance from us in a nil-nil game and no side has managed to stop them scoring since.

“They are a very good passing side, we have seen that, and if we are not compact then they will give us problems.

“I watched them on Friday night (a 1-0 win over Swansea) and I thought it was a very good game. Two teams that wanted to pass the ball out from the back, playing with attacking flair and looking to make the pitch very big to create spaces.

“We have to make sure we put ourselves in a position to win the game by keeping a clean-sheet. At the weekend, for 70 minutes of the game, we were very good in that.”

Evandro and Fraizer Campbell are in contention for a start after coming off the bench against Forest following two games out through injury.

Last six games: Norwich City WLWWWW Hull City WLLWWL.

Referee: A Madley (West Yorkshire).

Last time: Norwich City 1 Hull City 1; October 14, 2017; Championship.