Preston North End v Hull City - Struggling Tigers can’t afford to dwell on past

The Tigers are without a victory in seven Championship matches and have plummeted down the table since the turn of year, their play-off hopes evaporating following a disastrous and demoralising sequence of results.

Yet, the former Barcelona and Arsenal trainee insists that dwelling on what has gone before will do City no good as they seek to arrest their seven-week winless run at Preston North End this afternoon (3pm).

“When you go on a run with no wins, it can be tough, but we can’t look too much at that and worry about what has gone on in the past,” Toral said.

“We just need to focus on the next game rather than results that haven’t gone our way.

“It’s a busy week ahead with three games in the space of seven days, but our only focus is on Saturday’s game right now.

“We’ve trained well for a full week and everyone is ready and raring to go at Preston.

“We’ve shown we can compete against anyone in this league and we’ll go to Deepdale with the sole intention of getting back to winning ways.”

Toral himself has more reason than most to want to put the last few months behind him.

A knee injury sustained at Fulham back in November kept him out of action until the middle of this month, when he was finally able to return to training.

“I’ve had a rough time with injuries since I’ve been at the club, but I just want to focus on the future. My knee is fixed and I’m ready to go again,” he added.

“Hopefully I can hit the ground running and help the team. There are 13 games to go in the season and I just want to enjoy every single bit of it on the pitch.”