Grant McCann fears getting ‘hammered’ if Hull City repeat derby flop against Leeds United

That is the view of Tigers chief Grant McCann, who wants to see his players “roll their sleeves up and fight” following a meek showing during their midweek defeat to struggling Barnsley.

Wednesday’s loss extended City’s winless run into a 10th match, while, by contrast, the Whites have won three on the bounce without conceding a single goal.

“We’ve got a very, very tough game on Saturday. One of the best teams in the league are coming here,” said McCann.

“If we perform like we did [versus Barnsley] then we’ll get hammered. That’s exactly what I’ve told the group.

“We intend to roll our sleeves up and fight. At the minute, what we’re doing isn’t enough so there will be some changes to the way we approach the game.

“We want to make sure we give a really good account of ourselves.

“We’ll stay focused and stay away from the negativity. Nobody outside the building will give us a chance, and rightly so, but we’ve caused a few upsets this season.”

If City are to upset Leeds, then they will have to do so without the services of at least nine first-team players.

Centre-half Jordy de Wijs and midfielder Jon Toral both picked up muscle injuries against Barnsley and join defender Reece Burke on the sidelines after he limped out of training earlier in the week.

Tom Eaves and James Scott won’t play again this term, while Eric Lichaj, Herbie Kane, Josh Bowler and Angus MacDonald also remain out. Winger Keane Lewis-Potter is rated doubtful.

“It’s tough, it’s never easy losing players but we can’t keep dwelling on it, we have to focus on the group we have,”McCann added.