'Not ideal' - Hull City will be missing players for Charlton Athletic clash due to Covid-19

Tuesday's fixture against Lincoln City was postponed due to a number of positive coronavirus test results within the Tigers' camp, just 72 hours after Sunderland were forced to cancel their Boxing Day showdown with Grant McCann's team for the same reason.

The situation at the KCOM Stadium has improved over the last few days, meaning that this weekend's game will go ahead, though City will not be at anywhere near full-strength for the visit of Lee Bowyer's men.

"We had another round of testing on Tuesday and everyone has come back good, hence the reason we can start training today [Thursday] heading into the game against Charlton," head coach McCann revealed.

"It will be [a much-changed side], there will be some players missing because of the isolation.

“We are hoping to have a couple of players back. Whether they are going to be fit and available for the weekend, we’re not sure.

“We’ll see how they are over the next couple of days, but we will be missing some players. It’s not ideal for us really.

“It is what it is at this present time, we will be missing some, but we’ve got a big squad and there’ll be no excuses from us going into the game."

McCann would not be drawn on any specifics regarding availability for this weekend's clash with the Addicks, but did confirm that only one member of his squad remains sidelined through non-coronavirus-related injury.

“We can’t name the players, but we see all of them as players who can play in our first team, so it is a blow to lose them," the Tigers chief added.

“In terms of the injuries, Callum Jones is the only player still injured, so we’ll be welcoming back some of the players who were injured, which is good."

Asked whether influential midfielder George Honeyman would feature having missed the recent defeat to Blackpool and Portsmouth, McCann replied: “In terms of his injury, is he injury-free? Yes, he is.

“We will see.”

City's Covid-19 issues have meant that McCann and his charges have had to spend the last 10 days in isolation, but the Northern Irishman hasn't let anyone take it easy over the festive period.

"We haven’t seen each other for 10 days, but the players have worked hard on plans that we’ve set them," he said.

“We’ve been monitoring them every single day and they’ve put some really good distance into their legs, so we know we can push them and accelerate them Thursday and Friday ahead of the Charlton game.

“The good news is that the players who are isolating at this present time are on the mend and are getting better.

“We hope they’re back soon. We’ve got plans in place for them to return to training next week."