'˜Six-point' battles on horizon for Hull and Boro

STEVE BRUCE always swore by 10 victories. Others believe only 40 points will be enough.
GOING DOWN? Hull City manager Marco Silva. Picture: Mike Egerton/PA.GOING DOWN? Hull City manager Marco Silva. Picture: Mike Egerton/PA.
GOING DOWN? Hull City manager Marco Silva. Picture: Mike Egerton/PA.

Regardless of what does prove sufficient to stay in the Premier League this season, the finish line is very much within sight for the Yorkshire duo whose seat at the top table of English football is under threat.

As it stands, Hull City and Middlesbrough face an uphill task to remain part of the elite beyond May 21.

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Both White Rose clubs are in the bottom three and, thanks to the Tigers’ dreadful goal difference, more than one win adrift of safety. At a stage when the pressure is on and back-to-back wins such as those recently claimed by Bournemouth can lift a club clear of danger, such a gap can be difficult to bridge.

Is this how it will end?Is this how it will end?
Is this how it will end?

Ahmed Elmohamady, in his fifth season at Hull, needs no reminding of the last time the East Riding side dropped out of the top flight in 2015 and he admits the run-in can be a fraught time.

“You can’t predict a points target to stay up,” said the Egyptian international to The Yorkshire Post.

“It is impossible to do that in the Premier League.

“I was at the club two years ago when we were in this situation and it is hard to predict.

Is this how it will end?Is this how it will end?
Is this how it will end?
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“But I do believe we need to win all our home games. That has to be our target and then nick maybe a win away or a couple of draws. That will help keep us in the Premier League.”

Relegation is a costly business. Not only does dropping down a division inevitably wipe tens of millions off a club’s balance sheet, but it can also lead to huge upheaval behind the scenes.

Wage cuts, job losses and an exodus of players and coaching staff can all be consequences of returning to the Football League.

The stakes, therefore, could not be higher as the top flight takes a fortnight’s sabbatical for the international break before resuming on April 1.

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Straight away, the ‘six-pointers’ come thick and fast as Swansea host Boro a day after Sunderland tackle Watford in what will be one of four clashes with the bottom six for the side currently sitting 14th.

Midweek then brings another road trip for the Black Cats to Leicester City along with an all-Yorkshire showdown at the KCOM as Hull host Boro.

With Burnley due at the Riverside three days later, that first week back after the international break could go a long way towards deciding Boro’s fate.

If, say, seven points or more can be garnered from that trio of fixtures then a survival push will be on – especially as Sunderland still have to visit Teesside on Wednesday, April 26.

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Anything less, however, and Boro’s run-in looks sufficiently daunting – they face four of the top six plus Southampton and Bournemouth in those final seven games – to suggest the club’s Premier League adventure will be over after just one season.

Sunderland have become the top-flight’s great escapologist act in recent years and meetings with four of the bottom six offer hope of another late dash to safety.

The reality, though, is David Moyes’s men look a pale shadow of the sides that won those previous survival scraps and finishing the campaign with trips to play against Arsenal and Chelsea inside four days surely means the Black Cats’ luck is about to run out.

Like the Wearsiders, Marco Silva’s Tigers have been in the bottom three for several months. Unlike Moyes, however, Silva has inspired an upturn in results since his arrival in January.

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Five of six home league and cup games under the Portuguese have been won to leave Elmohamady suggesting a run-in that includes visits to the KCOM for West Ham, Boro, Watford and Sunderland before Spurs bring the curtain down on 2016-17 offers a possible route out of trouble.

“The home games will be huge,” added the Tigers winger. “Look at our record at home, it is very good – especially under the new manager.

“Swansea (who Hull beat 2-1 in their last home game) was a six-point game and there will be a lot like that. So, to get that win was important for everyone’s confidence.

“Everyone was smiling at the final whistle and we will have to remember this when we are at home again after the international break.”

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The final-day visit of Spurs apart, Hull’s home schedule does, indeed, look potentially helpful.

There is, though, very little margin for error, not least because a truly wretched away run hardly looks like improving any time soon thanks to the club’s next three trips being Manchester City, Stoke City and Everton.

Then comes a visit to Crystal Palace on a penultimate weekend of the season that will also see Swansea travel to Sunderland. If Hull are to arrive at Selhurst Park in with a shout of staying up then a maximum 12 points will surely have had to be collected from those home assignments – a tough ask for a team that has only won five league games in front of their own fans all season.

Palace’s own run-in is, on paper, the toughest with six of their remaining 10 games against teams in the top six.

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Hull’s visit to south London is the only time Sam Allardyce’s men will face another relegation rival this term and, like Swansea’s trip to the Stadium of Light on the same weekend, it is a fixture with potentially huge ramifications.

Neither game will be one for the faint-hearted and Hull goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic believes the key throughout the run-in will be staying relaxed.

“If you are relaxed then you play better,” added the former Swiss international. “If you are not relaxed, you think about some stuff that can distract you. You can make mistakes you would normally not make. The manager is good at keeping the pressure off us.

“Of course, we are getting less games now, but my goal and the goal for the team, city and club is to stay in the Premier League.

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“I don’t think we need 40 points to stay in the Premier League this year. I think 36 or 37 will be enough.”

Recent history suggests Jakupovic’s hunch will be correct.

In eight of the past 10 seasons the club occupying 18th place has finished with 37 points or fewer, Birmingham City (39) in 2010-11 and Sheffield United (38) the odd ones out by being relegated in the past decade. It will surely be the same again this time around and this correspondent, with a heavy heart, believes both Hull and Boro will be kicking off next season in the Championship along with Sunderland.