Preview: Hull City vs Oxford United - prediction, team news, lineups

On Sunday, Hull City will welcome Oxford United to the MKM Stadium for their first home outing of the Championship season.

The Tigers played out a goalless draw in their opener against Coventry City, while the U's failed to take anything from their home meeting with Portsmouth.

Match preview

Hull endured a stressful 2024-25 campaign, finishing just outside the bottom three on goal difference to secure another season of Championship football.

The Tigers decided to part ways with Ruben Selles and appoint Sergej Jakirovic following his exit from Turkish side Kayerispor.

Jakirovic started his first job in English football with a hard-fought goalless draw in last Saturday's away clash against Coventry City.

The 48-year-old then looked set to oversee his first victory as Hull in midweek, as he saw his team establish a 3-1 lead in their EFL Cup clash against Wrexham thanks to goals from Oli McBurnie, Joel Ndala and Matt Crooks.

However, Ollie Palmer netted a stoppage-time brace before Wrexham won the subsequent penalty shootout to condemn Hull to a fifth consecutive round-one exit.

The Tigers may fancy their chances of producing a positive response on Sunday, having their opening home game of a league season in nine of their previous 13 campaigns (D2, L2).

Oxford are competing in the Championship for a second straight season after finishing in 17th place in their first second-tier campaign since 1998-99.

Gary Rowett steered Oxford to safety after taking over the reins in December, but his side were unable to take anything from the opening game of his first full season in charge of the club.

The U’s fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat in last Saturday’s home clash with Portsmouth, extending their winless head-to-head run to eight matches (W4, D4).

Oxford did at least produce a response in Tuesday’s EFL Cup tie against Colchester United, with Tyler Goodrham netting the decisive goal in a 1-0 win to set up a second-round meeting with Brighton & Hove Albion.

They are now focusing on their first away match of the season, with the visitors looking to avoid losing their opening two league games of a campaign for the first time since 2021-22.

Oxford’s hopes of emerging victorious from Sunday’s fixture will be tempered by the fact that they have failed to win any of their previous nine away league matches against Hull (D3, L6).

Hull City Championship form:

Hull City form (all competitions):

D L

Oxford United Championship form:

Oxford United form (all competitions):

L W

Team News

The hosts are unable to call upon the services of Eliot Matazo, Liam Millar, Mohamed Belloumi and Enis Destan.

Summer addition Semi Ajayi is set to miss four to six weeks after picking up a hamstring injury on the opening weekend of the season.

Captain Lewie Coyle is making progress in his recovery, although he remains a doubt for Sunday’s home fixture.

As for the visitors, they are unable to call upon Luke Harris and Ole Romeny due to ankle problems, while Ciaron Brown is working on his recovery from a knee injury.

The U’s are also expected to be without summer signing Brian De Keersmaecker and attacker Przemyslaw Placheta.

Nik Prelec is unlikely to feature as he continues to build up his fitness following his arrival on loan from Cagliari earlier this month.

Hull City possible starting lineup:

Pandur; Drameh, Egan, Hughes, Giles; Crooks, Lundstram; Gelhardt, Slater, Ndala; McBurnie

Oxford United possible starting lineup:

Cumming; Spencer, Moore, Helik, Leigh; Brannagan, Goodrham; Mills, Lankshear, Dembele; Harris

We say: Hull City 2-0 Oxford United

Hull may have failed to win their opening two matches of the season, but they have won each of their last three home games against Oxford, and with that in mind, we think that they will make full use of home advantage again to claim a relatively comfortable win on Sunday.

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