Town skipper: ‘Hull are where they are for a reason’

Ipswich Town captain Dara O’Shea has heaped praise on Hull City for their strong start to the season ahead of the Blues’ first-ever top-flight meeting with the Tigers at the MKM Stadium on Saturday.

Following a surprise promotion through the Championship play-offs in May, Hull have continued to defy the odds this term under boss Sergej Jakirović and find themselves inside the top half of the table after eight matches.

Despite being widely tipped as favourites for relegation, the East Yorkshire side won their opening two matches of the campaign and only three sides have conceded fewer goals in the Premier League to date.

Hull have collected 10 points so far this season, the same total with a greater goal difference than Town, while they remain undefeated on their own turf in nine matches stretching back to the early weeks of March.

“Hopefully an exciting game and a game where we come away with three points, for sure. We know how hard it’s going to be and how tough it’s going to be.

While both sides are comfortably in mid-table and currently four points clear of the bottom three, it is anticipated that the Blues and Hull will be among those battling for survival come the end of the season.

As a result, Premier League meetings between two newly promoted sides are often dubbed as a ‘six-pointer’, but O’Shea says he is putting no more emphasis on this weekend’s clash than any other.

Tigers boss Jakirović has received plenty of credit for his tactical approach during the opening months of the campaign, primarily adopting a 5-4-1 system and often forming into a low block.

Built upon a solid foundation at the heart of defence has been a vital part of their success so far, with Semi Ajayi one of two former team-mates of O’Shea’s playing a key role in their setup.

“He’s got massive athletic ability – really quick, really strong, a really good one-v-one defender, probably one of the best I’ve seen. It will be good to come back up against him.

Another important component has been the experienced John Egan, who O’Shea has played alongside for the Republic of Ireland national team.

Town head to Humberside off the back of last Friday’s 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest that followed a narrow defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

On the Blues’ recent form, O’Shea said: “The Premier League’s tough, you play against the best players in the world and the best teams in the world.

“Last week against Forest, we probably didn’t play the game we would have liked to play, but we came away with a point, and that’s important. We’ve got to take confidence from everything this season.

“To be able to stay in games and come away from games when you probably haven’t played your best stuff is a massive positive. It gives you time to look back at things and see what you can improve on, but to have those points on the board is definitely great for us.”

The clash against Forest at Portman Road marked a personal milestone for O’Shea, who started a Premier League match for the 100th time in his career.

On his shirt-ripping battle with former Blues striker Liam Delap, O’Shea added: “I know what Liam has to offer. I probably didn’t realise my shirt was going to get ripped like that.

“It’s quite funny, to be fair. Me and Liam had a joke about it afterwards. Definitely the first time.”