Hull City left Stamford Bridge on Saturday night unbeaten after four Premier League games, with eight points and a place in the upper reaches of the table. The 2-2 draw with Chelsea, in which Mohamed Belloumi scored twice for the visitors before João Pedro rescued a point, followed wins over Manchester United and Coventry and a draw with Aston Villa.
Sixteen months ago, Hull avoided relegation to League One on goal difference. Four months ago, they needed a last-minute goal from Oli McBurnie at Wembley to win the Championship playoff final. Three weeks ago, when the pre-season predictions were published, they were tipped to threaten Derby County’s record for the worst ever points tally in the Premier League. It is the speed of that transformation that makes their start so striking.
The scepticism was not unfounded. On the final day of the 2024-25 Championship season, Hull travelled to Fratton Park in the bottom three, their campaign reduced to 90 minutes against Portsmouth. A 1-1 draw, combined with Luton’s defeat to West Brom, preserved their status — but only on goal difference.
Rebuilding after a season like that would have been difficult enough; Hull were not able to rebuild at all. A transfer embargo, imposed after the club failed to pay Aston Villa £1m for Louie Barry’s loan fee, meant the side that had scored the fewest goals in the Championship — 44 in 46 matches — could not be strengthened. Manager Rubén Sellés, appointed only five months earlier, was soon shown the door.
Sergej Jakirovic took charge at the start of last season and led Hull to a sixth-place finish, 73 points and the playoffs. They scored just 70 goals along the way, while Coventry, for context, collected 95 points and scored 97. The underlying numbers were less encouraging still: had their matches been decided by expected goals, Hull would have finished second-bottom, and they shipped 66 goals, the fourth-worst defensive record in the division. Promotion was secured at Wembley through McBurnie’s late goal.
What has followed is a lesson in continuity. Hull did not dominate the ball in the Championship — their average possession of 45% was the fifth-lowest in the division — and in the Premier League that figure has fallen to 29.4%, comfortably the lowest in the league. As the assistant manager, Dean Holden, said after the opening-weekend win over Manchester United: “We are comfortable without the ball. It is not like we are coming up here having dominated the Championship and now we have to change.”
The attacking approach is unchanged too: long, vertical and direct. The first phase is usually a long ball into McBurnie, with midfielders then looking to win the second ball and switch play to the wings, often towards left wing-back Ryan Giles. Hull attempted the second-most long passes in the Championship last season (3,057) while making the fewest passes per sequence (2.5); this season they again rank second for long passes (237) and first for fewest passes per sequence (2.46). Giles, 10th for crosses in the Championship with 207, is third in the Premier League this season with 28.
The defensive plan has carried over as well. Hull conceded the fourth-most goals in the Championship last season but did not let one in across their first three Premier League matches. Jakirovic has kept the 5-4-1 that shut out Millwall and Middlesbrough in the playoffs: a mid-to-low block, tight gaps between the lines, opponents forced wide, and the next contact in the box won. Regan Slater and Matt Crooks screen in midfield, John Egan and Semi Ajayi handle the physical battles in front of the goalkeeper, and summer arrivals such as Nobel Mendy have added further physicality to the backline. Hull’s 53.8% ground-duel success rate is the sixth-highest in the Premier League, and their 52.3% success rate in the air also ranks sixth.
The summer did bring spending of around £150m, but eight of the starting XI at Stamford Bridge were part of last season’s promotion-winning squad. Jakirovic believes the hardship of the previous year helped forge that unit. “Maybe it was the best that it happened like this,” he said of the embargo. “This group of players became even closer. They had to stick together and help each other.”
Nobody at Hull is getting carried away. There are 34 games still to play, and the club’s own history is a warning: in 2008-09 they were third in the Premier League after nine matches and ended the season surviving relegation by a single point. Hull will not be competing with Arsenal and Manchester City come the end of May. For now, though, they can enjoy being in the upper reaches of the league.