City to name ‘strong’ side against Everton, despite injury setbacks
BACK IN CONTENTION: Tom Huddlestone. Picture credit: Hull City
Hull City will field a “strong” side against Premier League Everton in the Emirates FA Cup on Saturday, as they look to dump Rafael Benitez’s side out of the competition on live TV.
The Tigers welcome Everton to the MKM Stadium [KO 5.30pm] in one of the most attractive draws of the Third Round, which will be screened on the BBC.
The Toffees are struggling for form and visit a resurgent City, who over the last eight games have been the fourth best performing side in the Sky Bet Championship.
But it is mixed news on the injury for City, with boss Grant McCann able to welcome back veteran midfielder Tom Huddlestone and senior goalkeeper Matt Ingram, but being without a number of key players.
The missing players include:
Striker Josh Magennis, who has a “fatigue” hamstring injury, but should be fit to face Stoke in the league on January 15;
Defender Callum Elder, who will be out for the rest of the month with a groin injury;
Forward Mallik Wilks, sidelined for eight weeks with a metatarsal injury.
The Tigers will nonetheless be looking to impose themselves on Everton, with McCann telling a press conference today: “We’ll be strong. We’re in good momentum. Yes, over the last three or four games we’ve lost two and drawn two.
“I think if you look at the bigger picture on it, we got robbed at Nottingham Forest, we got robbed in the game at Bristol City - we should have had a free-kick in the last minute - and another controversial decision has cost us the game at Blackpool, so in momentum, the way we’ve been over the last four games I think we’ve showed real resilience about us to win four, draw two, and yes we’ve lost a couple, but the form has been good.
“And we want to try and continue with the momentum of that sort of performance, so it’s important to pick a good team.”
He added: “We see it as an opportunity to try and go through. We don’t go into any game thinking, ‘Ah, it’s a Premier League team, it’s just nice to be on the pitch with them’. We want to try and go through, we want to try and get into the Fourth Round.
“We understand they are littered with quality all through their team, but we’re at home, we’re expecting a big following from the home fans to come to the game. It’s live on TV. You know, we want to go and give it a go and see if we can get ourselves into the next round.”
McCann said he had loved the magic of the FA Cup since he was a boy, and revealed he had watched City’s Cup Final appearance at Wembley against Arsenal in 2014 in the Tigers end, albeit with a neighbour who was a Gunners fan.
Saturday’s tie also brings the tantalising prospect of reuniting star City midfielder George Honeyman with Everton and England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who have known each other since coming through the ranks at Sunderland.
Honeyman told reporters he has known Pickford since he was 11, and the pair have been in contact on social media, although it was not known yet if Pickford was playing.
“That was the first thing when the tie got pulled I was looking forward to,” Honeyman said.
“To be honest I just hope that he plays. We’ve been texting each other, I don’t think he quite knows one way or another yet. But I’m sure he’s going to come anyway. I can’t wait for a catch-up, it’s been too long.
“It’s going to be weird. I played with the lad since I was 11 years old and we ended up in the Premier League together; we’ve had a nice journey so far and I’m looking forward to seeing him.”
He added: “With Jordan, I knew from about 15 years old he was going to be England’s Number One. He’s the only keeper I knew where people would actually come watch our games just to watch the keeper’s distribution.
“So you must be a half-decent keeper if you’re bringing in spectators. I don’t think there’s many keepers bringing in spectators at that age.
“I’m looking forward to seeing him on Saturday. I’m hoping he plays and I hope I stick one past him, to be honest. That would be quite nice. I’d give my right hand for that.”