Hull City v Brentford - Match preview, kick-off time & more

Brentford face Hull City at MKM Stadium in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon (2pm kick-off GMT, live on Sky Sports).

Keith Andrews' side fell to their first loss of the campaign, against Liverpool, last time out, while the Tigers have picked up an impressive nine points from their opening seven fixtures back in the top flight.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more - here's everything you need to know ahead of the game.

Pre-match analysis

Stephen Gillett, Playmaker Stats: Midfield creativity could be key

Brentford travel to Humberside to take on Sergej Jakirović's Hull City this Sunday, with the Tigers looking to bounce back after a narrow loss at Fulham.

Promoted via the Championship play-offs last season, Hull have made a flying start after a nine-year absence from the top flight, recording back-to-back wins over Manchester United and Coventry. The Tigers followed up those victories with creditable draws against Aston Villa, Chelsea and Everton, and they currently sit ninth in the Premier League, a point behind sixth-placed Brentford.

Incisive, direct football and defensive resilience have underpinned the Tigers' strong showing on their return to the top tier, but their Bosnian head coach was scathing in his assessment of last weekend's 1-0 defeat at Fulham.

"We were very, very poor," admitted Jakirović. "We collapsed together; it's also my responsibility."

Dominated for much of that contest in west London, Jakirović has hinted at a shake-up of his starting XI, but will he tweak his tactics?

Thus far, the Tigers have allowed their opponents the lion's share of possession, defended deep and launched lightning raids forward, their threat from open play complemented by considerable set-piece strength.

Hull have averaged just 32 per cent possession this season, with their open-play sequences containing an average of only 2.53 passes. Brentford will therefore have opportunities to bring the ball down, but finding a way through the Tigers' well-organised defence could prove challenging.

Brentford are likely to need patience, precision and variation in their attacking play and, despite Vitaly Janelt and Yehor Yarmoliuk’s suspensions, their available midfielders appear well-suited to the challenge.

Mathias Jensen and Mikkel Damsgaard number among the most intelligent passers in the Premier League, and their ability to unlock deep-lying defences could come in very handy on Sunday. Mamadou Sangaré, meanwhile, impressed after his introduction as a second-half sub against Liverpool, and his energy and tenacity could provide the perfect foil for Brentford's Danish duo.

Hull have been particularly resilient at MKM Stadium, however, conceding just twice on home soil this season, a record bettered only by Brighton (one conceded). Remarkably, the Tigers have achieved this despite averaging just 29 per cent possession in front of their own supporters.

While Jakirović's side are comfortable defending deep, they are by no means passive out of possession.

Although the East Yorkshire side rank comparatively low for overall pressed sequences, they have proved particularly dangerous when winning possession in advanced areas.

Only Bournemouth, Everton and Ipswich have recorded more high turnovers leading to shots this season, while Hull's three goals from high turnovers are the most in the Premier League.

In this regard, Brentford would be wise to keep an eye on Hull's Algerian right winger Mohamed Belloumi, who already has three Premier League goals to his name this term.

Belloumi ranks joint-eighth for successful dribbles, alongside Chelsea's Cole Palmer, while his fierce work rate is reflected by the fact he is also fifth for tackles won.

That sort of appetite to compete and win duels will be paramount this weekend, as will quality and decision-making once the ball has been secured.

Scout report

Dan Long, Sky Sports: Hull on course for Premier League survival

As wild as it sounds now, Hull City were among the bookies’ favourites for relegation in the Championship last season.

They faced significant restrictions on transfer spending across the summer of 2025 and winter 2026, while Sergej Jakirović was a new manager without any prior experience in English football.

BBC Sport pundits Aaron Paul and Jobi McAnuff tipped them to finish 22nd and Opta’s supercomputer gave them a 16.7 per cent chance of finishing in the drop zone.

In the early weeks and months, that didn’t seem like too much of a stretch; they won only two of their first eight league games. But then Jakirović started to get a tune out of his band of brothers.

Their best period came between 10 December and 3 February. During a run of 11 games, they won eight, drew two and lost one, climbing as high as third, only four points behind leaders Coventry. But it didn’t last. They won four of the next 15 and a play-off place was only secured after a final-day comeback win at home to Norwich.

In the semi-finals, they left it relatively late, but beat Millwall 2-0 in the second leg, and on aggregate, to secure a place in the final. Initially, they thought they were going to be meeting Southampton at Wembley, but the ‘Spygate’ saga and Saints’ subsequent expulsion left them with just four days to prepare to face Middlesbrough following their reinstatement.

And just when a typically tepid final looked to be heading to extra-time, Oli McBurnie struck a 95th-minute winner to send the Tigers up for the first time in nine years. It was also the first time since 2010 that the team finishing sixth had gone on to win the play-offs.

While going up against all odds was inspiring, Hull were written off again prior to the beginning of this season. In response to the criticism, Jakirović said: “I’ve seen all the predictions, but it’s a great motivation to prove them wrong because we don’t have anything to lose.”

Two months into the season and they’ve done that in abundance already.

The Tigers stunned Manchester United at MKM Stadium on the opening weekend, held Aston Villa to a goalless draw a fortnight later, and have come from behind to draw 2-2 against both Chelsea and Everton.

They are under no illusions about the fact they are likely to be in the relegation picture, but they are building the foundations and picking up the points that will allow them to put up a fight.

If they maintain their current points-per-game average of 1.29, they would finish on 49 points - and no team has ever been relegated in a 38-game Premier League season having picked up 43 points. Opta’s supercomputer is currently predicting them to finish 15th.

It won’t be as simple as that, though. There will be rough patches - it’s inevitable.

But if Hull maintain their spirit - and there’s nothing to suggest they won’t - they will cause some problems.

In the Dugout

Sergej Jakirović

Sergej Jakirović had a long, nomadic playing career as a centre-back, which took him to Croatia, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia and Bulgaria. He earned five senior caps for Bosnia-Herzegovina and retired in 2017 after a second spell with Croatian lower league side Matija Gubec.

He quickly jumped into management with Croatian second-tier side Sesvete, for whom he had played over 60 league games across two separate spells. He guided them to a fourth-place finish in 2017/18, then moved on to the top flight with Gorica. They finished fifth in their first season after promotion, but he was sacked in February 2020. Just under two months later, he joined Maribor in Slovenia, but lasted just 13 games.

At the end of 2020, Jakirović took over at Zrinjski Mostar in the city of his birth and in 2021/22 - his only full campaign at the club - he was named Manager of the Season after guiding the club to the Bosnian Premier League title. He left in November 2022 and returned to Croatia, where he spent nine months with Rijeka, another of his former employers as a player.

Next came 13 months at Dinamo Zagreb, where he won the title and Croatian Cup double in 2023/24. A crushing 9-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in their first Champions League game of 2024/25 spelled the end of his time in the Croatian capital. He moved on to Kayserispor in Turkey in January 2025, but stayed only until early June, when he signed a two-year deal at Hull.

The Game plan

With James Hoggarth, BBC Radio Humberside

BBC Radio Humberside presenter James Hoggarth provides the lowdown on Hull.

"They are very good at shutting down spaces, very good at closing down on the ball and have been solid defensively so far," he told brentfordfc.com.

"That back three, particularly John Egan, who Brentford fans will know, has been resolute and very organised. Organisation is the key word.

"They have played with a back five effectively all season, with Lewie Coyle and Ryan Giles as overlapping full-backs.

"They are snappy in midfield and, if Matt Crooks plays, you can expect a tackle. If Tim Iroegbunam comes in, he will get on the ball and ping passes around to get things going.

"Ultimately, it is built on that organisational steel and, in that sense, starts from the back. You can even expect Oli McBurnie to be defending on corners and late on in the game, trying to win things and get under the skin.

"This is not a team that will kick you, by any means; it is just a team that is strong and plays for each other."

Last Premier League starting XI v Fulham (5-4-1): Tzolakis; Coyle, Ajayi, Egan, Herrington, Norton-Cuffy; Belloumi, Crooks, Slater, Thomas; McBurnie

Match Officials

Jones to oversee Tigers trip

Referee: Robert Jones

Assistants: Akil Howson and Alex James

Fourth official: Andrew Kitchen

VAR: Timothy Wood

Robert Jones will take charge of Brentford's first-ever Premier League game against Hull City.

The Merseyside referee has overseen 15 Bees games in his career so far, with the first dating back to 2017 and his most recent match involving the west Londoners being last season's trip to Tottenham Hotspur.

Jones has dished out 24 yellow cards in the seven games he has had the whistle for in 2026/27.