Predicted Hull City XI for Burnley with former Liverpool man in line to start

Hull City head coach Tim Walter will almost certainly make changes to his starting XI to face promotion hopefuls Burnley at the MKM Stadium this evening.

The Tigers boss made four changes to his starting XI for Sunday’s 1-0 home defeat to Sunderland, handing a home debut to Charlie Hughes and a debut to Bayer Leverkusen starlet Gustavo Puerta, while there were returns for Xavier Simons and Abu Kamara.

Former Liverpool wide man Liam Millar and Oscar Zambrano were among those dropped to the bench after a fair amount of travelling during the international break, joining Sean McLoughlin and Regan Slater.

The visit of Scott Parker’s Clarets will give City an immediate chance to recover from what they felt was a harsh defeat to table toppers Sunderland over the weekend. And the German head coach may well look to bring back Millar into the starting XI and be tempted to hand a full debut to Joao Pedro, who came off the bench in the closing stages at the weekend.

Hughes, in particular, caught the eye on his home debut, putting in a commanding display alongside Alfie Jones in the heart of the back four. His second start looks assured.

One area that will need to be tinkered with comes in midfield, with Walter yet to settle on a unit he feels confident in. Puerta was deployed alongside the returning Xavier Simons while Marvin Mehlem continued in his midfield role, but struggled to make an impact on the game. Mehlem was crucially overpowered in the build-up to the Mackem’s winning goal, though City felt aggrieved that referee Bobby Marley was caught in his way before he took receipt of the short corner routine. With Mehlem sidelined with a calf problem, Zambrano and Regan Slater are vying to replace him in the centre.

Discussion remains plentiful about £4m summer signing Ryan Giles, who was again absent from the starting XI, with right-sided Cody Drameh preferred at left-back above the former Luton Town and Middlesbrough ace.

Two players who will not be involved against the Lancashire side will be Carl Rushworth and Steven Alzate, with both ruled out having picked up injuries in training last Friday. But Abdus Omur could return from his hamstring injury to bolster Walter’s attacking ranks and there could be a place in the squad for Dogukan Sinik for the time in more than a year.

City’s predicated starting XI: Pandur, Drameh, Hughes, Jones, Coyle (c), Puerta, Slater, Zambrano, Millar, Bedia, Belloumi.