Hull City Secures Second Win in Premier League

Ollie McBurnie walked through the mixed zone with a grin and a line ready.

"To say we're the worst team in Premier League history, it's not a bad start from the boys," he said, happily poking fun at those who had written Hull City off before a ball was kicked.

Two games in, two wins, and the Tigers are staring down at most of the division from second place. Dreamland. And this one, a late 1-0 victory at Coventry, felt very different to the opening-day shock against Manchester United.

That first win was all adrenaline and adventure. This was something else entirely: stubborn, disciplined, awkward. The kind of performance that keeps you in the league.

Tigers show their teeth

Winning away at the CBS Arena, against a side many have pegged as a direct relegation rival, gives Hull more than just three points. It hands them something far more valuable in August: belief.

"We don't feel we have anything to prove to anyone. No-one has given us the Premier League, we have all earned it," McBurnie insisted. "We're there on merit, we deserve to be there, we don't have anything to prove to anyone. It's been a great start."

He chose his words carefully, refusing to get carried away. The away end did not. "We're going to win the league," boomed out from the travelling fans, half joke, half wish, all joy.

History offers a more sober note. Only three teams have ever gone down from the Premier League after winning their first two games. One of them was Hull themselves in 2016-17, the others Wolves in 2011-12 and West Brom in 2017-18. Fast starts can fade quickly.

But this Hull side looked built for the fight. Semi Ajayi bossed the back line, a hulking presence who repeatedly snuffed out Coventry’s attacks as the Sky Blues ran out of ideas. In front of him, Nobel Mendy and Lucas Gourna-Douath imposed themselves physically and aerially, towering over the midfield. McBurnie, as ever, annoyed and harassed, refusing to let Coventry settle.

This is not just a nice little run. Hull are the first promoted side in nine years to win their opening two Premier League matches, since Huddersfield stunned Crystal Palace and Newcastle in 2017-18. The Terriers stayed up that season by four points. That sort of margin is exactly what boss Sergej Jakirovic is chasing.

His team did not sparkle here. For long spells they struggled to create, the game drifting, the visitors seemingly happy to contain. Then came Liam Millar.

Millar’s moment, Mendy’s frustration

With the clock ticking into the 82nd minute, Millar, on from the bench, delivered the decisive blow. Hull had grown in belief as Coventry’s agitation mounted, and when the chance came, the substitute took it.

Before that, there had been a flash of frustration. Mendy, Hull’s record signing, reacted angrily to being withdrawn on the hour, throwing his hands up and pulling his shirt over his head as he trudged off. It spoke to the tension in the game and the standards being set inside this squad.

Coventry had nearly 70% of the ball. It never really mattered. They probed, they passed, they pushed Hull back, but they rarely found a way through. The longer it stayed goalless, the more it suited the visitors.

"The longer the game was 0-0 the pressure was more on them to win the game. A draw was not a bad result for us," McBurnie said. In the end, they got far more than that.

Sky Blues hit by early reality check

For Coventry, 25 years of waiting for another shot at the Premier League was never supposed to start like this.

All that anticipation, all that build-up, and after two games they have nothing to show but a harsh reminder of what this league does to you. A 3-0 opening defeat at Arsenal could be filed under “expected.” Losing at home to a fellow promoted side? That stings.

This was the fixture that had been circled when the schedule dropped. Arsenal away, Manchester City away to come – Hull at home in between looked like the chance to get something on the board. Instead, owner Doug King watched grimly from the stands as Millar’s strike on 82 minutes slipped the game away.

Coventry at least have precedent to cling to. Ten promoted teams have lost their first two Premier League games and still survived, most recently Aston Villa in 2019-20. But that kind of stat only soothes you for so long. Improvement has to follow.

They scored 97 goals on their way to the Championship title last season. Right now, that cutting edge has deserted them, and Haji Wright’s thigh injury, which will keep him out for weeks, only deepens the problem.

Seven of the starting XI here also began last season’s goalless draw with Hull on the opening weekend of the Championship campaign. Familiar faces, familiar patterns, but a very different stage – and a nervousness that Frank Lampard spotted immediately.

"This season was always going to be very different to last season but I sensed a bit of edge, that quality of pass and playing safe rather than play forward," he said. "Maybe that is apprehension.

"I don't like the excuse of it. Last week that was valid because of the level of opposition, the occasion, 25 years out and a lot of debuts. We shouldn't use it as an excuse today.

"It's a game against a team we played twice last year and we finished a lot of points above them. The Premier League gives that edge and we will have to get used to that and quickly.

"The lesson is don't expect anything in the Premier League. It depends how much you want it to be (a mental blow). There are 36 games left, we're two games in. It depends how you want to react to defeats."

Early blows, long season

Ashley Williams, who knows this journey from his Swansea days, did not sugar-coat the psychological hit.

"They blitzed the Championship last year and were full of confidence coming into the season. But after two defeats everything suddenly becomes that much harder," he said on BBC’s Final Score. "As players, you look at the table and it's not nice when you are at the wrong end of it. Straight away they'll see they are already six points behind Hull and that's a real kick in the teeth."

All those little doubts start to kick in so they've got to get to work and figure it out fast and I'm sure Frank Lampard will do that. However, Manchester City away next up is far from ideal.

For Hull, the picture is very different. The same table that will gnaw at Coventry’s confidence will fuel the Tigers’ belief. Second place. Two wins. One statement against Manchester United, one grind at Coventry.

Their survival chances were dismissed the moment they edged past Middlesbrough in the play-off final. Now they have points, a platform, and a dressing room that clearly believes it belongs.

The question is no longer whether Hull can handle the Premier League. It’s how long they can keep riding this wave before the league swings back and asks its hardest questions in return.