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Embrace Underdog Status – Team News For Chelsea

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Jackson Irvine has said that Hull City must embrace their underdog status when we face Chelsea on Friday evening and Nigel Adkins has given a team news update.

Heading to Stamford Bridge on Friday evening to face the reigning Premier League champions in the FA Cup fifth round tie, Irvine met with the press yesterday to give his thoughts on the tie and whilst he knew it would be incredibly difficult, he leant on previous experience where former club Ross County took a three one victory over Celtic in 2015/16 as they took a journey in the Scottish League Cup before lifting the trophy.

Speaking to the Official Site he explained.

‘I’ve been involved in upsets before, the big one being when I was at Ross County and we beat Celtic in the Scottish League Cup semi-final. There’s nothing better than doing it in the cup, so hopefully we can go down on Friday night, show plenty of belief and enjoy the occasion. These are the types of games that you’re involved in football for. Everyone wants to be involved in fixtures like this.’

The Australian went on to say.

‘It’s an exciting opportunity to play against a Club as big as Chelsea, who have a lot of talented players in their squad. Most importantly though, it’s an FA Cup tie that will hopefully provide us with the chance to cause an upset. Everyone would admit our main focus is on securing Championship safety, but at the same time a game is game and we want to win every game we’re involved in. We’re going to go out at Stamford Bridge and give it our all to try and get a result.’

Irvine knew that our best shot at a result and an upset was the play the typical underdog card and give Chelsea the kind of battle they don’t expect.

‘We know we’re going there as underdogs, but everyone loves an underdog. Cup competitions can always be a bit unpredictable and, if we can stay in the game long enough, hopefully we can go on and nick it. There`s no pressure on the team, we just have to stick together and give it our all and if we do that, you never know what can happen.’

With head coach Nigel Adkins’ pre game press conference already held, another piece of those interviews has now been released where he confirmed some selection headaches owing to players we have out for the match.

‘The three Chelsea lads can`t play, nor can Seb Larsson, so that`s four players who have been regulars for us. That gives other players an opportunity. I know what we`re going to do, but we`ll leave people to discover that when the teamsheet goes in 75 minutes before kick-off. It`s a challenging scenario, and like I`ve said we will need a little bit of cup magic to help us.’

Michael Dawson will be assessed late on with his groin injury and Kamil Grosicki is also a doubt.

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