Gallery: Hull City 2-0 Liverpool
Marco Silva has continued his great home form as Hull took a fourth consecutive win at the KCOM Stadium under his reign as head coach, defeating Liverpool 2-0.
Debutant Alfred N’Diaye, who joined Kamil Grosicki and Andrea Ranocchia in making their first starts for the club, capitalised from a Simon Mignolet goalkeeping error before Oumar Niasse scored his second goal in four games.
The club has now not lost at home since a 3-0 defeat to Man City on Boxing Day, while it is the side’s third straight win on their home turf against the Anfield side after 3-1 and 1-0 wins in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.
One of the big stories before the match was Ranocchia’s introduction into the starting XI after Hull captain Michael Dawson failed to start the match, pulling out of the warm-up with an injury. The already injury-hit Tigers will be hoping that his problem is not too serious.
The home side gave a respectful showing of themselves in the first half, putting to bed the 5-1 thrashing from earlier in the season at Anfield. One of their major threats revolved around Grosicki who tried desperately to find Abel Hernandez in the Liverpool box and was a constant threat.
Hull broke the deadlock as the first half came to end as Reds goalkeeper Mignolet made a mistake from a Harry Maguire header and allowed N’Diaye to slot the ball into the back of the net from close range for the first goal of his career in the English top-flight on his 17th appearance.
Liverpool put pressure on the Hull defence in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, with James Milner delivering many corners and Eldin Jakupovic making a vital save from Sadio Mane, finger-tipping a shot away from looping into his net. Philippe Coutinho also missed from just six yards out halfway through the second period, while Jordan Henderson’s shot from just outside the edge of the D was easily saved by his right hand.
Despite pushing hard and attacking the Hull half, the Reds couldn’t find a goal to hit back. Their day was made worse when Ranocchia found substitute Niasse who doubled the side’s lead at the end of a superb counter-attack.
Hull continued to remain resolute in defence in the final five minutes plus five minutes of stoppage time and Eldin Jakupovic took the side’s first back-to-back league clean sheets since beating the same side on 28 April 2015.
This result means that Hull moves up to 18th place in the league on 20 points, collecting half of the ‘magic 40-point total’ needed for all but securing survival. They are now just one behind 17th-placed Swansea and have put pressure on Middlesbrough and Leicester who are also on 21 points and yet to play this weekend.
Liverpool remains in fourth place on 46 points, now 13 points behind leaders Chelsea and facing a fight for a top-four finish.
Here are the best of the images from the game.