What a difference a month makes. After appearing to be falling behind and potentially setting themselves up to fail in the fight to stave off relegation, Hull has hit back under head coach Marco Silva to move up to 18th and just a point off of safety.

The club has claimed seven points from their last 12 in the league, conceding just three goals in four games with Eldin Jakupovic continuing to perform magnificently in the Hull goal.

Silva has turned the KCOM Stadium into a special place for the team, winning each of their last four games at the ground. Hull have seven home games left in the league, a maximum of 21 points – including matches against relegation rivals Swansea and Sunderland. The hardest game of the lot includes the final day match against Tottenham Hotspur.

As many rival fans may point out, the club did claim seven points from the opening four games of the season, but things appear to be different this time around.

The Portuguese has apparently changed the way players train, brought players he wants into the club, and started to put the Hull fans into delirium. He has even got their loan signing Oumar Niasse scoring, something Everton fans may have been unsure of after not scoring during his first seven games at the Merseyside club.

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This relegation battle looks to be one of the tightest in years as the Premier League continues to produce random results. Sunderland and Crystal Palace currently reside in the relegation zone alongside the Tigers, while Swansea, Leicester and Middlesbrough just have their heads above the water.

The latter two clubs could be in some danger, with Middlesbrough not making many transfers in January and Leicester appearing to be in a situation not too dissimilar from last year. For a large amount of time in the 2015-16 season, the Foxes appeared to be strolling to the title, but now they appear to be reversing at the same pace.

Hull face both clubs in two more relegation six-pointers, travelling to the King Power Stadium on March 4 and inviting Boro to the KCOM on April 4. Things could change for either of these rivals by the time these games come around, but maintaining optimism from the last four weeks can prove as a great fillip.

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These clubs also have a possible distraction down the road. Leicester still faces a home game against Derby in an FA Cup fourth round replay and if they join Boro in the fifth round, the prospect of putting a focus on an unlikely cup run increases.

The reigning champions also face Sevilla in the last 16 of the Champions League and could look to wholly deliver a second shock in the last two years. Hull, meanwhile, just have 14 Premier League games remaining with just one game a week for Silva to prepare the team for thoroughly.

Previous games have also shown the Tigers’ ability to compete with these teams. Hull beat Leicester 2-1 on the opening day of the season, while they just narrowly lost to Middlesbrough 1-0 in December in one of the better away results of the first half of the campaign. They also drew 3-3 with Palace, with the only massive anomaly being their disappointing 3-0 defeat at Sunderland in November.

As games against teams in the top-half disappear after playing the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal and they no longer set up as underdogs, they just need to extend the form and keep the journey ticking along.

Can Hull now stay up?

Yes

No