{"id":719083,"date":"2026-07-30T13:00:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/719083\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T13:00:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:00:24","slug":"fpl-promoted-teams-who-are-the-best-hull-attackers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/719083\/","title":{"rendered":"FPL promoted teams: Who are the best Hull attackers?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our three-part series on Hull City comes to an end with a look at the Tigers\u2019 attacking options.<\/p>\n

To provide a fan\u2019s perspective, we\u2019ve included insights from Danny MacDonald<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can read our articles on Hull\u2019s manager and defence via the links below.<\/p>\n

Data comes from StatsBomb and Fotmob.<\/p>\n

WHAT IS HULL\u2019S GOAL-SCORING POTENTIAL IN FPL?<\/p>\n

PWDLFAGDCSPTSOverall record462110157066+41173Home2311573534+1538Away2310583532+3635<\/p>\n

As we discussed in our previous piece on Jakirovic<\/a>, Hull were remarkably efficient in front of goal last season.<\/p>\n

The Tigers recorded the fifth-fewest shots of any team in the Championship (515), yet scored the fifth-most goals (70).<\/p>\n

A consequence of their counter-attack style in the second half of the season, they ranked eighth for non-penalty expected goals (xG) per 90 minutes (p90).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

However, nobody generated a higher xG per shot than Hull (0.13), so they clearly opted for quality over quantity, but will they have what it takes to score enough goals in the Premier League next season?<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a word, yes. We scored 70 goals in 46 games during the regular season, ranking fifth, with goalscorers throughout the side.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is worth noting (both for the attacking and defensive stats) that our tactical approach to games did alter between the first and second halves of the season. At the start (particularly at home), we adopted an approach akin to Ange-ball, with the idea that we had better attacking players than the opposition, which often led to very high scoring games that we mostly came out on top of.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis style was unsustainable in the longer-term and, after a bruising defeat to Middlesbrough at the start of December, we switched to being a team happy to give up the ball and instead hurt sides on transition. This approach resulted in games with fewer goals in them, although we were still able to hurt the opposition frequently when we had the ball.\u201d \u2013 Danny<\/p>\n

It\u2019s backed up by the numbers. The graphic below shows Hull\u2019s six-match rolling xG tally since the start of 2025\/26, with a visible drop-off in the second half of the season.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

THE PLAYERS<\/p>\n

2025\/26: APPS, GOALS AND ASSISTS<\/p>\n

PlayerPrimary position in 2025\/26Starts (sub apps)MinsGoalsAssistsOli McBurnieCF32 (5)2,907177Joe Gelhardt*AM\/RW35 (4)2,804144Kyle Joseph*LW27 (17)2,30285Matt CrooksCM28 (3)2,50244Liam MillarLW22 (11)1,83635Bachir BelloumiRW10 (12)93623Regan SlaterCM35 (7)3,15022Lewis Koumas*LW4 (13)62730Babajide AkintolaRW5 (15)51012Darko Gyarbi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0AM6 (14)69920Enis Destan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0CF4 (14)44320Amir Hadziahmetovic*CM26 (11)2,11902John Lundstram*CM16 (13)1,54110Joel Ndala*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LW10 (7)77810Kieran Dowell\u00a0AM1 (12)25910Yu Hirakawa*LW2 (5)27201*no longer at the club
**not including play-offs<\/p>\n

GOAL THREAT<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Joe Gelhardt (\u00a35.0m), who was on loan from Leeds United, netted 15 goals and was the top player for shots taken.<\/p>\n

However, Oli McBurnie (\u00a35.5m) was the standout performer in front of goal. Despite a two-month injury layoff, he chipped in with 18 goals, including the crucial winner in the play-off final against Middlesbrough in May.<\/p>\n

A consistent box threat, thanks in part to his heading ability, all of McBurnie\u2019s goals were from inside the penalty area.<\/p>\n

Hull\u2019s excellent season was driven by clinical finishing, with McBurnie playing a central role, netting 18 times from 12.05 xG\/9.7 NPxG.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s one thing we pride ourselves on is being clinical and being ruthless when we have chances. One thing as well we have the lads that create such good chances for us. I think a lot of the positions that we get ourselves in are going to be goals a lot more often than not. People like to speak about data and stuff, but points is the only data that matters to us and we\u2019ve got to ride on that.\u201d \u2013 Oli McBurnie<\/p>\n

Liam Millar (\u00a35.0m) and Kyle Joseph, both wide players, ranked third and fourth respectively for shots.<\/p>\n

Bachir Belloumi (\u00a35.0m) didn\u2019t play as much as he would have liked last season due to injury, but showed flashes of his quality on the right wing. With 3.12 shots and 1.53 key passes per 90, he is a player to monitor.<\/p>\n

ASSIST POTENTIAL<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

McBurnie not only topped the scoring charts for Hull, but also led the way for assists (seven) and key passes (37), further underlining his status as the Tigers\u2019 talisman.<\/p>\n

The majority of the opportunities he created were from open-play ground passes.<\/p>\n

Millar recorded the highest expected assists (xA) tally, while the central midfield pair Regan Slater (\u00a34.5m) and Matt Crooks (\u00a34.5m) also ranked among the top four in the above table.<\/p>\n

10 of Slater\u2019s 33 key passes came from set-pieces. \u00a0<\/p>\n

DEFCON POTENTIAL<\/p>\n

Crooks hit the defensive contribution (DefCon) threshold in two of his three play-off matches, our admittedly small sample size.<\/p>\n

The industrious midfielder is a real all-rounder in the middle of the park, with the potential to play in the pivot, as a box-to-box midfielder or higher up.<\/p>\n

OppositionPlayer (DefCons total)ClearancesBlocksInterceptionsTacklesRecoveriesMillwall (h)Crooks (13)
Slater (8)3
30
01
14
15
3Millwall (a)McBurnie (9)
Belloumi (9)
Slater (8)3
1
30
0
00
2
01
1
15
5
4Middlesbrough (n)Crooks (12)
Slater (10)3
10
00
05
34
6<\/p>\n

Centre-forward McBurnie produced nine DefCons in the play-off semi-final second leg at Millwall.<\/p>\n

FINAL WORD<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

With 25 attacking returns in the 2025\/26 Championship, talisman McBurnie stands out as the clear player to target for those looking to invest in the Hull attack.<\/p>\n

Priced up at \u00a35.5m, the penalty-taker could be a decent cheap option when the fixtures fall kindly, particularly if Jakirovic can add more creativity to his squad this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first recommendation would be Oli McBurnie. 19 goals and seven assists across the regular season and play-offs (including the stoppage time winner in the play-off final), makes him the talisman of the team, and he has both developed as a player and matured as an individual since his previous Premier League stint for Sheffield United. McBurnie is also on penalties.\u201d \u2013 Danny<\/p>\n

McBurnie underperformed his xG in each of his last four seasons in the top-flight, so there are a few lingering doubts about his ability to deliver at the highest level.<\/p>\n

SeasonClubStarts (sub apps)GoalsxGxG delta2023\/24Sheff Utd15 (6)66.89-0.892020\/21Sheff Utd12 (11)13.88-2.882019\/20Sheff Utd24 (12)67.72-1.722017\/18Swansea2 (9)00.42-0.42<\/p>\n

Still, McBurnie\u2019s shot map (see image below)\/box presence under Jakirovic offers optimism that he can perform and potentially emulate the success of promoted forwards such as Dominic Calvert-Lewin (\u00a36.0m) and Zian Flemming from last season.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In midfield, we probably need to wait and see if a hierarchy develops. <\/p>\n

Crooks and Slater are both \u00a34.5m, making them potential bench fodder options, but there\u2019s seemingly a big squad overhaul on the way, which may shift the midfield landscape. Indeed, Hidemasa Morita (\u00a35.0m) has already arrived, adding further depth.<\/p>\n

There probably doesn\u2019t need to be a rush to invest in Hull\u2019s players anyway, considering the first five fixtures:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

From Gameweek 6 onwards, however, McBurnie and co have a much more favourable run of matches.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It allows Fantasy managers time to monitor their performances closely, before considering their players further down the line, should they prove to be worthy options, of course.<\/p>\n

Away from the fixtures, there are valid reasons to have uncertainty about Hull\u2019s ability to compete at this level, but much will hinge on their incoming transfer business this summer.<\/p>\n

\"Premier<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Our three-part series on Hull City comes to an end with a look at the Tigers\u2019 attacking options.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":719084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,19541,237879,237880,237881,237882,237883,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-719083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-hull","tag-hull-best-attackers","tag-hull-best-picks","tag-hull-best-players","tag-hull-fpl","tag-mcburnie","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=719083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/719084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=719083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=719083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=719083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}