Hull City's big opportunity to turn up heat on Swansea

The Tigers sit two points above the drop zone after their goalless draw at Southampton on Saturday was followed by Swansea City claiming their own stalemate at Manchester United yesterday.

Eldin Jakupovic’s dramatic penalty save at St Mary’s means the momentum remains with City going into Saturday’s game with David Moyes’s side.

Victory over the Black Cats, relegated after failing to match Hull’s result on Saturday, in the 3pm kick-off would pile the pressure on third-bottom Swansea ahead of their own tea-time encounter with Everton at the Liberty Stadium.

Silva said: “Sunderland being relegated changes nothing in our work, nothing in our week. We will prepare and focus on our team.

“We need to deal with our performance and that is what is important. We respect Sunderland like we always respect the other team. Our draw (at Southampton) is bound to boost our confidence and help our courage.

“It is an important point for us. It is not quite like a victory, but it is still very important. If we had lost this game it really wouldn’t have been good.”

Leaving St Mary’s empty-handed following a 15th defeat on the road seemed the most likely outcome once Mike Dean adjudged Alfred N’Diaye to have impeded Maya Yoshida and pointed to the spot.

A contest that until then had barely flickered to life was already into the first of three scheduled minutes of stoppage time, meaning a successful spot-kick by Dusan Tadic would have left City with barely enough time to respond.

Eldin Jakupovic, however, saved the day – and perhaps Hull’s season – by pushing away the Serb’s spot-kick.

It was further justification of Silva’s decision in January to make the former Swiss international his No 1 goalkeeper ahead of David Marshall, who had arrived the previous summer in a £5m deal from Cardiff City.

“It was a big moment,” said Silva about Jakupovic, whose two penalty saves – he denied Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez last September – are more than any other goalkeeper in the Premier League this season.

“All these moments are important when you take points and I am sure that next week there will come again a key moment for us. We need to work hard during the week for it to happen again.”

Pressed on why he plumped for Jakupovic, City’s longest serving player, in January, Silva added: “The moment we had to make a decision, it was a Cup game (against Swansea) and we changed the keeper.

“He played out a good performance. So, we decided to keep the same goalkeeper. David is a fantastic professional and a very good goalkeeper. He works hard and helps with all the boys, Eldin, as well, and he keeps his focus on his work.

“Eldin is full of confidence. He also has a good connection as well with our supporters.”

Swansea’s own draw at Old Trafford underlined the value of Jakupovic’s penalty save.

With Burnley beating Crystal Palace, the fight to avoid relegation is a two-way affair between Hull and Swansea.

After hosting Sunderland, the Tigers travel to Crystal Palace on May 14 and then round off the season at home to Tottenham Hotspur. The Swans, meanwhile, travel to Sunderland and then host West Bromwich Albion on the final day.

At the final whistle, Silva, who the previous week had seen Oumar Niasse wrongly sent off in the 2-0 home win over Watford, was involved in a long conversation with referee Dean.

Asked if he felt smaller clubs such as Hull got a raw deal sometimes from the officials, the Portuguese replied: “Maybe. I don’t want to talk too much about this situation but it is not only here, it is in all the championships in all the countries.

“The most strong clubs don’t get too many things against them and all the small clubs suffer sometimes more than the others.

“I have worked in a big club, Olympiakos (in Greece), and in Portugal as well with Sporting (Lisbon) and one small club, Estoril, and I know what is football.”

Match report: Page 2