Blitzballer
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- Aston Villa
robbed from SkySports
Jackson Irvine and Kamil Grosicki are likely to miss Hull's Sky Bet Championship opener at home to Aston Villa, live on Sky Sports Footballfrom 7pm on Monday.
Irvine has been ill and Grosicki has had to deal with some "personal issues", according to Tigers boss Nigel Adkins, meaning neither has trained much since returning from the World Cup.
Ondrej Mazuch and James Weir (both knee) are also out for Hull. Reece Burke, George Long, Manuel Milinkovic and Jordy de Wijs are among those ready for their debuts.
Steve Bruce remains in charge at Villa after their summer takeover, ahead of the trip to the KC Stadium. Jack Grealish is still at Villa and should play, despite being linked with a move to Tottenham ahead of next Thursday’s deadline.
Scott Hogan has missed all of Villa’s pre-season friendlies with a groin problem and will not face the Tigers while Rushian Hepburn-Murphy (ankle) is out. Youngster Callum O’Hare is also battling a knee injury and is likely to be absent for Bruce’s side.
Opta stats
Hull have won one of their last 14 games against Aston Villa in all competitions (D3 L10), a 2-0 home win in February 2015.
Aston Villa are winless in their last three away league visits to Hull (D2 L1), failing to score despite attempting 40 shots across those three matches.
Hull and Aston Villa also met on the opening day of last season, sharing a 1-1 draw at Villa Park.
Outside the top-flight, current Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce has won four of his last five opening day matches (D1), last losing in 2000-01 against Watford as Huddersfield Town manager.
Hull are playing their first match of the season on a Monday for the first time since a 1-0 defeat to Leyton Orient in September 1907, while Aston Villa kick the season off on a Monday for the first time since September 1913.
The losing play-off finalists from the previous season's Championship final have only lost on the opening day of the next season in one of the last 10 seasons - but that occurred last season, when Reading lost 2-0 to QPR.
Prutton's prediction
What will the atmosphere be like at Aston Villa after that play-off final defeat? Their problems off the pitch, at least in the short term, appear to have been sorted out, but there is still work to do. Holding on to Jack Grealish would be a huge boost for them.
Hull have lost most of their first-team squad from last season and they've not yet been replaced. This could be a really difficult season for the Tigers. Away win.
Prutton predicts: 1-2 with Jonathan Kodjia to score first