Leicester City will be relegated if they don’t beat Hull City, while the Tigers have concerns of their ownBarry Cooper Hull City correspondent and Brian Dick Reach Football Correspondent
15:44, 20 Apr 2026
Sergej Jakirovic and Dean Holden (right) in conversation(Image: Nick Potts/PA Wire)
Leicester City are in an ‘incredible’ position having gone from Premier League champions to the brink of relegation to League One.
That’s according to Hull City assistant Dean Holden who reckons the Foxes were everyone’s ‘second favourite team’ when they defied the odds to become champions of England in 2016.
However, Holden, who is No. 2 to Manager of the Season nominee Sergej Jakirovic, hopes the Tigers can use any pressure at the King Power Stadium to their advantage as they look to boost their chances of escaping the Championship – and condemn City to falling straight through it.
Indeed even a draw for Hull would relegate the Foxes, a fact that bemuses former Oldham and Peterborough midfielder Holden.
The 46-year-old told HullLive: “Not having it, what people say that they’ve not got good players, if you look individually they’ve got some excellent players. Clearly it’s been a really difficult season for them, as you can see with the league position.
“We’re expecting a tough game and we’re going to go there with our mindset to try and win the game, but knowing that it’ll be a tough evening if we don’t get the basics right. We’re well set, we’re well prepared and we’re ready.”
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Hull will arrive without a win in four and clinging on to their top six spot by just two points. City meanwhile are eight points adrift of safety and know they have to record what would be just a second win since January 10.
“It’s not like they’ve been blown away in every game,” Holden continued: “You watch the games, they’re in games, when you’re in that position things go against you and it can start to feed through the stadium and anxiety can creep in and confidence clearly at times can be low. Teams can can make the most of those situations and clearly that’s been the case certainly recently.
“Gary’s (Rowett) gone in, a very, very experienced manager not being able to really turn results around but certainly performances, defensively they look quite solid at times. They’ve given away some poor goals, there was one there a week or so ago where they’ve got a corner, they concede possession, and all of a sudden it’s in the back of their net.
“These moments can cost you and go against you when you’re in that position in the league. For us, we have to make the most of it. We have to, as I say, go there and really stamp our authority on the game and try and take the points.
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“It’s an incredible situation that they’re in really, if you think about it. I mean, they were nearly every supporter’s second favourite team ten years ago when they won the Premier League.
“The way they’ve dropped off has been a big surprise, really actually sad to see really wonderful football club, big club. We have to use all the things that are available to us. We’ve got a way of playing, that we’ve performed to most of the season.
“We’ve got experienced players who’ve been in these types of situations before, and of course we know there’s, there’s chinks in the armour of any opposition. Equally we know that, they’ve got really good players in key moments in games, so we need to be on our game.”