Hull are back in the Premier League after nine years, and they have never beaten Saturday’s opponents in it
Hull City host Manchester United at 5pm IST on Saturday in their first Premier League game since May 2017. They have played United ten times in the competition and won none of them.
Aug 21, 2026
Hull City play a Premier League match on Saturday for the first time since May 2017, and the fixture list has handed them Manchester United to mark the occasion. Kick-off in Hull is 5pm IST, and it is the first game of the season for both clubs.
Nine years, settled in the 95th minute
Hull got here the hard way. They came up through the Championship play-offs, beating Middlesbrough 1-0 in the final at Wembley, and the goal that did it arrived in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time through Oli McBurnie. It was the club’s first season under Sergej Jakirovic, who got them promoted at the first attempt.
They came up alongside Coventry City and Ipswich Town, and they did it from sixth, the lowest of the four play-off places. Their last top-flight season was 2016-17, which ended with relegation already confirmed and a 7-1 defeat at Tottenham on the final day.
Carrick’s United arrive in a better mood than usual
United go into an opening day in better shape than they have for some years. Michael Carrick took over from Ruben Amorim as caretaker, won 11 of his 16 games in charge, dragged United to third and back into the Champions League, and was given the job permanently on a contract that runs to 2028.
The summer has been quieter than the mood around the club suggested it might be. Andrey Santos came in from Chelsea for a reported 50 million pounds, Youri Tielemans from Aston Villa for around 35 million, and Tynan Thompson arrived from Tottenham for an initial 4 million. Karl Darlow signed as a free agent to cover in goal. United have also been closing in on Brighton’s Carlos Baleba, a deal that has been running most of the window.
The gap in the squad is not hard to spot. Benjamin Sesko is the only recognised centre-forward Carrick can name with confidence, and when Sesko was missing in pre-season the job fell to Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, neither of whom is a No.9 by trade. Left-back depth is the other complaint. Neither is the sort of problem that usually surfaces at Hull in August, but a season is long.
The record Hull would rather not be reminded of
Hull have played Manchester United ten times in the Premier League and have not won any of them. Two draws, eight defeats. The last of those meetings was the 0-0 at Old Trafford on 1 February 2017, and the only real dent Hull have made in this fixture came a few weeks earlier that season, when they won an EFL Cup semi-final second leg 2-1 and still went out on aggregate.
None of which is a prediction. A promoted side is rarely more dangerous than in August, before anyone has worked out how it plays, and United have made a mess of this kind of afternoon often enough to know it. Hull will still need more than that.
When it starts
Hull City against Manchester United kicks off at 5pm IST on Saturday, 22 August. Arsenal opened the season against Coventry on Friday night, and the rest of the opening round runs through to Fulham against Chelsea on Monday.