Up to 10 players are awaiting fitness assessments ahead of this weekend’s visit of Everton to the MKM Stadium in the FA Cup.

Callum Elder barely lasted 15-minutes on New Year’s Day against Blackpool and is now facing a nervous wait to find out the extent of the injury he suffered on Saturday. 

The Australian was himself playing in place of the injured Mallik Wilks. 

Josh Magennis and Ryan Longman also picked up knocks last weekend, adding to the ever-growing injury list at the club.

They joined Josh Emmanuel, Lewie Coyle and Alfie Jones on the medical bench. 

“It looks a bit like a groin strain that Callum has got,” said Hull manager Grant McCann, via Hull Daily Mail.

“We’ll let it settle down over the next 24, 48 hours and see how he progresses with the treatment. Hopefully it’s not too bad.

“Josh Magennis came off and felt his hamstring a little bit.

“Ryan Longman was struggling to get through the game – he cramped up. Ryan hasn’t trained for a while – he only trained yesterday.”

Hull were without Wilks, George Moncur and Tom Huddlestone for the trip to Blackpool. 

It’s been a difficult few weeks for the Tigers due to an outbreak of Covid-19 within the squad. This saw two of their festive fixtures postponed. 

The defeat leaves Hull 19th in the Championship table and now four games without a league win. Their last victory came against Millwall on November 27. 

The Verdict

Missing this many players will always be a struggle. The defeat to Blackpool came courtesy of a penalty earned by the vacated space left by the absence of Elder, which only adds insult to injury.

Everton are in poor form going into this weekend’s cup tie, so the potential for an unlikely upset is there.

However, with this many players out of the team, it will be an uphill battle to compete with the Premier League side.