Under caretaker boss Mike Phelan, Hull took the lead when Adama Diomande and Abel Hernandez combined acrobatically, with Diomande awarded the goal.
Advertisement
Hull City quickly forgot about their abysmal preseason Saturday when they stunned Premier League champions Leicester City 2-1 in the opening match of the new season.
Adama Diomande put Hull ahead in first-half stoppage time, Riyad Mahrez leveled from the penalty spot for Leicester just after the restart and Robert Snodgrass scored the victor in the 57th minute.
The reigning Premier League champions had never before lost the opening match of their defence the following season, but Leicester showed few signs of maintaining that tradition as Jakupovic was only called into comfortable saves to deny Mahrez and Shinji Okazaki. Ten minutes later the score was settled with a goal by Hull City’s Robert Snodgrass.
Sidenote: Raheem Sterling has an incredibly hard summer when he was blamed for England’s struggles in France but he was exceptional in his first game under Pep and might just be the kind of player that the Spaniard can turn into a superstar.
“Sometimes you are a little lucky”, City’s new manager told reporters.
“You always have to have belief in the players that you work with and they showed a lot of character and endeavour out on that football field”, said Phelan. “We need to dust that off and come back better”.
England global Jamie Vardy struggled in front of goal.
The Foxes started the second half on fire as Gray earned a penalty within 15 seconds of the restart and Riyad Mahrez stepped up to convert easily.
Having sprung one of football’s biggest surprises by winning the league last season, Leicester was on the receiving end of an upset after Robert Snodgrass rifled home Hull’s victor in the 57th minute.
Just three months after their astonishing title triumph, Claudio Ranieri’s side were undone by a team whose preparations for the new campaign were marred by the resignation of manager Steve Bruce and their failure to sign a single player.
“We always had (togetherness)”, he said.
Despite the situation, Hull City looked up for the game from the opening minute as they gave no quarter or fear to the visiting champions.
Jack Rodwell slipped a pass through the heart of the City defence to Defoe, who slotted past Caballero.
England midfielder Barkley provided Koeman with a flawless start to the season after floating in a fifth-minute free kick, which evaded everyone in the penalty area and beat Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris at the far post.
Tottenham dominated after the break and got a deserved equaliser on the hour mark when Lamela turned in Kyle Walker’s cross.
“The match was decided on this because after we got nervous, we want to draw and of course Hull played very, very compact, playing counter-attack. They have to produce and the big players have to produce more often, so the spotlight is on them”.
This proved to be a problem when the talismanic Jermaine Defoe slotted underneath Willy Caballero to peg them back in the second half. Bournemouth will provide a tough test but I think United will edge it 1-0. “I’m very pleased about our first performance against a very good team”.
Swansea eventually broke through the Burnley resistance to come away with a 1-0 win.
Xherdan Shaqiri’s free kick helped Stoke City to a 1-1 draw at promoted Middlesbrough after Alvaro Negredo’s debut opener.
Advertisement
Etienne Capoue put Watford ahead in the ninth minute, but Nathan Redmond levelled in the 58th minute before Hornets midfielder Ben Watson was sent off.
