Hull City vs Brentford: Preview, h2h as Ajayi faces Igor Thiago, so can Hull exploit the Bees striker’s goal drought?

Super Eagles defender Semi Ajayi and Hull City host Brentford at the MKM Stadium on Sunday, with the Tigers looking to build on a Premier League return in which Ajayi scored their first top-flight goal in nine years.

Hull went up through the Championship play-offs, beating Middlesbrough 1-0 at Wembley in May, according to Brentford FC. Ajayi scored in their 2-0 win over Manchester United on the opening weekend, as Soccernet reported.

Brentford arrive sixth in the table with 13 goals, according to Sky Sports on 21 October.

Match facts

Competition: Premier League
Date: Sunday 25 October 2026
Kick-off: 14:00 GMT (15:00 WAT), live on Sky Sports
Venue: MKM Stadium, Hull
Last meeting: Hull 1-5 Brentford, February 2020 (Championship)

The match was moved from Saturday to Sunday after being selected for live television, Brentford said. We could not confirm the referee from any source we opened.

Form guide

Hull have nine points from their opening seven league games and have lost only twice since returning, according to Brentford's own match analysis, which cites Hull City reporter James Hoggarth. Their results include the win over Manchester United and a 2-2 home draw with Everton, and a 1-0 defeat at Fulham on 17 October, as Soccernet reported in its Coventry vs Fulham preview, citing SABC Sport.

Brentford finished ninth last season with 53 league goals, Sky Sports said, and have scored 13 this time. Their results this term include a 2-2 draw at Aston Villa and a defeat to Liverpool.

Head-to-head

The clubs last met in February 2020, when Brentford won 5-1 at Hull, Brentford said. Saïd Benrahma scored a hat-trick and Ollie Watkins scored twice. Keane Lewis-Potter, now at Brentford, played for Hull in that game.

Key battle: Ajayi against Igor Thiago

Igor Thiago scored 22 Premier League goals last season, the most by a Brazilian in a single campaign, according to Sky Sports. This season he has one goal and one assist in seven league games. After four games he had 2.41 expected goals without scoring, and Sky said he averages about three more touches in the opposition box per game than at the same stage last season.

Brentford head coach Keith Andrews said, as quoted by Sky Sports:

“He's fine. I don't sense anything around his demeanour, whether it's in training, the calmness he has in front of goal,”

Andrews added that Thiago's overall performances have been really good and he is not really worried.

The Nigerian connection

Ajayi had played in all six of Hull's league games before the Fulham match, Soccernet reported, and is among the club's players with the most minutes. He told Footy-Africa that scoring against United was “a blessing”, and that “every single game is going to be tough this year”, in comments Footy-Africa published on 14 October.

Analysis: what decides it

A striker with chances but no goals is rarely a long-term problem, and Sky's expected-goals figure suggests the quality of the chances has not been the issue. Whether that favours Hull depends on how well a back line led by Ajayi limits the supply, which the sources we opened do not tell us.

Hoggarth told Brentford's website that “organisation is the key word” for Hull. If the Tigers stay compact, the contest turns on whether Brentford's attack, which has scored more than most this season, can break them down.

Team news

We could not confirm either team sheet or any injury list from a source we opened, so there are no predicted line-ups here. Ajayi's recent minutes suggest he is a regular, but that is not a confirmed selection.

Verdict

Predicted score

Hull City 1-1 Brentford

Players to watch

Semi Ajayi (Hull), Igor Thiago (Brentford)

Reason

Hull's organisation against a striker overdue a goal

Hoggarth also expects a 1-1 draw, though he says 2-2 would be nice. Our reading is the same, with the caveat that Thiago is the kind of player who can change a draw in one chance.