Hull City will go into Thursday’s game against their Belgian counterparts expecting to fare better than they did against Trencin in the previous round. Fresh from the 1-0 win at the weekend against QPR, Steve Bruce’s side have learnt a lot since scraping past Trencin and will use this in order to progress to the group stages of the Europa League.
But what will Hull City come up against when they travel to Lokeren on Thursday night. No doubt Bruce will have done his homework on Peter Maes’ side but here is a bit of information from the side from Belgium. Having qualified for the Europa league via winning the Belgian Cup, Lokeren finished 5th in the Pro League and have started their league season with 4 points from 2 games including drawing 0-0 away to Genk.
However, Lokeren shouldn’t be underestimated as they do have quality within their ranks. Ivorian Goalkeeper Boubacar Barry is a player some may have seen from the World Cup even if Ivory Coast did depart at the group stages. The side is heavily filled with Belgian talent including captain Killian Overmerie who is a cult hero amongst the fans along with Striker Hans Vanaken who got 11 goals in 39 appearances which helped them gain a Title Play-off spot. Brazilian Midfielder Dutra who got 2 goals in their win against Lierse at the weekend is also a threat with his pace and agility on the ball. With all this talent at his disposal Coach Maes will be happy he can name a fully fit squad for the Europa league Qualifier.
However, unlike Lokeren Steve Bruce does have some injury concerns following their game against QPR at the weekend. Robert Snodgrass has been ruled out with a lengthy injury whilst Alex Bruce and Liam Rosenior have also picked up knocks. Yannick Sagbo isn’t suspended for this game so is likely to start up front in place of Nikica Jelavic.
Bruce has said he will heavily change the side from that of the one that started against QPR so starts will most likely be handed to newly announced Nigerian International Sone Aluko along with David Meyler, Harry Maguire and Robbie Brady. Key players like Curtis Davies, Allan McGregor and Tom Huddlestone are not expected to start but the side that Hull should put out should be enough to cause Lokeren problems on the night.