Elmohamady wants Hull to keep the faith

Hull City’s Ahmed Elmohamady believes his teammates must keep working hard and remain confident if they are to stand a chance against fellow Premier League strugglers Crystal Palace on Saturday.

A win could lift Mike Phelan’s side out of the bottom three, and Elmohamady stressed the importance of remaining focused and confident.

He said: “We’re working hard on the training ground, but we have to keep our heads up and stay confident.

“The next game now is important, it’s an important three points to try and get out of the bottom three.

“Palace are a team with some really good players, especially up front, so we have to concentrate.”

(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Phelan’s men were left to rue sloppy set-piece defending as they slumped to an eighth defeat in ten away at Middlesbrough on Monday evening, while Palace impressively beat Southampton 3-0 for a first victory since September.

And Elmohamady said: “We need to improve in that area because it’s the second game in a row now that we have conceded, which is not good enough.

“The manager spoke after the game about this point and about the chances we got.

“In this league you don’t get many chances, especially away from home. We defended very well in the first half but we needed to keep the ball better throughout.”