Chelsea vs. Hull City: Tigers eye Premier League history-making treble at Stamford Bridge

Hull City will be looking to make Premier League history not once, not twice, but three time in Saturday’s showdown with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The Tigers were written off by many heading into the 2026-27 campaign, but the relegation favourites have been the surprise package in the top flight since securing promotion via the Championship playoffs last season.

Sergej Jakirovic’s side have accumulated seven points from their opening three Premier League games, with back-to-back wins over Manchester United (2-0) and Coventry City (1-0) followed by a goalless stalemate with Aston Villa last weekend.

Hull are the only Premier League team to keep a clean sheet in each of their opening three games this season, while they are also the only team across England’s top-four divisions who have yet to concede a single league goal.

The Tigers could become the first promoted side in Premier League history to keep a clean sheet in their opening four matches of a new season if they prevent Chelsea from scoring this weekend.

Meanwhile, Manchester City in 2016-17 were the last top-flight team to not concede a single goal across the first four matches of a top-flight season.

It is fair to say that success against Chelsea has been hard to come by for Hull, who have celebrated just four victories over the Blues across 49 matches in all competitions.

Hull have never beaten Chelsea in 10 previous Premier League meetings (D2 L8), while they have failed to win any of their last 18 league visits to Stamford Bridge (D3 L15), the most the Tigers have ever faced an opponent away in the top-four divisions without winning.

However, should Jakirovic’s pick up maximum points against Xabi Alonso's side on Sunday, they will end both of these winless runs and set new personal firsts for the club.

Hull travel down to West London this weekend on the back of a narrow 1-0 away defeat to Sunderland in the EFL Cup third round on Tuesday, but Jakirovic is confident that his team will bounce back quickly.

"Everything is fine, the atmosphere is good,” he told reporters at his pre-match press conference. “Defeats will be defeats, it will be many, many more defeats. It is normal. We want to play good, perform good and try to take some points in the next two games.

"Every game is a new challenge and we will try to play even better than the last three rounds. I'm expecting in every game that we grow and it's great experience for us now that we have three games behind us".

Jakirovic is looking forward to a “great challenge” against a Chelsea side who have scored a joint-high eight Premier League goals this term and most recently beat Leeds 6-3 in an eventful EFL Cup third-round tie in midweek.

"I watched Chelsea against Leeds yesterday, it is unbelievable how they are very strong, especially their offensive side,” said the Tigers boss. “Anyone can decide every game and we have to be even more solid there, aggressive and compact.

“We will be under pressure, this is 100% because they are a very good team with an excellent coach. It is a great challenge ahead of us and we will try to play good. For me, they will be in the top four 100% because they have this quality."

"Which system we will play depends on our profile, what we have available and then we will see. Chelsea are playing mostly in the low block 5-4-1. They can play out of possession as well because they are quick on the counter attack so it will be interesting."

Against Chelsea, Hull are expected to be without winger Sorba Thomas, who is “complete unscathed” following a road traffic accident on his way to the club’s training ground on Friday morning.

Get FREE daily news and in-depth previews for games from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football — straight to your inbox.