Hull City welcome Manchester United to the MKM Stadium on the opening weekend of the 2026/27 Premier League season, with kick-off scheduled for 12:30pm BST on Saturday.

In the UK, the match is live on TNT Sports 1 and its streaming platform HBO Max, with pre-match coverage beginning at 11:00am. US viewers can catch the action on USA Network — available via YouTube TV (10-day free trial), Hulu + Live TV (3-day free trial), DirecTV Stream (5-day free trial), and Sling Blue — with kick-off at 7:30am ET. Australian fans can stream the fixture on Stan Sport, where kick-off falls at 9:30pm AEST.

Tigers out to stun the Red Devils

Hull City arrive in the Premier League as pre-season favourites for relegation — a familiar position for the club, who secured Championship survival only on the final day of 2024/25. Yet manager Sergej Jakirovic defied expectations last term, guiding the Tigers to promotion via the play-offs despite an embargo that confined them to free transfers and loan signings.

The campaign's defining moment came in the 95th minute of the play-off final, when Oli McBurnie's late strike against Middlesbrough sealed the return to the top flight — Hull's first since 2016/17. Joe Gelhardt, whose loan from Leeds United has been made permanent for £6.5 million this summer, is among the players capable of producing the kind of moments that could upset bigger sides. The MKM Stadium promises an electric atmosphere for this opener.

United arrive in confident mood

Manchester United head to East Yorkshire buoyed by a strong finish to last season under Michael Carrick, whose results in the second half of the campaign were good enough to earn him the manager's role on a permanent basis. That run of form also delivered a return to the UEFA Champions League — a competition United will enter in mid-September.

Carrick has been active in the transfer market, strengthening the midfield with the arrivals of Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans, while Carlos Balboa of Brighton & Hove Albion is reported to be a further target. With a home fixture against newly-promoted Ipswich Town to follow the week after, United will be targeting maximum points from both opening games.

The pressure on Carrick to begin his full-time tenure with a winning start is real — dropping points to a side many predict to struggle would invite unwanted scrutiny early in the season. FourFourTwo predict a narrow United victory: Hull City 1-2 Manchester United.