Lewie Coyle will be one of the Hull City players hurting the most, given the club's perilous plight at the bottom of the Championship table, according to David Prutton.

Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Coventry City left the Tigers propping up the rest after an 11th defeat in their opening 21 games of what has been a forgettable campaign so far, and seventh in the last eight games.

Coyle, like so many others, was well below-par against the Sky Blues, playing his part in both goals for the hosts coming after Joao Pedro's well-taken opener, leading to criticism from supporters.

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The experienced full-back, however, will be feeling the current run of form - which sees City without a win in 13 games - as much as anyone, according to ex-Premier League midfielder Prutton.

"Lewie, knowing him like I do, this will be hurting him more than anyone else," the Sky Sports presenter said on the 1904 Club podcast. "Everyone that is in that dressing room as a professional, this should sting, it should really, really sting.

"They should be doing absolutely everything because part of what it is, is proving people wrong and proving to themselves that they can operate at this level. We questioned parts of the recruitment, who has come in and how much Championship experience they've got, and part of that is coming to fruition with how these performances are being put together, how these results are being registered.

"There's a lot going wrong at the moment, but I would not for one second, and I've not quite seen it with my own eyes yet, and I hope it doesn't manifest itself that I don't think you've got a squad of players that don't care. I think you've got a squad of players who aren't performing, and right now, don't really know what to do about it."

City play their final game before Christmas on Saturday knowing they need a first league win since the beginning of October if they're to avoid the embarrassment - and worry - of being bottom on Christmas Day. But they'll come up against a Swansea City side pushing for the top six, although those hopes were dashed against Sunderland on Saturday, throwing away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2.

"Swansea, the way that Luke (Williams) plays, they've got a threat, they want to dominate proceedings," Prutton continued. "They've got players who really know how to move a football around, Matt Grimes being one of those, (Liam) Cullen's been fantastic, (Zan) Vipotnik's another player they've got to be very wary of. Their disappointment at the way they lost to Sunderland fuels them coming into this.

"Their ambition under Luke to be a team that knocks on the door of the upper reaches of the division at the end of the season is what drives them. I think it's a huge task for City. I'm intrigued to see what five days worth of work on the training pitch will garner.

"It's a huge, huge challenge. Preston coming up after that (on Boxing Day). Yes, disappointed that they drew against Leeds because they were so good against Leeds that, after their first win in ten, they have been in games more often than not. A clinical Preston against Hull City, right now, is a mismatch. I feel that's a win for Preston. I think this Swansea game is key, hopefully, to breathe the type of confidence from a performance against a team who have been consistently better so far this season that pushes them up and out of the bottom three and hopefully gives them some momentum when momentum has been lacking."