Ruben Selles wants his Hull City side to make a statement when they travel to take on Blackburn Rovers on Sunday as the curtain comes down on 2024.

City go into the game against one of the Championship's form teams back in the bottom three after losing 1-0 at Preston North End on Boxing Day. Defeat ended their hopes of putting an unbeaten run together having seen off Swansea City before Christmas to end a 13-game winless streak.

Losing at Deepdale came as a hammer blow to City, who again failed to keep a clean sheet for the 22nd game out of 23 this season and, at the other end, couldn't find a goal to get something from a game they should have done.

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Rovers have enjoyed a terrific campaign so far and sit fifth in the table with six wins in their last 10 games, including a win at City on December 7. But Selles will hope for a response from his side, who head into the second half of the campaign knowing survival is now the sole aim.

"Again, I will be looking for a team that can compete that in that game first of all and make a statement," Selles said ahead of the clash at Ewood Park. "Play and be as competitive as the opponent in the first thing. Then we will push with that to get the result, of course. We know already, we talked about it, that nobody's going to give us three points.

"We need to go and try to get those three points on our side. It's a busy period for everyone, so it's about myself and the technical staff, how we manage the players to be fresh and how we can make them be one hundred per cent to beat the opponent, the next opponent that is Blackburn."