Hull vs Manchester United: David Meyler backs odds for Hull pulling off their great escape

David Meyler calls it a 3-1 shot. The odds about Hull surviving have been shorter, but there is a growing confidence inside the home dressing room at the KC Stadium that they can overturn the two-point advantage Newcastle United have on them going into the final game of the season on Sunday.

In contrast, Newcastle were 100-1 to be relegated before they lost so meekly at their North-east rivals Sunderland last month. Their odds have tumbled with their form and their belief.

These facts give Meyler a sense that it is possible his team might win against Manchester United and Newcastle might not against West Ham, as they have not done in their last 10 games. If that happens, Hull will remain a Premier League side.

“I make us 3-1 to still be a Premier League side on Sunday night, and I’ve had a few 3-1 winners recently,” the Hull midfielder said. “I fancy us. I’d take that. I still believe in all my team-mates, staff, my manager, everyone. Come 3pm on Sunday, however, it is down to all the players and I believe in every single one of them.

“We owe it to ourselves as players. We are responsible for the position we are in. We are all partly responsible but we have one more chance to put it right. We are looking forward to the opportunity. People are always coming up to me saying ‘good luck’.”

Meyler admitted that he thought after two consecutive wins, against Crystal Palace and Liverpool, at the end of last month, that Hull were on the route to safety. But three defeats in a row have put them back in the bottom three.

“I am in shock, to be honest, looking at the situation we are in right now,” he added. “After the way we beat Palace and Liverpool, we thought with Burnley coming up we could kick on but we haven’t.

“We have not been able to and that is disappointing, we have let our manager down, our fans down and ourselves down. We are in a scrap but we have a few fighting Irish here so we will come out scrapping. If we do not beat Manchester United, then it is our own fault.”

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The consequences of relegation for Hull, who were promoted two years ago, would be huge. Manager Steve Bruce knows that staff at the club would be cut back, from players to those in the background at the stadium and training ground.

“The one thing you don’t want to be involved in is a relegation fight,” Bruce said. “It’s nice going the other way but coming out of the Premier League has horrible cuts on everyone. People lose their jobs, their livelihood, everything is cut back to the bone. It’s an awful situation.

“The big problem for any football club is the people that it loses. You lose your Premier League status and you lose the money and revenues that come with that.

“Ultimately, there’s job losses. It usually starts at the top, I have to say that, but that’s the worst thing. You have to start all over again.

“It’s part and parcel of managing in the Premier League. You don’t want it to fall on you but you have to get on with it.”

Like Meyler, Bruce paints an unvarnished picture of why the club are in the situation they are in. “We’ve got to take it on the chin and accept we haven’t been good enough,” he said. “We’ve got a last chance to redeem ourselves and if we win the game I really do think believe we’ve got an outstanding chance.”