Hull City have gotten off to a perfect start in the Premier League and Oli McBurnie has quietly been a crucial part of it.
Not even the most optimistic Tigers fan would have predicted two wins from their first two games. Especially the opener against Manchester United.
The defence has been solid with two clean sheets. Starting centre-backs Semi Ajayi and Nobel Mendy not only have scored two of their three goals so far, but have been key in not conceding any – alongside veteran John Egan. Goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis has also kept danger out of goal and looks like a great summer signing already.
Regan Slater, Matt Crooks and Hidemasa Morita have put in great shifts in midfield. Wingers Mohamed Belloumi and Liam Millar have already pitched in with goal contributions.
Meanwhile, lone striker Oli McBurnie has not provided goals or assists. He has also completed just over half of his pass attempts. All seemingly negative signs, but somehow extremely positive impact from him across 180 minutes of football. How? Let’s dig in.
How has Oli McBurnie fuelled Hull City’s perfect start in the Premier League?
Hold-up play
McBurnie caused opposing defences a lot of damage in the air in the Championship last season. In similar fashion, he ranks second in aerial duels contested in the 2026/27 Premier League so far. Only Nottingham Forest’s Igor Jesus is ahead of him in this regard.
His aerial presence is extremely useful not only to get the Tigers out of defence but also establish them in attack. He acts as a ‘relief’ hub from opponent’s press and also helps them waste time in winning positions late in games.
But receiving the ball with his back to goal is only half the battle. The other part is getting teammates to join the play and take the team forward. Luckily for them, he has been great at that too.
Connector
Oli McBurnie leads Hull City in chances created in the Premier League so far, with three in two games. He could have had an assist to his name as well, but Liam Millar missed a chance similar to the one he scored later on against Coventry City.
In fact, this specific play is a perfect encapsulation of how McBurnie operates as a connector. He dropped deep to receive a pass with his back to goal and Matt Grimes – who had split the centre-backs – glued to him.
This dragged the ‘central defender’ (in this case a midfielder momentarily occupying that spot) and created the space for Millar to run into after he breezed past Bobby Thomas.
Out-of-possession nuisance
McBurnie is a centre-back’s nightmare, given how much he not only accepts but also seeks – and excels from – contact.
Aerial duels are ungrateful for a lone striker, and he hasn’t had as much success as expected (38%). But he still ranks fourth in aerial duels won (9) across the whole league.
But he also has great work rate off the ball. Advanced Opta metrics have him first overall in pressures applied with 207 – at least 25 more than any other player. McBurnie is also first when it comes to high pressures applied (182).
The aerial prowess comes in handy at the back, too. Only Igor Jesus (5) has recorded more clearances than the Tigers’ No.9 in the Premier League so far (3) among all strikers.
That’s not to mention he is still doing damage with his presence inside the box. Hull’s set pieces have looked great so far and it was his effort that demanded a miracle from Senne Lammens against Man United, after which Ajayi opened the scoring.
It goes into the statistical books as a clear-cut goalscoring opportunity missed. But Lammens deserves much more credit for the save than McBurnie deserves blame for not scoring.
So it’s safe to say that, despite not scoring a single goal, registering a single assist or being statistically efficient in any capacity, the Scotsman has had his fingerprints all over the good things that have happened to the Tigers so far.