Hull City travel to Old Trafford tonight to take on Manchester United in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final (8pm kick-off).

The Tigers have beaten Exeter, Stoke, Bradford, and Newcastle to reach the last four, and they’ll hope to reach their first ever League Cup final with success over the Red Devils.

Marco Silva started his reign as manager with a deserved 2-0 victory over Swansea in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday, but they face the unenviable task of trying to end United’s incredible recent run.

Jose Mourinho’s side have won their last eight matches in all competitions, the latest of which was a 4-0 thumping of Reading in the FA Cup on Saturday.

Clearly, United will go in as favourites at Old Trafford this evening, but Hull have won all three of their away League Cup matches this season, and only lost out to a 90th minute winner when the two sides met in the Premier League back in August.

Although the League Cup is the focus this week, new boss Silva has got quite the job on his hands to keep Hull in the top-flight, given the Tigers are currently bottom having won just three times so far this season.

Thus, here are THREE things the new man must do to try and save Hull from relegation this season…

Solidify the defence

Hull have conceded 44 goals this season in the Premier League, only Swansea have conceded more (45), which is clear indicator as to why both sides are in the bottom three.

And, with a centre-back pairing of Michael Dawson and Curtis Davies, that’s a surprisingly high amount of goals being shipped by the Tigers.

They can’t keep going into every match knowing that they need to score two or three to get something out of the game, as scoring two or three a game is incredibly difficult in the top-flight.

To make matters worse, Hull have netted just 17 times thus far, the joint-least in the Premier League alongside Middlesbrough.

Silva must go in there and reorganise the backline; they need to be more difficult to break down if they are to have a chance of staying up.

A clean sheet in his first game against Swansea was a wonderful start, and it gives him something to build on going forward.

Score when on top

Hull have actually played reasonably well over the past few weeks, but don’t always take their chances when they are on top.

The Tigers bossed the first half against West Brom on January 2, but only led 1-0 at the break despite creating several other openings and opportunities.

They went to lose 3-1 in the end, with their defensive issues once again coming to head, yet the forward players must also take some responsibility.

17 goals in 20 games is just not good enough, and when only two of your strikers have netted this season, you know you’re going to be in trouble.

Greater confidence in the final third and a clinical edge is what’s desperately needed at Hull, can Silva help provide them with that?

Keep Robert Snodgrass

In a similar way to Sunderland needing to keep Jermain Defoe, Hull must keep hold of Robert Snodgrass over the coming weeks.

The 29-year-old has scored seven goals and laid on two assists in the Premier League this season, which means that he has been involved in over half of their league goals this term.

Their next top-scorer is defender Michael Dawson with three, while forwards Abel Hernandez and Adama Diomande have netted only once each.

Snodgrass is the one that makes things happen for the Tigers, be it actually scoring the goals or in the creation of them.

His set-piece ability always gives them a chance when in those areas, and it’s difficult to see where the chances would come from if you took him out of the side.

Silva quite simply has to keep hold of the Scottish international over the next few weeks.