City went into the final international window of the calendar year with a battling loss in London

Hull City's players will be given some time off in the early part of the international break before the Tigers return for their busiest period of the season.

Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Arsenal signalled the 10-game mark in the Premier League season, with City going down to a narrow defeat against the champions, despite a hugely encouraging performance.

When City return to Premier League action on Sunday week against Brighton and Hove Albion, that will be the first of eight games before the end of the year, with two more to follow at the beginning of 2027 before the top-flight pauses for FA Cup action.

In December alone, City play six games, including midweek home games against Nottingham Forest and Leeds United, so Jakirovic is keen to give those players not on international duty some time to rest before a frantic festive schedule.

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City will use the period to get more work into injured players Elias Ansah, Hidemasa Morita and Matt Targett, while Charlie Hughes is set to step up his recovery by playing for the Tigers' Under-21s against Fleetwood Town on Tuesday afternoon.

Robinio Vaz will also play 90 minutes in that game against the Cod Army, along with Kieran Dowell. Oscar Zambrano had been pencilled in to play, but has received an international call-up, so will be away with Ecuador for their game with Costa Rica.

Mo Belloumi had set to travel with Algeria, but owing to his hamstring issue, will remain in Hull and continue work on that problem to ensure he's ready to face the Seagulls.

Jakirovic himself has since jetted back to Croatia to spend some time with his family, and will no doubt keep close tabs on events at Wembley on Thursday night when England host Croatia in the Nations League.

"We have 13 international players, and we are awaiting confirmation on some players, " Jakirovic told Hull Live. "They will be free for five days, and then we will start again.

"We will have nine or 10 players in the building. Players will have time off like normal, as after the international break, we play Brighton on Sunday, so they have all week, and it is very important when they come back from the international break.”