Hull City owner Acun Ilıcalı was interviewed by Turkey's Anadolu Agency following his team's 0-0 draw with Aston Villa. He stated that despite Hull City's unbeaten record and clean sheet in the first three matches of the new season, the team's sole objective at this stage remains staying in the Premier League.

Ilıcalı said: "First of all, I'm very happy and very proud. I'm proud of these players. The biggest difference in our team is that the players truly fight with all their hearts, and I can feel that every minute."

Hull City underwent a massive squad overhaul this summer, but a significant number of new signings have not yet reached match fitness. Ilıcalı said: "We probably still have 10 new arrivals who cannot play, and only three or four can. They will gradually start playing later. The players who helped us gain promotion to the Premier League are still fighting."

He particularly highlighted the team's outstanding recent defensive display. Hull City kept clean sheets in all three playoff matches last season, including the crucial final; they have also not conceded in their first three Premier League matches of the new season.

"This is very encouraging. We kept clean sheets in three playoff matches, which were extremely important, including the final. Now we also have not conceded in three league matches, meaning six consecutive official matches without conceding. Our opponents have ranged from Middlesbrough to Manchester United, so I think this is a remarkable achievement."

After the first three rounds of the new season, Hull City and defending champions Arsenal are the only two teams in the Premier League yet to concede a goal. However, Ilıcalı believes it is too early to talk about such things.

He said: "We're thinking about the long term. We did a lot of work this summer, and I take responsibility for the signings. I believe we made the right decisions. I have great confidence in my core squad and I also think we've assembled the right squad. The recruitment team worked very hard; they provided suitable candidates, and then we selected the most appropriate players from them. I think the current squad is very young and has great potential."

Ilıcalı also focused on the team's Greek goalkeeper, Konstantinos Tzolakis. He revealed that he has been following this player for a long time.

"To be honest, Tzolakis is a very special player to me. You ask how I remember him? Unfortunately, it's because he saved three penalties in a match against Fenerbahçe in the Europa Conference League, and that really broke my heart. Since then, I've always thought of him and followed him."

Ilıcalı revealed that Hull City's goalkeeper coach, Erbil Bozkurt, presented three goalkeeper options to him at that time: "I have great faith and confidence in him. He gave me three options: one in Spain, one was Tzolakis, and another German goalkeeper. I chose Tzolakis, and now it seems I was fortunate in that choice."

Despite the team's impressive start, Ilıcalı emphasized that Hull City will not change its season objective because of it.

"Our only goal is to stay in the Premier League. If we can stay up, then next year we'll have a huge advantage. Because if we have the same budget next year, I won't need to sign another 18 players; then we can directly sign five or six top-quality players, which would be a huge advantage for us. So we must stay in the Premier League."

Hull City will visit Chelsea in the next round. Speaking about this match, Ilıcalı said he would be very happy if they could earn one point away from home.

"Of course, earning one point would make us very happy. If we can also earn one point there, then basically all the plans we made at this stage will have been achieved, or even exceeded expectations, meaning we'll have an additional three or four points of cushion."

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