Hull City manager Steve Bruce has claimed that his side's chances of gaining promotion this season will hinge on whether or not the club are able to extend a number of important loan deals.
Manchester United duo Ben Amos and Robbie Brady, along with Sunderland's David Meyler and Ahmed Elmohamady, are all due to leave the Tigers early in the New Year.
All four were named in last night's matchday squad as Hull beat Derby County 2-1 to move second in the Championship table.
Bruce insists that the club must keep the loanees at the KC Stadium until the end of the campaign if they want to maintain their impressive league position.
"I don't want to have to make too many changes to the squad so I hope we can keep them," said Bruce. "I want to keep them all.
"Hopefully we can keep the group together and secure the loan deals until the end of the season, or even make some of them permanent. But it's a difficult time in January so we will have to wait and see.
"There's a long way to go but we're doing well. We were 33/1 [to achieve promotion] at the start of the season so we've come under the radar a bit, which is what I wanted.
"Hopefully we can keep it going but, as I say, much will depend on what happens with the loan players."
Hull have won their last four matches, scoring eight goals in the process.
