Hull City boss Sergej Jakirovic has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Ipswich Town at MKM Stadium (kick-off 15:00 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Jakirovic has confirmed there are no fresh injury concerns in his squad as Nobel Mendy returns to contention this weekend. The Tigers boss said he has a fit 27-man squad available to him and now his job is to "pick the right" line-up.

• On whether he needs to handle Mendy's return carefully because of his injury history, he said: "I will be careful but also we have to use him. Of course, he has this concussion against Chelsea so it was a bit unlucky he missed the Newcastle game. We are trying everything to improve his body, his core, his groin and also he's doing a lot of hard work to improve."

• Jakirovic added that a decision on goalkeeper Jack Butland will be made on Friday, while long-term absentee Charlie Hughes trained with the team on Wednesday in what he called a "miracle". The defender continues to recover from the double hernia surgery he had at the end of last season.

• On Hull City's season so far, he said: "Our progress is good. We've improved a lot and also collected some experience and I think, except Fulham, in every game we were competitive. We can play, we can create some problems no matter home or away and this is very good. We will try to continue like this."

• Jakirovic said it is "very important" for his side to make MKM Stadium a place for opponents to fear to help give his side "confidence". He added that his players are "much braver at home" than when they play at some away grounds.

• On facing Ipswich, he said: "They invested a lot - I think they brought in maybe 20 players and, even last season with [Kieran] McKenna, they were very, very good. They won promotion, second in the league and they beat us two times last season so I know how difficult they are. Even now, they have more speed, they added some good quality players - and I can say they stole two players from me but [it is] OK. I'm expecting a tough game but also I'm expecting we will continue to play like [we did] against Brentford."