Soccer-Silva can keep Hull in Premier League, says Maloney

Feb 27 (Reuters) - Manager Marco Silva has given Hull City a renewed belief that they can secure their Premier League status for the next season, midfielder Shaun Maloney has said.

Since Silva's arrival in January, Hull, who are second-from-bottom in the table and a point adrift of safety with 12 games remaining, have picked up eight points from a possible 18 to give themselves a fighting chance of avoiding relegation.

"Since the manger came in, there's just been a massive turnaround among the squad and the supporters. There's a feeling of optimism. We do believe we can stay in this league," Maloney told British media.

"We've got that optimism and generally the feeling is that we can do it... There's been some pretty dark moments during this season and it doesn't feel anything like that under this manager."

Hull travel to face relegation-threatened league champions Leicester City on Saturday. (Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru)