By Daniel Wood – KLTV Contributor
Huddersfield Town will travel to the Cardiff City Stadium to face the Welsh side in the SkyBet Championship on Tuesday 1st December; 7 pm KO.
Huddersfield Town
The Terriers are currently 13th place in the Championship this season. They are six points behind the play-off places and eight points above the relegation zone.
Town are one place ahead of tomorrow’s opponents heading into the game.
After going on a winless run in the league (four games without a win), Town finally secured a victory in their last game as they defeated Middlesbrough 3-2 at home.
They once again held more possession over their opponents and this time they were able to find the back of the net on multiple occasions and secure a win. A goal five minutes from full-time was enough to gain all three points.
The Terriers were without Tommy Elphick (knee) in their last outing against Middlesbrough.
Richard Stearman was forced off in the game against Middlesbrough with a hamstring injury, he is a doubt for the clash with Cardiff City.
Cardiff City
The Bluebirds are currently 14th in the SkyBet Championship, one place behind their opponents. They are seven points behind the play-off places and seven points ahead of the relegation zone.
Last time out, Cardiff ended a three-game winless run as they beat Luton Town 4-0 at home. A convincing win was very much needed from the Welsh side as they distanced themselves from the bottom three.
In the Championship last season, Cardiff finished in a play-off place (5th) and were beaten in the semi-final by Fulham, who went on to gain promotion to the Premier League.
Their manager, Neil Harris, took charge of the Bluebirds in November 2019 and currently has a 39.2%-win rate with the club.
He guided them to the play-off semi-final last season, which was a great achievement for him.
His only previous managerial role was with Millwall from March 2015 to October 2019. He had a 41.6%-win rate with the club and gained promotion to the Championship in 2017 having gone through the League One play-offs.
As a player, Harris played 486 times as a professional and played the majority of his games for Millwall. He has two stints at the club from 1997-2005 and 2007 – 2011.
Ones to Watch
SEAN MORRISON
The centre-back has made just over 250 appearances for the Club since signing from Reading back in 2014 and was instrumental in their promotion to the Premier League in 2017/18 having been named the Club’s Player of the Year following an impressive season of performances at the back.
The Cardiff skipper is one of three Bluebirds players to have played every minute of their Sky Bet Championship campaign so far this season. Morrison had two loan spells at Town in both 2011 and 2012. He scored a crucial penalty in the play-off final win against Sheffield United in 2011/12.
SHEYI OJO
The on-loan Liverpool winger has made an impressive start to his season-long loan at the Cardiff City Stadium. Ojo has found the net three times in the famous blue shirt, including scoring the Bluebirds’ fourth in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Luton. He’s racked up two assists to go with his three strikes. Ojo has also played for the likes of Rangers, Reims and Fulham.
KIEFFER MOORE
The forward has enjoyed a prolific start to the 2019/20 campaign as Cardiff’s top scorer in the Sky Bet Championship, finding the net five times in the opening months of the season. The 28-year-old also has 12 caps and four goals for Wales at senior level, having made his international debut in a friendly win against Belarus in September last year. He has netted two of the Bluebirds three goals since the international break.
Prediction
Huddersfield Town leads the head to head record against Cardiff City. Since their first meeting in 1921, the Terriers have won on 29 occasions, there have been 22 draws and the Bluebirds have won on 26 occasions.
However, Town have not beaten Cardiff City since January 2003. They have met 13 times since then and the Bluebirds have not lost in any of them, winning nine and drawing four.
Last time the teams met; Cardiff won 3-0 away from home.
Both teams come into this game in similar form. Town went on a four game winless run before beating Middlesbrough 3-2 in their last game and City went on a three game winless run before beating Luton Town 4-0 in the last game.
The teams are quite evenly matched meaning the game could go either way, with both teams hoping to secure all three points.
I feel as though Huddersfield Town’s dominance of possession, as displayed in the majority of their games this season, will help them against Cardiff and I can see the Yorkshire side getting all three points against their Welsh opponents.
Therefore, I predict: