By Daniel Wood – KLTV Contributor
Huddersfield Town will face Coventry City in the SkyBet Championship at Birmingham City’s St. Andrew’s stadium tonight – Wednesday 16th December; 8pm KO.
Huddersfield Town
The Terriers are currently 14th in the Championship table and have lost one more game than they have won. They are seven points behind the top six and 11 points ahead of the relegation zone.
In their last game, Town was demolished 5-0 away to 2nd place AFC Bournemouth. The defeat came after two consecutive 2-0 wins against Sheffield Wednesday and Queens Park Rangers.
Town shared very similar match stats to Bournemouth. Both teams having around 50 percent possession and a similar number of shots. Town was simply not clinical enough.
The defeat will be something that Town players and fans will want to forget quickly. They will be looking for a much better result this time out.
The Terriers were without Tommy Elphick (knee) and Richard Stearman (hamstring) in their last outing against AFC Bournemouth.
Coventry City
The Sky Blues are currently 18th in the SkyBet Championship and are eight points ahead of the bottom three.
Last time out, City won 2-1 away to Wycombe Wanderers. This result means Coventry are now unbeaten in their last seven games (three wins, four draws).
Their last defeat came on November 7th when they fell 3-2 to Watford at Vicarage Road.
City finished last season as League One Champions having won the league on a points per game basis after the season finished early due to the coronavirus pandemic. They only lost three games in the league last season.
Their manager, Mark Robins, took charge of Coventry in March 2017 and has managed over 180 games for them. He currently has a 43.1%-win rate at the club.
He has previously managed Coventry City from September 2012 until February 2013 (51.5%-win rate). However, he left to become manager of Huddersfield Town. He did not last too long at the Terriers, managing 68 games for the club, which he has a 33.8%-win rate for.
Robins has also managed Rotherham United (2007-2009), Barnsley (2009-2011) and Scunthorpe United (2014-2016).
He played for a host of English sides including Manchester United, Norwich City, Leicester City, Walsall, Rotherham United, Sheffield Wednesday and Burton Albion. Most of his appearances came for Rotherham United.
Ones to Watch
TYLER WALKER
The 24-year-old striker joined the Sky Blues this summer from Nottingham Forest and has scored three goals so far this season. The former Forest player has been on several loan spells during his career, including Coventry City, before joining them on a permanent basis this summer. Walker’s last two goals in the division have come at St. Andrews.
SAM MCCALLUM
The young left back started his career with non-league Herne Bay before moving to Coventry City after being names in Jamie Vardy’s V9 Academy. He impressed so much during the first half of last season that he was purchased by Norwich City who loaned the left-back back to the Sky Blues for the rest of the 2019-20 campaign. He was once again loaned to Coventry City this season and has been a regular for Mark Robins side.
GUSTAVO HAMER
The Brazilian defender has been Coventry’s stand out player so far this campaign. The 23-year-old came through the youth ranks at Feyenoord before making the switch to PEC Zwolle. He joined City in the summer and has bagged three goals so far this season, as well as assisting one time. He has been a key player for Mark Robin this season.
PREDICTION
Surprisingly, the two teams have only met 15 times during their entire histories. Since their first meeting in 1919, the Terriers have won on eight occasions, there have been two draws and Coventry have won five times.
The two sides have shockingly not met since 1977, this game finished 2-0 to Coventry away from home.
They were in the same division from 1964 to 1967 and then again from 1970 to 1972 but have not been in the same division since that time frame. Coventry were in the first division of English football from 1967 all the way to 2001, meanwhile the former three-time division one winners would only be in the top-flight from 1970 to 1972 during that time.
The two sides avoided each other again when Coventry were relegated to the second tier of English football in 2001, as Town were relegated to the third tier at the exact same time. Bizarrely, they avoided each other yet again in 2013, as Coventry were relegated to the third tier and Town were promoted to the second tier.
Coventry come into this game unbeaten in their last seven Championship games, proving to be hard to beat as of late. Even though four of the seven games have been draws, it shows the belief within the squad that they can get something out of every game.
Town lost 5-0 to Bournemouth last time out and their confidence would have taken a huge dent from that result.
I feel as though the sides are relatively evenly matched and it could make for an interesting encounter. Town will be looking to bounce back from their last game and Coventry will be looking to extend their unbeaten run.
The only way I see this going is a draw between the two sides.
Therefore, I predict: