Huddersfield Town face off against Birmingham City F.C at the John Smith’s Stadium tonight (2 March). 7 pm kick-off.
Huddersfield Town
Huddersfield currently sit 19th in the table, with a terrible run of form in 2021 that sees them dropping closer to the relegation zone. Despite the amazing performance against Swansea, the Terriers have lost the past two games since then.
Huddersfield last played Preston, which ended in a resounding 3-0 defeat for the terriers.
Despite all of the negative results for Huddersfield, they are putting up good performances in the games but as soon as they go a goal behind the team’s heads seem to drop, which is something they certainly need to work on.
I am also positive that this is something that Carlos will be looking to work on also as Huddersfield need to keep playing like they are despite what goes on in the game and the final result of the game.
There were two opportunities in the last game against Preston that looking back at the footage should of being two penalties in my opinion.
I also think this is something that will not be helping the team’s spirit and performance when they see fouls in the game where they all think that it should be a decision that goes their way and it doesn’t.
When something like that happens in a game and the referee doesn’t even go to review it, I think this can be extremely frustrating for the team, coaches and supporters alike.
Injuries and Suspensions
There are no new injury concerns for today’s game.
As for updates to Huddersfield’s current lengthy injury list, Manager Carlos Corberán had a few words in the pre-match press conference.
Richard Stearman – “We are watching his progression and it is looking positive now.”
Josh Koroma – “I do not expect him to be back until April. I think he can be working with the team in mid-April.”
Danny Ward – “I think he could be back with the team after the Cardiff game next week.”
Additionally, Jaden Brown returns from his suspension this week.
Birmingham City
If Town are suffering, Birmingham City are of similar fare, currently 21st in the table, placing them one position away from the relegation zone.
They did however manage to win against QPR, bagging two late goals to bring them a vital three points
Both Birmingham and Huddersfield are in need of the win tonight and I think that it is going to be a very interesting game between both teams.
The last time that Huddersfield Town and Birmingham played was in late October 2020. Birmingham did come away with the win, notwithstanding Huddersfield’s outstanding 77% possession at the full-time whistle.
This was very unfortunate for Huddersfield as they managed to get an equalizing goal in the 85th minute coming from the forward Isaac Mbenza but this wasn’t enough for Huddersfield to bring any points back to the table. Birmingham’s Lukas Jutkiewicz scored in the 90th minute claiming the win for the blues.
Pre-Match Press Conference
Speaking ahead of the game, Manager Carlos Corberán had a few thoughts to share.
Regarding the lack of penalty decisions given in against Preston, he said: “There is nothing we can do about what happened and for the team, we just need to keep their heads up and keep going.
“There is nothing we can do about what the referee has said or given.”
Speaking on the competition for tonight’s game, he said: “It’s going to be like every game very tough. Both teams are both going to be fighting for the 3 points.”
Predictions
I think that it is going to be a very close game tonight and one of the most important games for both teams deciding who will be left dropping closer to the relegation zone.
Both teams are going to need to put out their best available players to make sure they are giving themselves the best chance possible.
From the table, we can see that both Huddersfield and Birmingham are very even teams. Looking into the all-time performance of both of these clubs this is also shown as very even with Huddersfield having 42 wins to Birmingham’s 39 and a total of 33 draws, so we can see that both teams are very tied up over the history of them playing together.
