By Nathan Findlay and Dan Wood –
Huddersfield Town will host Cardiff City in the SkyBet Championship on Friday the 5th of March at the John Smith’s Stadium; 7:45 pm KO.
Team News
Huddersfield are currently 19th in the table, still holding 5 points above the relegation zone.
The Terriers faced off against Birmingham City in their last outing. Huddersfield pulled ahead in the 63rd minute, with a goal from Fraizer Campbell. However, their lead did not last long as Birmingham’s Marc Roberts grabbed an equalizing goal for the blues just four minutes later. Town pressed on after but were unable to regain the advantage, and the game ended 1-1.
Huddersfield and Cardiff last met in December, with the Terriers losing 3-0. Cardiff themselves will likely be looking for a repeat performance.
Huddersfield finished that game with 67% possession, and double the number of successful passes. We are seeing this a lot with the Terriers, where no matter what the result they often maintain good possession and good control of the game. However, in the end, it’s the goals that win the games, and Huddersfield often fail to make the most of their chances.
Injuries and Suspensions
Jaden Browne is now available after his red card against Derby a couple of weeks ago.
It was noted in the pre-match press conference that Jonathan Hogg and Danny Ward will both hopefully be getting involved in training after the Cardiff game.
Alex Pritchard has had a knock in the leg and worked with medical staff. He will rest on Sunday and start to train again with the squad again next week.
Cardiff City
Cardiff are currently 8th in the table and are on good form at the moment. Strong results from the Bluebirds mean it will take no small amount of effort from Huddersfield to gain the result they want.
The Welsh side has won four of their last five, which puts them as one of the highest performing teams in the Championship currently.
Last season, Cardiff finished 5th in the Championship table and gained a spot in the play-offs, but lost to Fulham in the semi-final.
Their manager, Mick McCarthy, is currently unbeaten as the Cardiff boss. In his 10 games in charge so far, the Bluebirds have won seven and drawn three.
He has done an excellent job at the helm and has pushed the Welsh side heavily towards the play-off places. Before he took charge they were floundering in the lower half of the table.
There are going to be huge doubts on Town’s chances to end the unbeaten run and especially when City are playing so well.
Ones to Watch
Keiffer Moore
The forward has grabbed a total of 16 goals this season which puts him 5th in the league for the most goals. with three goals from the last five games it’s likely that if Moore gets opportunities, he will be taking them. Certainly, a dangerous player to watch out for.
Harry Wilson
The Welsh winger joined the Bluebirds on loan from Liverpool in October 2020. The free-kick specialist has previously had loan spells at Hull City, Derby County, and AFC Bournemouth with fairly good success. The 23-year old has played in 26 games in the league this season providing four goals and nine assists.
Pre-Match Press Conference
Manager Carlos Corberán spoke with the press ahead of tonight’s game.
Noting the short time between games, he said: “It’s the first time this season we have had two games within the same week and with only a two-day gap between both games. It is hard to Analyse and put strategies into place.”
Predictions
Huddersfield narrowly leads the head to head record against Cardiff. Since their first meeting in 1921, Town have won on 29 occasions, there have been 22 draws and City have won 27 times.
Recent times have been less kind, as the Terriers have not beaten the Welsh side since 2003. They have met 14 times since then with Cardiff winning on 10 occasions, with the rest being draws.
Tomorrow’s game is really going to test Huddersfield with them going in as the underdogs. I think that it will be a chance for Huddersfield to show what they can do against such a well-performing team such as Cardiff. The game against Swansea was a pleasant surprise, and showed that Town can perform against the stronger team on paper.
Cardiff have turned their performance around this season massively. From looking towards relegation to now pushing for the play-offs, this is just one example of how quickly a team’s performance can change in a noticeably short space of time.
I do think that the run that Cardiff is on and the short gap that Huddersfield have had to put their game plan into place will make this a challenging game for the Terriers.