By Daniel Wood
Huddersfield Town host Nottingham Forest in the SkyBet Championship on Saturday 21st December at the John Smith’s Stadium; 3pm KO.
The Terriers will be looking to get back to winning ways after last time out they drew to Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium. Huddersfield was unbeaten at home for 6 games before their 2-0 loss to Leeds United, however, they do only have 2 wins at home all season with 4 draws and 5 losses coming at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Nottingham Forest
Forest will be looking to bounce back from their previous results, which has seen them go 4 games without a win in the SkyBet Championship. Last time out saw them lose 4-0 at home to in-form Sheffield Wednesday, which is their heaviest defeat in the Championship this season. Despite this, their away record in the Championship is the 3rd best in the league, only behind Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion. They have won 5 games, drew 5 and only lost 1 time on their travels. This is better than their home record.
Their head coach, Sabri Lamouchi, doesn’t have that much managerial experience. His first role came in 2012 and lasted until 2014 as the manager of the Ivory Coast national team. He then went to El Jaish in Qatar from 2014-2017 where he won the Qatar Crown Prince Cup in 2016. His previous role was taking charge of Rennes in Ligue 1 during the 2017-18 season, where he lead them to 5th in the league table. This was Rennes’ best league finish since the 06-07 season.
Ones to Watch
LEWIS GRABBAN
The 31-year old striker is enjoying a fruitful spell in the Championship this season. He has scored 10 goals this season, which is the most of the club this season and is currently 5th overall in the league’s scoring charts. In the 58 games he has played for Nottingham Forest, he has scored 26 goals. He has had a resurgence in form this season under the new coach, as he struggled with form under Martin O’Neill.
JOE LOLLEY
The former Huddersfield Town man (2014-2018) has been a key player for Nottingham Forest the past few seasons. Last season saw him feature in every single Championship game for Forest (46) and he won their player of the season. The 27-year old has 4 goals and 3 assists for Forest this season in the Championship.
TEAM NEWS – Huddersfield Town
Manager Danny Cowley will give an update on Huddersfield Town’s latest team news at his press conference on Thursday, 19th December 2019.
The side was without Fraizer Campbell (hip), Collin Quaner (hip), Tommy Elphick (knee), Alex Pritchard (knee), Jaden Brown (ankle) and Lewis O’Brien (calf) for the away draw against Wigan Athletic.
TEAM NEWS – Nottingham Forest
Forest will be without Tendayi Darikwa (ACL), who isn’t expected to return to the side until 2020. They will also be without Yuri Ribeiro (knee).
It looks like Carl Jenkinson is once again available for selection after appearing to recover from an ankle injury that has kept him sidelined since August.
Yohan Benalouane (hip) and Samba Sow (hamstring) appear to have recovered from their injuries too and could feature against the Terriers on Saturday. Yohan has been out since April and Samba has been out since October.
PREDICTION
Huddersfield Town leads the head-to-head record against Nottingham Forest since their first clash in 1911. The Terriers have been victorious on 21 occasions, Forest 17 and there have been 17 draws. The last time these teams squared off was 8th April 2017 in the Championship, which saw Forest win 2-0 at City Ground.
Neither team has good form going into this game and both sides will be desperate to walk away with 3 points. Forest are looking to end their run of 4 games without a win and the Terriers are looking to put some breathing distance between them and the relegation zone. A win would see Huddersfield Town jump into 17th position and 7 points clear of the bottom three if results go their way. Forest could potentially go up to 3rd place if results go their way, despite their poor run.
Both teams have accumulated the same amount of points in their last 5 games and I see this being a close game with both teams looking to create as many chances as possible in an attempt to secure maximum points.
However, I can’t see this ending in any other way than a draw, so I predict:
Huddersfield Town 1-1 Nottingham Forest.