By Daniel Wood
Huddersfield Town will travel to the AESSUAL New York Stadium in the SkyBet Championship to face Rotherham United; 3 pm KO.
The Terriers picked up their first win of the season last week, as they beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 at the John Smiths Stadium.
They ended a run of two league defeats in a row in their opening fixtures against Brentford and Norwich City.
Town are currently 17th in the table, following the three points they gathered in their last result, and are three points ahead of the bottom four.
Furthermore, they are 11 points ahead of bottom place Sheffield Wednesday thanks to the Owls’ point deduction.
Manager Carlos Corberan will be aiming to get another three points in what looks to be a winnable game against Rotherham United.
Rotherham United
That being said, the Millers do have a slightly better record than Town in their opening three games of the Championship season.
They have won one (1-0 vs Wycombe Wanderers), drawn one (1-1 vs Birmingham City) and lost one (1-0 vs Millwall).
Their results have put them one point ahead of Huddersfield Town and 14th in the table.
Rotherham United finished second in League One last season, which ended early due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The League One table was decided on a points per game ratio, after most of the teams had played either 34 or 35 games (there is usually 46 games in a season).
Before the season was curtailed, Rotherham had only won one game out of their last five and were considered somewhat lucky that the season had to be ended early.
Their manager, Paul Warne, has been the manager of the club since 2016 and has led the team for 180 games. He has a 35.6%-win rate at the club (64 wins, 39 draws, 77 loses).
Warne first played for Rotherham United from 1998 to 2005, before returning as a player in 2009. He retired from playing in 2012 after making three appearances for the Millers in his last season.
He was first brought in as a caretaker manager after the resignation of Kenny Jackett in 2016 and was appointed permanent manager until the end of the 2016-17 season.
Despite Rotherham’s relegation from the Championship that year, Warne was offered to stay as manager on a one-year rolling contract.
Ones to Watch
MICHAEL IHEIKWE
The 27-year old is one of five players to play ever minute for the Millers so far this season. The centre-back joined the club in 2017 and made 33 appearances for the South Yorkshire club during their promotion-winning season of last. Ihiekwe scored a last-minute winner in the opening day of the season away to Wycombe to secure three points for the Millers.
FREDDIE LADAPO
The 27-year old forward was a key player for Rotherham United last season. He signed from Plymouth Argyle in the summer of 2019 and he scored 14 times, 17 in all competitions, to finish top goal scorer for the club in his first season with them. He is yet to score in 90 minutes this season, having only found the net during a penalty shootout against Salford City in the Carabao Cup that ended in defeat.
CHIEDOZIE OGBENE
Ogbene has featured in all three of the Millers’ opening fixtures, playing his most preferred right-wing role. He first made his name in Ireland playing for Cork City and Limerick before making the jump to the English divisions when he signed for Brentford in 2018. He spent the 2018/19 season on loan to Exeter City. During their promotion season in the 2019/20 campaign, Ogbene featured 25 times.
Team News – Huddersfield Town
Jonathan Hogg was forced off during the Nottingham Forest encounter with an injury. He will be unavailable for this game and it’s unclear when he’ll be making a return just yet.
No updates on current injuries either, with Ryan Schofield, Tommy Elphick, Terence Kongolo, Lewis O’Brien, Danny Ward, Christopher Schindler and Rarmani Edmonds-Green all still likely to be unavailable this weekend.
PREDICTION
Huddersfield Town heavily lead the head to head records against Rotherham United. Since their first encounter in 1952, Town have won on 29 occasions. The Millers have won on 11 occasions and there have been 16 draws.
The Terriers are unbeaten against Rotherham in their last five games, with the Millers last victory against the Town coming in 2015 when they won 2-0 at the John Smiths Stadium.
That win in 2015 for Rotherham is the only time they have beaten Huddersfield since 1992. They have met 13 times in between those wins, and Town have won 8 of them, with the rest being draws.
Last time the teams played was August 2017 in the EFL Cup and Town won 2-1 at home.
Both teams have been predicted to struggle this season and be amongst the relegation battling sides in the Championship.
With both teams getting a win in their first three games, things look a little promising on the horizon.
Rotherham have only scored two goals and conceded two goals in their opening three fixtures, whereas the Terriers have only scored one goal and conceded four goals.
I do feel as though this game will either be very cagey with few goals or a surprise goal-fest, however, I’m going with the former.
Therefore, I predict: