Fresh off the back of their first win since the resumption of the Championship season, Huddersfield return to action against play-off chasing Preston.
Alex Neil’s side haven’t had the return to football they were wanting, only picking up one point in their three matches so far, whereas relegation-fighting Huddersfield have only three.
When and where?
The match will be held at Huddersfield’s John Smith’s Stadium, kicking off at 3pm on Saturday 4 July.
Previous meetings
Earlier on in the season, Huddersfield suffered a fairly heavy defeat to the Lilywhites, losing 3-1 at Deepdale.
In recent years, Preston have been the better side in meetings in the League Cup, League One and the Championship.
Team news
For the Terriers, Juninho Bacuna misses out through suspension and Tommy Elphick will be out through injury. Otherwise, Danny Cowley has a fully fit squad.
In the Preston camp, Louis Moult remains absent and Barkhuizen, Fisher, Maguire and Bauer all face tests.
Last five matches
Huddersfield
(W) 0-3 vs Birmingham
(L) 3-1 vs Nottingham Forest
(L) 0-2 vs Wigan
(L) 2-0 vs Leeds
(W) 4-0 vs Charlton
Huddersfield’s last game tells their story of the season- inconsistent and, largely, poor. For a team that was competing in the top flight of English football 18 months ago, they’ve lacked quality this season.
Preston
(L) 0-1 vs Derby
(L) 1-3 vs Cardiff
(D) 1-1 vs Luton
(L) 1-3 vs QPR
(L) 2-0 vs Fulham
How Preston are still near the play-off places is beyond me. They went into the season break on poor form and have returned none the better. At this rate, Alex Neil will be lucky to still be in a job by the end of the calendar year.
Purely because of their win against Birmingham, I’m tipping the Terriers to get the win in this match. Preston’s total absence of form won’t do them any favours, and with a couple of players possibly lacking fitness, the odds will certainly be against them.
Match Preview written by Tom Cresswell.