Team News
Huddersfield have added ex-Blue Neil Danns on loan for the rest of the season.
Blues welcome back Nikola Zigic from suspension and Rob Hall from being ineligible for the cup. Will Packwood is out for the season but Paul Caddis, Jonathan Spector, Peter Lovenkrands and Marlon King have returned to training and should be in tomorrow’s squad.
Reverse Fixture
Jermaine Beckford scored the only goal when Huddersfield came to St Andrews in October. Blues were particularly rubbish that day.
Recent Form
Huddersfield have slipped down to 17th with only a handful of draws to show from their last six league games. In their last league match they were beaten 6-1 by Leicester. Their last three home games have ended level. They did win their FA Cup match though, 1-0 at Charlton.
Two straight defeats have finally knocked Blues out of 19th. They are now 20th, four points above the relegation zone. Boxing Day’s defeat of Barnsley was their first away win since October.
Outlook
It’s back to league action tomorrow after last week’s up and down game against Leeds in the cup. The plus points were Wade Elliot’s goal and an all-round decent performance setting up a replay and the chance of a lucrative fourth round tie against Spurs. Elliot’s goal was rated the best of the FA Cup third round by ITV showing that they can get some things right. On the minus side was Will Packwood’s horrible injury which will keep him out for the rest of the year. We wish him all the best with his recovery. Right backs for Blues have been cursed this year so it is a relief that Paul Caddis has returned to training. Let’s hope he can last a bit longer this time.
The build-up to this game has been about Lee Clark’s return to his former team and rumours of more player sales. I don’t expect either to affect the team too much particularly the latter as we have been under that cloud for a long time now. What’s been interesting this week is the news that the club itself is doing OK and it’s just the situation in Hong Kong that is dragging us down. This gives me hope that when we finally are sold that we will not take too long to bounce back. Staying in the Championship and out of administration are our only goals for the remainder of this season. I may be in the minority but I’m quite looking forward to the relegation fight. It’s definitely more interesting than finishing in mid table nothingness.
As I write this there is some positive news about returning players so we will have a bit more of a squad to choose from tomorrow. I wouldn’t be too quick to drop the youngsters though as the last two performances have been encouraging and they deserve the chance. If they are fit it’s a no brainer to bring back King and Caddis though and we should have a much stronger bench than in recent games. Having to play with only one up front is not such an issue away from home but I do worry about our midfield with our usual holding players being unavailable. Conceding sloppy goals has been our Achilles heel and without midfield cover that becomes more likely. Anyway there are reasons to be hopeful of another point or three towards that fifty point target as Huddersfield are a side that have been gradually sinking after a good start. They seem to draw a lot at home so I’ll go for another tomorrow.
My prediction
Huddersfield 1 Blues 1
C’mon you Blue Boys.
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