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Huddersfield Town vs Everton: 29/01/2019 – match preview and predicted starting XIs

Huddersfield Town vs Everton

Date: 29/01/2019

K/O: 19:45

Venue: John Smith’s Stadium

Referee: Stuart Attwell

A struggling Everton travel to Yorkshire on Tuesday night as Jan Siewert prepares for his first Premier League test under the midweek lights.

The former was appointed by the Terriers last week following the departure of David Wagner, and similar to the former Huddersfield manager, Siewert himself was also hand-picked from Borussia Dortmund’s reserve side to take over at the John Smith Stadium. It looks to be an almost impossible task for Siewert though who arrives in Yorkshire with the Terriers firmly rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table – 10 points from safety.

Huddersfield have not won a Premier League game since November 25th when they beat Wolves 2-0 and their last outing in the league was an empathic defeat to reigning champions Manchester City. The Terriers have only managed to pick up one point in their last 10 league games and with only 15 games remaining, they are high favourites to find themselves playing Championship football next season.

The appointment of Siewert, 36, sees him sign a contract till 2021 and means he is the youngest manager currently in the league. It’s certain that Siewert’s new side won’t go down without a fight and if they are to survive from what looks to be a near-impossible position, they will have to begin on Tuesday night as they welcome Everton.



Marco Silva looked as if he may have saved himself some time as Everton manager when the Toffees beat Bournemouth two weeks ago at Goodison. Yet, his side have since lost to Southampton and were knocked out of the FA Cup by Championship side Millwall on the weekend. The Lions fought back twice before delivering a final blow in the last few moments which has placed the pressure firmly back on Silva.

The Toffee’s inability to defend from set-pieces and corner kicks haunted them in South-East London as they repeatedly lost aerial battles. With their full-strength side starting at The Den, the defeat was even more worrying and this incompetence to defend aerial battles will concern Silva particularly as six of Huddersfield’s 13 goals this campaign have come from headed efforts.

Everton are a side that relies on their creative passing football to unlock teams and despite sitting eighth in the table for passes made this season, they have lacked the imagination to punish teams especially in recent outings. Although the Toffee’s started the season well the defeat to their city rivals Liverpool seemed to dent their season. Since the derby day loss, Silva’s side have only won twice and drawn twice in their last nine Premier League outings.

The Merseyside team remain in the chase for seventh place though and only find themselves three points behind Watford who currently occupy that position. Perhaps fans and owner Farhad Moshiri were expecting more this season though after the Toffee’s spent in upwards of £80 million in the summer.

Silva will be desperate for a win and a trip to rock bottom Huddersfield presents his side the perfect opportunity to pick up three points. After defeat to Millwall, the focus turns fully to the Premier League and Silva will be hopeful his side’s form can take a turn for the better.

Team News

Huddersfield

The Terriers are without Abdelhamid Sabiri, Aaron Mooy and Danny Williams who are all expected to be out until February. After their loss to Man City and the sides winless run, Jan Siewert may make changes to his starting XI.



With a weekends rest after being knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round, the young German manager has had the opportunity to get a good look at his squad. He will have to find a good balance in his side as his passing style of play will look to include good technical players but will need to be balanced with combative and physical players if they have any hope of survival.

Everton 

The Toffees have no confirmed injuries so far but may be missing centre back Yerry Mina who was substituted at half time with a foot injury last time out. The issue for Silva now is squad selection. With the side performing so poorly recently, it means we may see Silva drop some players from the side that started against Millwall.

Everton have struggled to find a consistent striker so far this season. Whilst Richarlison has nine goals in the league so far, the manager seems to have opted to rotate the Brazilian between a lone striker and the winger role that he initially had. The choice is then between Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Tosun up front whose goal in the FA Cup was his first since October.

Predicted Starting XIs

Huddersfield (4-5-1): Lossl; Smith, Schindler, Kongolo, Lowe; Kachunga, Puncheon, Hogg, Bacuna, Mbenza; Mounie

Everton (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Coleman, Mina, Keane, Digne; Davies, Gueye; Richarlison, Sigurdsson, Lookman; Tosun

Score Prediction: Huddersfield 1 Everton 1

These two sides drew at Goodison Park earlier in the season and now under very different circumstances, the result may still be similar. Everton are still capable of scoring goals but Huddersfield may be injected with a new lease of life as teams often are under a new manager. If the Terriers pressure Everton aerially, chances are bound to come, and a goal may come that sees both sides battle it out for a share of the points.

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