Huddersfield Town vs Leicester City
Date: 06/04/2019
K/O: 15:00
Venue: John Smith Stadium
Referee: David Coote
An already relegated Huddersfield Town host Leicester City on Saturday, who are still in contention to be ‘the best of the rest’.
The Terriers relegation was confirmed last weekend as they lost 2-0 at Selhurst Park to Crystal Palace – in all honesty, it was the inevitable for most of the season, Huddersfield have looked well off the space and almost certainties to return to the Championship.
As for the Foxes, their form has taken a sudden turn for the better since the appointment of Brendan Rodgers and they will be looking to make it four wins from four as they head to Yorkshire. Rodgers has enjoyed wins over Fulham, Burnley and Bournemouth and is slowly beginning to stamp his own mark on the side. Last time out, the Foxes comfortably beat Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth which was a fitting tribute to their late owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who would have turned 61 during the week.
Huddersfield’s form continues to dive though and they have only managed one victory in the whole of 2019 which was to Wolves, way back in February. Since the departure of David Wagner, the clubs fate was almost guaranteed to be a return to the Championship yet Jan Siewert, who replaced Wagner back in January, insists his conscience is clear knowing he gave everything to try and keep Huddersfield in the Premier League.
The Huddersfield board has publicly back Siewert this week though amid concerns he had lost the dressing room. Siewert himself did admit that players are continuing to come to terms with the club’s relegation in which he said, “everyone was disappointed, but also everyone knows there are still some games to go, so there is a little bit of excitement of what can come.”
Head to Head: The Terriers have the better record against Leicester as they have won 28 times in comparison to Leicester’s 24. Having said this, it has not been a happy fixture as of late for the Yorkshire side; the last three meetings in the Premier League has seen Huddersfield on the losing side every time with Leicester dispatching six goals past them in their last two meetings. The club have shared 10 draws, the last of which coming in 2017 when Huddersfield hosted Leicester in their first season in the Premier League.
Team News
Huddersfield Town: Jan Siewert and Huddersfield have a lengthy injury list to deal with ahead of their fixture against the Foxes. Philip Billing (back), Terence Kongolo (knee) and Matty Daly (illness) are all new doubts ahead of Saturday’s game yet Siewert suggested these were just small issues and hopefully not as serious as first thought. The three will likely feature somewhat if fit with Kongolo probably featuring from the off.
As for Laurent Depoitre and Demeaco Duhaney, Saturday will likely come too soon despite the pair returning to training after suffering from foot and hip injuries. Adama Diakhaby is also absent as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury whilst Abdelhamid Sabiri is sidelined due to a lack of match fitness. Isaac Mbenza has been in training for the last two weeks following his calf injury and is in contention for Saturday’s fixture.
Lossl and Zanka, who both missed out last week are back in contention whilst Jason Puncheon is also a possibility after missing out against his parent club last week. Karlan Grant will continue up front and could be joined by either of Kachunga or Mounie depending on Siewert’s formation choice.
Leicester City: Leicester City and Rodgers continue to be injury free with only Marc Albrighton and Daniel Amartey on the sidelines suffering from hamstring and ankle injuries respectively. The former has returned to training and is expected to feature some part in the final few games of the season yet Saturday will be too soon.
Harry Maguire is also set for a recall to the starting XI and will likely replace club captain Wes Morgan – who has been pivotal in the last two victories scoring a goal against both Burnley and Bournemouth. Rodgers did rely on all three of Morgan, Maguire and Evans in his first game against Watford yet has a 100% record when deploying a 4-1-4-1 formation so will likely use that again with changes unlikely.
Match facts from Opta
Huddersfield have not scored more than once in their last 21 Premier League home games (8 goals in total) and have lost eight of their last nine at the John Smith’s Stadium (W1).
Leicester have only failed to score in one of their 16 Premier League away games this season (0-1 vs Crystal Palace).
Already relegated Huddersfield have taken just four points from their last 57 available in the Premier League (W1 D1 L17).
Leicester have won their last three Premier League games, last winning four in a row in December 2017 under Claude Puel.
Huddersfield will be the 31st different side Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers has faced in the Premier League – he’s beaten 27 of the previous 30 he’s come up against, failing only against Chelsea (8 games), Wolves (2) and Watford (1).
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers has already won three of his four Premier League games in charge of the Foxes. It took him 15 games to win four matches at each of his previous clubs in the competition (Swansea City and Liverpool).
Steve Mounie is the only Huddersfield player to score more than once in Premier League home games this season, with the Beninese forward netting twice at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Predicted Starting XIs
Huddersfield (4-2-3-1): Hamer; Smith, Schindler, Kongolo, Durm; Bacuna, Hogg; Mooy, Pritchard, Lowe; Grant
Leicester City (4-1-4-1): Schmeichel; Pereira, Evans, Maguire, Chilwell; Ndidi; Gray, Teilemans, Maddison, Barnes; Vardy
Score Prediction: Huddersfield 1 Leicester City 2
Huddersfield now have nothing to play for apart from passion and pride. In comparison, Leicester City and Brendan Rodgers have 7th place in their eye and with the possibility of Europe next season, this should be enough to edge the Foxes past the Terriers on Saturday afternoon.
