Burnley vs Huddersfield Town
Date: 06/10/2018
K/O: 15.00 hours
Venue: Turf Moor
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
A confident Burnley side take on Huddersfield Town this weekend as Sean Dyche looks to get his third Premier League win in a row. After a slow start to the season Burnley are looking back to their best and have recorded wins against Cardiff and Bournemouth in their previous league games. The signs suggest that possibly the Clarets early Europa League campaign hindered their start to the 2018/19 Premier League season and now Dyche’s men are out of Europe, their form is considerably improving.
Huddersfield, on the other hand, are in desperate need of a win. They have amassed only two points so far and find themselves rooted at the foot of the table. In this fixture last season the two teams were placed 6th and 7th in the league. Huddersfield surprised everyone by managing to stay up, but it already appears as if the small squad and lack of Premier League experience is going to come back to haunt them.
Team News
Burnley
Burnley’s James Tarkowski is a doubt for this game with a groin strain. The defender, who received an England call-up this week, has been training with the squad and Dyche will assess whether he is ready to play come Saturday. Robbie Brady is still unavailable with a hamstring injury and long-term absentee Ben Gibson is targeting playing reserve matches over the international break according to Dyche.
Steven Defour will be unavailable due to a ‘personal situation’ whilst Nick Pope remains out with a long-term injury. Dyche may be tempted to trust in his players who have delivered results and name an unchanged starting XI against the Terriers. Aaron Lennon, Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Sam Vokes have particularly impressed and have forced the likes of Chris Woods, Ashley Barnes and Jeff Hendrick to settle for a place on the bench.
Huddersfield
For Huddersfield, Ramadan Sobhi and Danny Williams are the only absentees and it is probable that David Wagner will put out the same XI who lost to Tottenham last week.
Huddersfield desperately need goals and will be looking to Laurent Depoitre to aid them in this department; they also have Steve Mounie on the bench to call upon. The Beninese striker impressed at the start of last season and was Wagner’s go-to striker for the first games of the current campaign, but has been dropped to the bench after failing to find the back of the net in six Premier League appearances.
Predicted Starting XIs:
Burnley: Hart; Lowton, Mee, Tarkowski, Taylor; Lennon, Westwood, Cork, Gudmundsson; Vydra, Vokes.
Huddersfield: Lossl; Zanka, Schindler, Kongolo; Durm, Mooy, Hogg, Billing, Lowe; Pritchard; Depoitre.
Score Prediction: Burnley 2 Huddersfield 0
Burnley are experiencing a period of resurgence and will look for a comfortable home win against a struggling team such as Huddersfield. For the Terriers, a win here could cast them adrift at the bottom of the table, something needs to change and soon for David Wagner’s men if they want to have any chance of staying in the Premier League this season.
