Huddersfield Town vs Leicester City
Date: 16/09/17
K/O: 15:00
Leicester City visit the John Smith Stadium this weekend desperate for three points and hopeful to pull away from the bottom three after their demanding start to the season. Meanwhile, their counterparts have seven points from a possible twelve, have the manager of the month for August and although suffering their first loss of the season on MNF at the hands of West Ham, have started life very brightly in their first Premier League season.
David Wagner will be looking for a confident response from his side following their loss at the London Stadium on Monday. Wagner stated his team were ‘not good enough’ against the Hammers but they did enjoy 57% possession and completed more passes then West Ham. The lack of attempts on goal however, gives cause for concern with only two registered on target. Steve Mounie will be given the task to add to his 2 goals he provided on the opening weekend to help Huddersfield’s cause against the Foxes.
Wagner confirmed yesterday that Chelsea loanee, Kasey Palmer, will be side-lined for months due to a hamstring injury which he suffered while on international duty with England u21’s. The youngster is likely to return to his parent club to receive a full diagnosis and treatment. Huddersfield are still without Jonathan Hogg and Martin Cranie due to ankle and hip flexor injuries whilst centre back Jon Gorenc Stankovic continues to be side-lined until Christmas.
In terms of Leicester, they have a few new injury concerns. Iborra, Huth and Iheanacho all played in the 3-1 win for the u23’s on Monday night, with both Iborra and Iheanacho getting themselves on the score sheet. Shakespeare confirmed they are fit but Huth is still unlikely to be present in the match-day squad. Matty James picked up an achilles injury in the game against Chelsea and is likely to miss the upcoming fixture. Alongside James, Christian Fuchs picked up a freak eye injury in training during the week and will also be unlikely to take part. Aleksandar Dragovic was recruited from Bayer Leverkusen on loan on deadline day yet Shakespeare suggests he is not conditioned for 90 minutes as of yet. Alongside these absentees, Adrian Silva will still not be available as questions remain over his deadline day switch from Sporting Lisbon, an update on his position at the club is expected over the next few days.
Expected Line Up’s:
Huddersfield: Lossi, Smith, Schnidler, Zanka, Lowe, Billing, Mooy, Kachunga, Van La Parra, Ince, Mounie.
Leicester: Schmeichel, Simpson, Maguire, Morgan, Chilwell, Albrighton, Iborra, Ndidi, Mahrez, Okazaki, Vardy
Score Prediction: Huddersfield Town 1 Leicester City 2
Huddersfield will be glad to be back at home but I think the power of Leicester’s attack, especially with Iheanacho looking likely to come on and make an impact and the presence of Iborra, will be too much for the Terriers. Leicester have looked good even against the top sides and easily despatched Brighton, although this will be a tougher test.
Written by Eamon Kitching.
