Huddersfield Town vs West Ham
Date: 10/11/2018
K/O: 15:00
Venue: John Smith Stadium
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
Huddersfield welcome West Ham to the John Smith Stadium this Saturday looking to build on their first three points of the season, but with the Hammers full of confidence it won’t be an easy test for Wagner’s side.
There would undoubtedly have been optimism flying around the Huddersfield camp this week and they have good reason to be in good spirits ahead of this weekends clash. The victory over fellow strugglers Fulham, in a 1-0 win on Monday night football, lifted them off the bottom of the table and Wagner will be looking at this fixture as another one to pick up three points and begin to propel his side away from the relegation zone. In fact, a win for the Terriers could lift them as high as 14th in the league, depending on other results across the weekend.
By no means are West Ham are coming into the fixture on the back foot though. The Hammers themselves picked up a big win last time out as they cruised past a Burnley side by four goals to two. Pellegrini’s side created a lot of chances with bad luck arguably a contributing factor to the fact they didn’t add more goals to their total. The win bought West Ham to 13th in the league and was a much-needed boost after a poor run of form; a win this weekend could mathematically only push them up one place to 12th with a loss likely leaving them in 13th. Pellegrini will be hoping that Felipe Anderson’s contribution this Saturday will be similar to that against Burnley. The Brazilian picked up two goals and despite receiving some heavy criticism already from Hammers fans this season, he showed why West Ham spent £42m on him in the summer.
Team News
It was thought during the week that Wagner would be without key midfielder Philip Billing for the clash against West Ham. Billing supposedly picked up a late booking in the clash vs Fulham and would subsequently miss the fixture, yet the card was actually brandished towards Isaac Mbenza, keeping Billing safe for another week at least. As a result, Wagner has no major injury concerns and will likely name an unchanged side from the one that beat Fulham on Monday night.
West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini has reason to be positive too due to the fact that, for once, he has no new injury concerns. In spite of this, Pellegrini will still be without some key men. Captain Mark Noble will serve the final game of his three-game suspension, meaning that Argentinian Pablo Zabaleta will continue to captain the Hammers in his absence.
On the treatment table, Andy Carroll and Jack Wilshere are getting ever closer to reaching full fitness. Both are suffering from ankle injuries yet should be fit to make a return for the fixture vs Man City after the international break. Reid, Lanzini, Sanchez, and Yarmolenko all remain absent for the foreseeable future.
In spite of their list of injuries, West Ham have been surviving thanks to the rise of Grady Diangana. The youngster has played several games for the first team recently and Hammers fans are becoming rather excited at the academy prospect. Notably, Diangana was most impressive last time out vs Burnley picking up an assist. He joins Declan Rice in becoming one of the squad’s most recent crop of youngsters to give West Ham fans something to cheer about.
Predicted Starting XI’s
Huddersfield (3-5-1-1): Lossl; Zanka, Schindler, Kongolo; Hadergjonaj, Mooy, Hogg, Billing, Lowe; Pritchard; Mounie
West Ham (4-1-4-1): Fabianski; Zabaleta, Balbuena, Diop, Cresswell; Rice; Diangana, Obiang, Snodgrass, Felipe Anderson; Arnautovic
Score Prediction: Huddersfield 1 West Ham 3
David Wagner will be targeting at least a point against West Ham and will be hoping they can get on the score sheet with the Hammers only keeping one clean sheet all season. He will be heartened by the fact that Burnley were so clinical last weekend, having three shots on target and scoring two.
Manuel Pellegrini will be hoping for a win before the international break to try and push them towards the top half of the table. Despite making the long trip to Yorkshire, Pellegrini will be hopeful his side can outscore Huddersfield and come away with three points. The attacking trio of Anderson, Diangana, and Arnautovic were outstanding last weekend and Pellegrini will be hoping for much of the same so his side goes home with the points.
