Huddersfield Town are set to clash with Newcastle United at St James’ Park on Saturday. The Terriers have hit a rough patch in the season with 2 losses registered in the last 3 league fixtures and the other one a draw.
They were completely outpaced by Crystal Palace in the last fixture and were unfortunately defeated by 2 goals to nil, at home. The Eagles were on top throughout and opened the scoring in the first half through James Tomkins’ close-range effort as Huddersfield failed to deal with Luka Milivojevic’s corner, earned by the excellent Wilfried Zaha.
Having waved play on a few minutes earlier, referee Mike Dean did award a Palace penalty when Huddersfield defender Martin Jorgensen tripped Andros Townsend and Milivojevic converted from the spot.
It took the hosts until nine minutes from time for their first effort on target, a tame strike by Rajiv van La Parra which was easy for Wayne Hennessey to gather.
Now, Huddersfield are just 3 points clear from the bottom three and just one slip up might severely hurt their chances of survival. This fixture is not expected to be a walk in the park with Newcastle United gunning for maximum points too.
The Magpies are coming off an impressive 3-0 win over Southampton and are eager to improve upon their 13th place record.
David Wagner will have to win the tactical battle over Rafael Benitez and here is how the Huddersfield boss might field his men on game day.
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Defence
Jonas Lössl is the predicted starter in between the sticks with Joel Coleman as the backup option on the bench. The 29-year-old is averaging over 3 saves in a game but has been at the bitter end of 52 conceded goals.
Zanka and Christopher Schindler might get paired up in the centre-back roles with
Florent Hadergjonaj and Scott Malone fielded in the fullback positions. The latter on the right.
Midfield
The holding midfield role might feature Aaron Mooy and Jonathan Hogg. The duo does a solid job of stabilizing the central area while at the same time formulating the Terriers attack.
Alex Pritchard should get the nod for the attacking midfield role.
He should be flanked by Rajiv van La Parra and Collin Quaner. The former was missed in the earlier fixture and looked far better than Tom Ince.
Attack
Steve Mounie is club’s leading number nine with 6 goals and 1 assist in the league.
