Huddersfield will look to continue on an upward curve when they host Stoke City at Kirklees Stadium on Friday evening. Can the hosts make it ten games without tasting defeat? Or will the visitors throw a spanner in the works?
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Stoke have picked up some decent results on the road at times, but they don’t arrive with the same sort of momentum as the hosts, who not only come here in great shape but who are unbeaten at home against teams in the middle third of the division, winning three, drawing one. Combine this with a great points per game average at home than Stoke have on the road, along with a better goals for average, and the home win appeals at attractive odds.
Huddersfield are useful at home, make no mistake about that. Only five Championship teams have won more home games than the Terriers, though clean sheets haven’t exactly been their specialty of late. Both teams have found the net in each of the last four matches at Kirklees Stadium. Both teams have also scored in four of Stoke’s last five on the road.
It’s been a pleasing few weeks for Huddersfield followers, who’ve watched their team pick up a string of excellent results, which have left the Terriers in the favourable league position of sixth, inside the coveted play-off places.
Carlos Corberán’s men come into this fixture having shown a little bit of everything last time out, especially attacking potency, as they fired off 19 shots and scored four goals on the road to Reading. Moreover, the hosts have been very tough to beat at home for several months, losing just one of their last ten at Kirklees. Four clean sheets during that time is pleasing, as is the fact that they’ve conceded more than once on just three occasions.
Stoke City appeared to have turned a corner when they recorded back-to-back victories earlier this month, though they’ve been unable to kick on, first losing to Fulham, then to Coventry. Such results mean that confidence in the away dressing room isn’t likely to be as high as it was. Then again, both of their recent defeats came via the narrowest of margins, so we shouldn’t be too harsh.
The visitors may also gain confidence from a collection of away wins in recent times, beating the likes of Blackpool, Luton, QPR and Hull on the road since November.
If you want to play this one ‘safe’, then take Huddersfield on the Draw No Bet market. As touched on above, the Terriers are unbeaten at home against middle-eight teams, winning three and drawing one against such opposition.
Both Rolando Aarons and Alex Vallejo are out for the hosts, though that is the extent of their injury woes at present. It’s slightly different for the visitors, who could be without up to five players, including Nick Powell, Romaine Sawyers and Harry Souttar.
Huddersfield: Nicholls, Pipa, Pearson, Lees, Thomas, Hogg, O’Brien, Toffolo, Koroma, Sinani, Ward.
Stoke City: Bonham, Harwood-Bellis, Chester, Jagielka, Smith, Ince, Allen, Clucas, Tymon, Wright-Phillips, Brown.
Danny Ward
Huddersfield’s top scorer this season, Danny Ward comes into this game off the back of what was arguably his best performance of the season last time out. The striker’s three goals against Reading was the catalyst for success, and he now has ten for the campaign.
When the teams met earlier in the campaign, Stoke City won by two goals to one in front of a home crowd.
This fixture will take place at Kirklees Stadium, the home of Huddersfield Town.
We recommend checking out both William Hill and Vbet ahead of this fixture.