MATCH PREVIEW: BIRMINGHAM CITY (H)

19 November 2019

All the info you need ahead of Birmingham’s visit

- Preview ahead of Town vs Birmingham
- Away players to look out for
- Tickets still available for the game

Huddersfield Town return to action after the international break with the visit of Birmingham City for a Sky Bet Championship encounter on Saturday 23 November 2019; 3pm kick-off.

Danny Cowley’s Terriers will return to the John Smith’s Stadium for the game off the back of a week of warm weather training in Dubai.

Five First Team players will also join back up with the squad ahead of the fixture, having represented their nations in the recent international break.

Town will be looking to get back to winning ways following a 3-1 defeat at Preston North End, prior to the break.

The game is the first of two back-to-back games at the John Smith’s Stadium, with Swansea City the visitors three days later.

THE OPPOSITION

City will also be looking to bounce back on Saturday having gone into the break with a defeat, having lost 1-0 at home to Fulham.

Prior to that, Pep Clotet’s side had been on a mixed run of form, winning three of their five games before that loss at St Andrew’s.

Wins over Middlesbrough, Blackburn and Luton Town all came on home soil whilst they continued to struggle on the road with defeats at Cardiff City and Leeds United.

It means that the Blues have just one win away from home since the opening day in the Sky Bet Championship, with the only victory coming at The Valley against Charlton Athletic.

Their recent results mean that they currently occupy 13th spot in the league table through 16 games, with 22 points on the board.

ONES TO WATCH

JUDE BELLINGHAM

The 16-year-old burst on to the scene earlier this season as a product of the Club’s Youth Academy, making his First Team debut in a Carabao Cup First Round tie against Portsmouth. Bellingham came off the bench to score the winner on his league debut against Stoke City before netting the decisive goal in the win at Charlton Athletic in the following game. He has continued to impress and is establishing himself as a regular in a two-man midfield alongside Ivan Šunjić.

IVAN ŠUNJIĆ

The Croatian midfielder signed for Birmingham City in the summer following time at both Dinamo Zagreb and NK Lokomotiva. He’s become a key player in Pep Clotet’s system, featuring from his central midfield role in all but one of the Blues’ Sky Bet Championship fixtures so far this season. Before making the move to the ‘second city’ in July, he captained Croatia at the UEFA Under-21 European Championships and already has one cap for the senior side.

LUKAS JUTKIEWICZ

Off the back of a successful loan spell at the Club during the 2016/17 season, the forward signed for Birmingham, making them the sixth permanent club of his career so far. The 30-year-old, who joined Town on loan from Everton for a short time back in 2009, has scored more goals for Birmingham than he has at any other club. He reached double figures in goals for the first time in a Birmingham shirt last season (14) and is currently the Club’s top scorer in 2019/20.

TEAM NEWS – TOWN

Jaden Brown (ankle), Danny Simpson (hip), Tommy Elphick (knee) and Collin Quaner (hip) are all unavailable.

Jonathan Hogg will return after missing the Preston North End match through suspension.

TEAM NEWS – BIRMINGHAM CITY

Defender Harlee Dean will miss Saturday’s game having picked up a red card in Birmingham’s recent defeat at Cardiff City.

Maikel Kieftenbeld (knee) will be unavailable on Saturday, but Gary Gardner (knee) could be in contention after returning to training.

TICKETS

There are still tickets available for the game – Welcome football back to the John Smith’s Stadium by CLICKING HERE to get yours!

KIT

With Town back on home turf, they will be wearing the famous blue-and-white stripes for the visit of Birmingham – CLICK HERE to buy yours!

iFOLLOW HTAFC

Huddersfield Town fans that live outside the UK can watch the game live with an International Match Pass for £5.

Supporters who are in the UK will be able to listen to in-game commentary from the John Smith’s Stadium if they purchase an Audio Match Pass. The audio commentary is also available to those supporters who have monthly or season iFollow HTAFC passes.

Match Reports

REPORT: TOWN 1-1 BIRMINGHAM CITY

23 November 2019

Huddersfield Town returned to Sky Bet Championship action following the November international break with a 1-1 draw against Birmingham City.

Fraizer Campbell had put Town ahead 10 minutes into the second-half but a late Marc Roberts equaliser ensured that the points were shared at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Alex Pritchard made his first start under the Cowleys as one of four changes to the starting XI that lost at Preston a fortnight ago.

Jon Gorenc Stanković, Jonathan Hogg and Fraizer Campbell also came into the side alongside Pritch, who was making his 200th career appearance in all competitions.

The visitors switched the sides around at kick-off, so Town were attacking the Fantastic Media Stand in the first-half. It didn’t disrupt the Terriers rhythm early on however, as they worked the first real opportunity of the game when Elias Kachunga fired over after intercepting a loose Birmingham pass.

Both sides continued to battle in the opening exchanges of the first-half before the Blues created their first real chance of the game, as Jude Bellingham manoeuvred his way into the box before firing a strike over whilst off balance.

That opportunity seemed to be the spark the game needed, as Town immediately drove down the other end to create the game’s closest chance yet. Karlan Grant’s fizzed ball across the box found the run of Alex Pritchard who saw his goal-bound effort blocked on the slide.

Town nearly went one better on 36 minutes however, as Juninho Bacuna’s teasing cross found the unmarked Elias Kachunga in the box who produced a stunning save from Birmingham ‘keeper Connall Trueman at point blank range, before Marc Roberts blocked Fraizer Campbell’s rebound.

Bacca was one of five of Town’s First Team players that went away with their national sides over the break, having featured for Curaçao, but he continued to looked fresh at both ends of the pitch.

Moments after his cross nearly broke the deadlock, a vital header at the back post kept the score at 0-0 on the stroke of half-time.

The clearance allowed Town to break on the counter and force a foul, but despite Alex Pritchard’s low-driven free-kick stinging the hands of the Birmingham ‘keeper, the two sides went into the break level at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Town continued to press for the opener straight after the half time and had their reward 10 minutes after the interval. An inch-perfect ball from Trevoh Chalobah found the run of Fraizer Campbell, with the striker maintaining his composure on the run to slot the ball past the ‘keeper and give Town the lead.

The Terriers continued to assert their dominance on the encounter and nearly had a second soon after. Elias Kachunga found himself unmarked inside the box once again but couldn’t divert Alex Pritchard’s cross from the left past the goalkeeper.

For all of Town’s efforts, the Blues drew level on 78 minutes. A well-worked free-kick was nodded in by Marc Roberts amongst a melee of players inside the box.

Danny Cowley’s side pushed forward in search of a winner in the final 10 minutes but couldn’t create any clear-cut chances to win the game, with the visitors holding firm to ensure that they would take a point from their trip to West Yorkshire.

Next up for Town is the second of two Sky Bet Championship home games in the space of four days with Swansea City the visitors to the John Smith’s Stadium on Tuesday 26 November 2019; 7.45pm kick-off.

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN (4-2-3-1)

Kamil Grabara; Lewis O’Brien, Jon Gorenc Stanković, Christopher Schindler (c), Juninho Bacuna; Jonathan Hogg, Trevoh Chalobah; Karlan Grant, Alex Pritchard (Terence Kongolo, 77’), Elias Kachunga; Fraizer Campbell (Adama Diakhaby, 67’)

Unused subs

Joel Coleman, Josh Koroma, Steve Mounié, Florent Hadergjonaj, Matty Daly

BIRMINGHAM CITY (4-2-3-1)

Connall Trueman; Kristian Pedersen, Jake Clarke-Salter, Marc Roberts, Maxime Colin; Jude Bellingham (Josh McEachran, 79’), Ivan Šunjić; Jacques Maghoma (Jefferson Montero, 63’), Dan Crowley, Jérémie Bela (Álvaro Giménez, 64’); Lukas Jutkiewicz

Unused subs

Lee Camp, Wes Harding, Fran Villalba, David Davis

REFEREE

Keith Stroud

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Standings