Huddersfield Town head to the south coast for their last away game of the year, taking on Southampton at the Saint Mary’s stadium. Town are currently one place and three points above Southampton in the Premier League table, which few would have bet on at the start of the season.
This is the first return fixture in the Premier League for Town, following the 0-0 draw at home with Southampton last August. Newly promoted sides often find it harder in the second half of the season because teams know what to expect when they play again. It’ll be interesting to see if Southampton differ their approach against Town.
Who will David Wagner pick to play against Southampton?
After such a fine performance against Watford and a full week to rest between games it’s hard to imagine wholesale changes for the Southampton game.
Wagner will be forced to replace Kachunga due to injury, so I’d expect van La Parra to come in and play on the left. Palmer and Sabiri both don’t seem to be under consideration to start in the number ten role, so Ince should keep his spot there.
Perhaps most surprisingly, Collin Quaner is in the kind of form where he should be played every game, so should continue on the wing. He gave Watford’s defence a torrid time last weekend and put plenty of balls into the box.
Wagner could rotate his strikers again and give Mounié a run out up front, but I’d expect him to keep faith with Depoitre after he did such a good job in our last game.
Jonathan Hogg’s suspension following his red card last week and Philip Billing’s long-term absence means Williams and Mooy are likely to start in the defensive midfield slots. Williams has performed well when called upon this season, so I’ve no concerns about him coming in. However, I think playing as the more defensive of a midfield two shackles him a bit and means he can’t burst upfield. He’ll have to sit deep and protect the defence and this means he’s not the attacking force he could be for us.
What tactics will Town play against Southampton?
My impression of Town lately is that we’re at our best when we play our natural game, and we struggle most when trying to counteract the opposition’s tactics. Whether this means playing the deep block to stifle opposition or changing formation to match the other team, any move away from the terrier identity makes it harder to get a positive result.
I expect we’ll play Southampton much like we did in the first game against them. We’ll press them high up the pitch to unsettle their rhythm and try to force errors in dangerous places. This might leave us open to counter-attacks but that’s a risk worth taking to stop them from playing.
In possession, I expect we’ll utilise the fullbacks to carry the ball upfield out wide, and the wingers will tuck in to create a channel down the side for Löwe and Hadergjonaj to run in to. Ince will drop into the channels too, to create overloads in those areas and try to make runs past the lone striker.
Mooy will be the more attacking of the two defensive midfielders and will push on to Southampton’s midfield and try to disrupt them in possession. Williams will screen the defence and fill in when the fullbacks bomb forward.
I think it’s very unlikely we’ll see another 0-0 against Southampton as our tactics will either overwhelm Southampton and we’ll score a few or we’ll get caught out and they’ll pick us off on the break. Either way, there should be goals.
Last game: Huddersfield Town 0-0 Southampton, 26 August 2017
We played Southampton in our second home game in the Premier League. It was a game that Town played most of the football and were slightly unlucky not to come away with three points.
We created more chances that Southampton but didn’t take those opportunities and we also flagged towards the end of the match and could have conceded in the last few minutes. It was a good test for Town against seasoned Premier League opposition and was the game where I started to think we could hold our own against the majority of the teams in this league.
Pellegrini played a fairly cautious system against us at the John Smith’s Stadium, holding back some of his most creative talents on the bench to play a more solid system. Their better players also failed to sparkle, with Tadic and Romeu struggling to show the best form.
Here’s an article I wrote about the most interesting stats from the Southampton at home game.
Match prediction: Southampton 0-2 Huddersfield Town
Southampton haven’t won in five games, so it’s a good time to play them. They’ve got good individual players but haven’t hit the heights they’re capable of this season. Town also seem to be finding some form themselves, so we’re hopefully hitting our stride at the perfect time.
I’ll predict Tom Ince and Collin Quaner to both score their first Premier League goals for Town in this match, and Town to win 2-0. What an early Christmas present that would be!