All articles by: Jools Jordan-Probert

Huddersfield vs Chelsea – Match Preview

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Huddersfield vs Chelsea – Match Preview – Chelsea will be raring to get back to winning ways against Huddersfield Town on Tuesday night after suffering a surprising 1-0 loss to West Ham on the weekend.

Antonio Conte admitted his side’s title defence is over after the defeat, with The Blues now a huge 14 points adrift of Manchester City after the 2-1 derby day victory against Manchester United on Sunday for Pep Guardiola’s team.

David Moyes’ first win as West Ham manager was Chelsea’s first league defeat in nine games, which was also to a relegation-battling side in Crystal Palace. Since then, Chelsea had beaten Manchester United and won their Champions League qualifying group, only not winning four of the 12 fixtures since.

However, it is the general inconsistency that separates this Chelsea team from last year’s all-conquering force, and whilst Eden Hazard has been sublime at times there seems to be a slight spark of creativity missing.

Fabregas needs to become the creative force he has been in previous seasons Photo Credit: skysports.com

The Blues are still ahead of every other team in the league bar the two Manchester clubs though, and will be hoping to solidify a minimum of a third-place finish to guarantee Champions League football for next season. No trophies would likely see the end of Conte’s reign at Stamford Bridge, however.

Saturday truly was a matchday of contrasting emotions for the two sides, as Huddersfield bounced back from losing four consecutive matches to beat Brighton 2-0 on Saturday.

After an excellent start to the season by winning their maiden three games in the Premier League, David Wagner’s side had gradually crept towards the wrong end of the table with just one win in their next 12 afterwards.

The much-needed win over Brighton meant they leapfrogged not only their beaten opponents, but Stoke City and Bournemouth too – and the 2017 Championship play-off winners currently sit in a very respectable 12th position.

Mounie bagged a brace on the weekend and will hope to continue to find the back of the net Photo Credit: skysports.com

An even more encouraging aspect for Huddersfield is that record £11.5m singing Steve Mounie was back amongst the goals; his double on Saturday was the first time the Beninese striker had found the net since his brace on the opening day of the season against Crystal Palace.

Stats

Conte always likes his team to be structurally sound, and only Manchester United can boast a better clean sheet record than his Chelsea team in the league so far this season. The Blues have kept seven clean sheets in total and will be confident of adding to that total against Huddersfield.

Huddersfield are the obvious bet for card-related issues, no team in the division has been awarded more than The Terriers two red cards and only West Brom and West Ham (32) have received more than the 29 given to Wagner’s team. This puts Huddersfield third in our club card stats table, receiving an average of 2.1 cards per game for an average booking points figure of 22.7 per match.

One would expect Chelsea to be the dominant side and pushing forward as often as possible, and as a result earn a large number of corners. This would be in line with their joint-third place standing in our club corner stats this season, with only Spurs (101) and Man City (103) being awarded more than The Blues’ 96 this term.

 

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Man United vs Man City – Match Preview

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Man United vs Man City – Match Preview – Christmas has come early in providing us the most eagerly anticipated game of the season, where bragging rights, pride and a crucial three points will be claimed in a table-topping Manchester Derby on Sunday. When Manchester United and Manchester City lock horns it is one of the biggest spectacles of any year, but this one has the feel of season-defining significance.

Pep Guardiola’s City have been utterly relentless and could look to almost put the title race to bed by besting old rival Jose Mourinho’s United and move a massive 11 points clear.

Manchester City will want to go 11 points clear at the top of the table at Old Trafford Photo Credit: skysports.com

Despite not being at their usual swashbuckling best, City have been grinding out results in an almost Manchester United under Ferguson-esque manner of late. Whilst that may not satisfy the perfectionist in Guardiola, it is undoubtedly the mark of a Championship-winning side.

Hope for United could be provided by City’s record 20 match winning streak ending in midweek against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League – but City had already won the group whilst the Ukrainian’s were hungry for qualification of their own and a repeated display of such complacency is unlikely.

Manchester United have had a great season too; winning their Champions’ League group with a 2-1 victory against CKSA Moscow on Tuesday and have won 11 of their 15 league matches and lost just two. Unfortunately for United fans, City’s near perfect league record of dropping points just once all season (14 wins and one draw) has set the bar at unprecedented levels.

The anticipation building around the city and throughout the world for this game almost guarantees that Mourinho will be looking to provide a trademark masterclass against his old nemesis.

A performance of a similar ilk to the one against Arsenal in The Red Devils last league match will be required; United (and in particular David De Gea) soaking up large amounts of pressure whilst being clinical in attack on that occasion.
United will have to do it without their key man Paul Pogba, however, as the French international is suspended after receiving a straight red in that victory against Arsenal.

United will need to be solid at the back and take their chances in attack on Sunday Photo Credit: skysports.com

Passion is historically at the forefront of the Manchester derby, and even just in Premier League history there are a host of memorable incidents. From Roy Keane v Alf-Inge Haland, to Eric Cantona’s domination of the fixture, to City’s 6-1 demolition of United at Old Trafford, this fixture always produces.

Now both sides are managed by the world’s best, have the world’s biggest budgets and some of the world’s best players. Both sides are vying to be the best in the country and Europe once again this campaign. This should unquestionably result in us seeing one of the best and most intriguing matches of the season.

Stats

We really are going to witness the division’s two strongest sides do battle. Not only are City and United the two highest-scoring teams in the league, but both sides of Manchester have the best defences in Premier League too. No side can best the seven clean sheets earned by Guardiola’s men but in typical Mourinho fashion United lead our club clean sheet stats table with a fantastic return of nine clean sheets from 15 matches. In fact, United have kept a clean sheet in all but one (85%) of their seven home matches. So against City’s league-leading 46 goals, it will truly be the immovable object vs irrepressible force.

 Always a heated affair, this match tends to have the referee earning his keep. Michael Oliver takes charge of the derby and he has averaged 3.7 cards a game in 13 matches, producing two red cards, averaging to just over 40 Booking points per game. Manchester City in general have kept the officials busy this season, coming in at fourth in our club card stats on account of having a league-high two red cards. Add that to 27 yellow cards and City get an average of 21.3 booking points per match.

Being two of, if not the two most dominant sides in the league you would expect both sides to have a high number of corners. This expectation is a reality, and no side has been awarded more corners than Manchester City’s 103 this year. United’s physicality always lends them to be a threat from set plays, and they come in sixth in our club corner stats table with 95.

 

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Sheffield United vs Bristol City – Match Preview

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Sheffield United vs Bristol City – Match Preview – Considering it is December and now 20 games deep into the Championship season, the fact that this fixture pits third against fourth is remarkable.

Winners of League One last season, Sheffield United grasped their return to the second tier of English football with both hands and have made a blistering start to the campaign – winning 12 of their opening 17 games.

A slight blip in recent form for Chris Wilder’s team, (losing 5-4 at home to Fulham before drawing 1-1 with Birmingham City and losing to Millwall) still sees them in 4th place and just six points away from Cardiff City in 2nd – testament to their wonderful season.

Sharp and Clarke have scored a combined 21 league goals so far this season Photo Credit: skysports.com

Bristol City have been equally impressive, finishing in 17th last term and just three points away from the relegation zone, surpassing all expectations in reaching 3rd place at this stage in the year.

This is no accident according to Manager Lee Johnson, (who is the son of former manager Gary Johnson), who speaks openly of trying to achieve promotion – so the sights and standards have been set.

Bristol City come into this match after a stellar week where they dispatched two sides relegated from the Premier League last season, coming from 2-0 down to win against now manager-less Hull City 3-2 before beating Middlesbrough 2-1 at Ashton Gate.

Stats

Goals are to be expected in this one with an emphasis on both teams to score; City have scored 2+ goals in six of their 10 away games this year and 55% of all matches in total – coming second only behind the dominant Wolves in our club +2 goal stats table.  Sheffield United have also found scoring easy this year, scoring 2+ goals in nine of their 20 league games too.

Additionally, between the two sides there have only been 12 clean sheets (seven for Bristol City and five for Sheffield United) from a combined total of 40 Championship matches.
Pair that with the lethal strikers on show in the shape of dynamic duo Billy Sharp and Leon Clarke for The Blades and Bobby Reid for The Robins and we have quite the prospective attacking display.

Bobby Reid leads the scoring charts for Bristol City with 10 league goals Photo Credit: skysports.com

In summary, this match is a showcase for the wonderful unpredictability of the Championship. The division’s two biggest surprise packages will do battle with the aim of gaining more ground on the glorious goal of Premier League promotion. Something has got to give.

Expect corners in this one. In our club corner stats table, this match features the team that have been awarded the second highest number of corners in the division (Sheffield United, with 127 at an average of 6.3 per game) against Bristol City who’ve had the sixth most corner-kicks (109, at an average of 5.5 per match.

The excitement doesn’t just end with the chance of goals, as the referee is likely to be kept busy too. The Blades rank in fifth in our club card stats table, after being awarded 39 yellow cards and a red card so far this year. This gives Wilder’s side a heavy figure of 20.8 average booking points per game. Bristol City are marginally less active in the booking game, with similar stats of 35 yellows, one red and an average of 18.8 booking points per match. There is bound to be drama.

 

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