Huddersfield Town make the short journey across the Pennines to play Burnley this weekend. In a match destined to be shown last on Match of the Day, two of the Premier League’s biggest underdogs will both fancy their chances of picking up points.

There are a lot of similarities between the two sides, but also some significant differences too. Both teams are built on a foundation of teamwork and togetherness, but the style of football is very different.

Town were unfortunate to only draw with Leicester last weekend, having had a Kachunga goal controversially ruled out for offside. That means it’s now three games since our last victory in the Premier League, so it would be good to get back to winning ways at Turf Moor.

Burnley v Huddersfield Town – Match details

Kickoff: 3 pm, Saturday 23 September 2017 at Turf Moor

Coverage: The official Huddersfield Town site has a list of all the different countries and stations the Burnley game will feature on for those living abroad.

Travel: Burnley’s not a long way from Huddersfield, but the journey can be tricky depending on which route you pick and where you’re starting from. There’s some useful information about how to get to the game on the Football Grounds Guide website.

Pre-game pub: There are a few places that are friendly towards away fans on the website linked to above. I’ll be going to Burnley Cricket Club — it’s near the ground, has car parking, and apparently is a decent atmosphere before games.

Referee: Chris Kavanagh – Like Town, Kavanagh was promoted this season, becoming a “Select Group 1” referee for the 2017/18 season. He’s only reffed two games at this level, meaning he’s not got much of a reputation for either good or bad yet. Let’s hope that that continues, and he’s not a focal point of Saturday’s game.

Team news and likely lineup

Injuries are starting to stack up for Town. Here’s a quick run-down:

Stankovic is still out until Christmas.

Mounié’s heel injury rules him out until the Tottenham game.

Crainie is just getting back to fitness after playing at Crystal Palace on Tuesday night

Danny Williams is out with a broken foot – he’s got a scan to determine how bad the injury is

van La Parra is expected to miss the Burnley game due to “stiffness”

Laurent Depoitre is also suffering from some stiffness, but is expected to start

Jonathan Hogg played 90 minutes against Palace but it’s unclear if he’s fit enough to play two full games in a week

Collin Quaner picked up a calf strain in his sub appearance against Leicester last week, and also misses the Burnley game

The above injuries make it easier to make an educated guess at the team:

Some fans are calling for Malone to come in to replace Löwe. I can see the argument, following a couple of poor games from the German, but I’d like to see him given another chance. He’s been so consistent up to now, he deserves a chance to turn his form around.

Jonathan Hogg may not be fit enough for this game, so Phil Billing might partner Mooy in the middle. I’d like to see the Mooy/Hogg partnership renewed in the middle of the pitch, but Billing has proved he can do a job in the defensive role if called upon.

Pre-match comments

David Wagner pointed out the difficulty of taking on a team with togetherness and spirit in his pre-match comments. He also gave a prickly answer to the question about his team’s lack of goals this season. I can understand his irritation at the question, given how many points we’ve picked up despite only scoring twice in the league since the opening day a 3-0 win.

Things to watch for

Has some of the feel-good factor worn off?

I’ve noticed a few fans squabbling among themselves about which players are and aren’t good enough for this level. There has also been some suggestions that Wagner should change his system to have two strikers up front, play various players in different positions, or that our style of play is too predictable.

These grumbles are becoming more frequent as the novelty of playing in the top flight starts to fade.

It’s natural for fans to gripe. And armchair tacticians (this blog included) like to speculate about different ways of doing things. I just hope that Town fans don’t expect too much from their team and keep backing the players when things aren’t going our way.

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Will it be the least glamorous Premier League tie ever?

When executives are selling the international rights for the Premier League they’ll talk about the glamour and excitement of Manchester City’s millionaires lining up against Chelsea’s millionaires. That’s the kind of mouthwatering fixture that gets foreign audiences turning on their TVs.

Burnley v Huddersfield sounds like a top-flight game from the twenties, so isn’t likely to appeal to the neutral. Both towns are run-down, have proud histories, and are experiencing mini-resurgences thanks to the Premier League millions.

How will Town fans respond well to Nahki?

Nahki Wells won’t be fit to play against Town at the weekend. I’m not sure if Burnley will wheel him out anyway, due to his connection with Town. If so, it’ll be interesting to see how he’s received.

I’m extremely grateful to Nahki Wells for the contribution he made to Huddersfield Town. He scored the third penalty in the playoff final and his goals in previous seasons kept us in the league.

Dean Hoyle has said that Wells had been poorly advised when it came to contract negotiations. Leading to him rejecting an offer last summer in order to run his old contract down. It made sense for Town to cash in on a player that would go for nothing the following summer and would have been our third-choice striker at best.

There may be some Town fans that hold a grudge against Wells for the circumstances of his departure. Personally, I think he was a good servant of the club and deserves a warm reception from Town fans if the opportunity presents itself.

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This is not a “must-win game”

Thrice Champions is one of my recommended Huddersfield Town podcasts, but this week a couple of the hosts suggested the Burnley game was a “must-win” for Town. They explained their comments in some depth, but I still think it’s a bit extreme to call this game “must win”.

In my opinion there can’t possibly be a must-win game until at least March. Even then, it would only be those games where losing would mean we mathematically can’t stay up.

Opposition info: Burnley

Doom-mongers predicted a bad season for Burnley before a ball was even kicked. Their two best players, Andre Grey and Michael Keane, had both been sold and their replacements weren’t of the same quality.

Burnley pride themselves on being a team rather than relying on individuals and their start to the season shows they’re still a tough team to play against. They won against the odds at Stamford Bridge on the opening day of the season against Chelsea. They’ve won one more, drawn another and lost to West Brom, giving them eight points and putting them level with Town in the table.

Burnley have two ex-Town players on their books. Scott Arfield has been with Burnley for years, playing a key role in Burnley’s success in the last few years. He joined Burnley straight after leaving Town. At the time I didn’t see him as much of a loss as he never really produced his best football for Town.

Nahki Wells is the other ex-Town man on Burnley’s books, leaving on transfer deadline day for a fee rumoured to be around £5m. He’s still out with the ankle injury that meant he missed most of Town’s preseason. Probably a good thing, as it would hurt if he scored a winner against us.

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Burnley v Town history

Town have played Burnley 71 times, with Burnley winning 33, Town winning 27 and the remaining 11 being drawn. I put these stats in every match preview and always think about how completely meaningless they are. I might cut them out of future reports.

The first meeting between the two sides came in the second division in 1910. Burnley won the match 1-0 at the Leeds Road stadium.

The most recent match between Burnley and Town was in the Championship in March 2016, which Burnley won 3-1. It’s surprising to see how similar Burnley’s team was that day to the players they have fielded this season. Keane and Gray have moved on, but the rest seem very familiar. In contrast, Tommy Smith is the only Town player likely to play this weekend from the last time we played Burnley.

Terrier Spirit prediction – 1-0 to Town

I think Town and Burnley are two fairly well-matched teams. Neither will want to let the other dominate the game and there’ll be a real battle for supremacy. It might not be pretty at times, but I’m looking forward to seeing who wins. If Town can match the intensity of the Leicester game last weekend then I think we’ll be able to keep Burnley out.

Whether we can convert the chances we chance we create into goals is another matter. As was the problem last season, Town haven’t converted spells of quality football into goals enough this season. I still think Tom Ince and Kachunga are due to start scoring any game now. I predict a narrow victory in a scrappy game.

