Huddersfield Town head to London to take on West Ham United on Monday night. The two sides could hardly have more contrasting situations going into the game.

West Ham have lost all three of their opening fixtures. Their manager is on the brink of being sacked. Their owners are about to launch legal action against another club after being called “the dildo brothers”. Things look pretty bleak at West Ham right now.

Huddersfield Town, on the other hand, have seven points out of nine so far in the Premier League, the manager has the most secure job in the division, and our owner is probably one of the best in all of club football.

All the signs point to a Town victory. The only word of caution I’d add is that Town often fare better when tipped as the underdogs. Just look back to Burton Albion at home last year for evidence of what happens when Town are expected to win easily.

West Ham v Huddersfield Town – Match details

Kickoff: Monday 11 September, 8PM

Coverage: Sky Sports Premier League channel & BBC Radio 5 Live

Tickets: £30 adults / £25 concessions. At the time of writing, there were still tickets available on general sale. A game in London, moved to a Monday night and televised on Sky was always likely to sell slowly, so it’s not surprising you can still get tickets.

The last I heard was we’d sold 2,700, so if we don’t sell out it’ll be close enough to make no difference to the atmosphere. I expect the atmosphere in the ground will be good for Town fans. We’re getting a reputation as noisy fans, and I’m sure we’ll give every encouragement we can to our players.

Travel: There’s a handy video with all the information you need about getting to the game from Town’s Supporter Liaison Officers, Nathan:

Likely lineup

I think the only change David Wagner will make will be to drop van La Parra, bring in Kasey Palmer and play Ince out on the wing. As I covered in the article about stats from the Southampton game, Ince does a good job in the number 10 role but tends to drift wide. Palmer will play more centrally and hopefully link the play up better.

Collin Quaner picked up a knock in the friendly in Germany last weekend, so there’s going to be a slot available on the bench for someone. Laurent Depoitre and new boys Hadergjonaj and Sabiri will all want to be involved. So Wagner has a problem to solve when selecting his subs.

Pre-match comments from David Wagner

David Wagner’s pre-match press conference was the kind of thing you’d expect. He played down the idea that West Ham will be easy and emphasised the need for Town to be focussed and at their best to get anything from the game. He’s good at trying to dampen down expectations and pays respect to the opposition.

Wagner does a good job of balancing the mixed messages of “we’ve not no limits” and “we’re a humble little club in the big league”. I’m sure in the dressing room his message to the players will be almost the opposite, filling the players with belief and telling them how we can beat the opposition.

3 things to watch out for in the West Ham away game

Will the West Ham fans back their team?

West Ham haven’t had a home game yet this season because of disruption caused by staging athletics at the London Stadium. This is the first chance for their fans to make their voice heard.

There’s a lot of anger among their supporters, so Monday will be a chance to see what they really think. Protests are planned and I’m sure we’ll see angry banners in the crowd.

My personal view is that regardless of your opinion about the individual owners, manager or players you should always back your team when they’re playing a game. Protest before and after if you like, but back your team when they’re on the pitch.

If the Hammers have a bad start to the game I can imagine the atmosphere could turn ugly and I’m certain Town can exploit that. Our counter-pressing system will punish any nervousness or apprehension from West Ham.

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How will Aaron Mooy look?

If I lost half a stone I’d fit into my new Town shirt a lot more comfortably than I currently do. Aaron Mooy losing half a stone due to the illness he picked up on international duty is more of a concern. He wasn’t exactly flabby before he left, so it’s a worry to hear how much weight he lost.

He recovered enough from his illness to play the full game against Thailand on Tuesday, so I’m confident he’ll be fit to play. However, the illness added to the travelling he’s done in the last fortnight make me wonder if he’ll be able to complete 90 minutes.

Will the new boys play a part for Town?

Hamid Sabiri and Flo Hadergjonaj both played in last weekend’s 3-0 friendly victory over Altona 93 and the reports were impressive. OK, this was opposition in the fourth tier of German football but it sounds like they’re both match-fit and pushing for a place in the team.

I think Tommy Smith will keep his shirt for this game but Wagner might consider giving Flo a run out if Smith isn’t able to recapture his form from last season.

Sabiri will be looking to take the number 10 role but I think Palmer will get the nod ahead of him. I hope that he gets a place on the bench though, as he could be a good impact substitute to bring on late in the game.

Opposition info: West Ham

West Ham have had a dismal start to the 2017/18 season. Manchester United, Southampton, and Newcastle have all beaten them in their first three Premier League fixtures. While there’s no shame in being beaten by Manchester United, we know that Southampton and Newcastle aren’t world beating teams.

Slaven Bilic’s job is apparently under threat, which seems a bit silly after just three games, but this means he’s got to get something out of this game. While West Ham played particularly poorly in their 3-0 defeat at St James’ Park, I’m certain they’ll want to put in more of a performance against Town in front of their own fans.

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Man to watch: Michail Antonio

Antonio is no stranger to Town fans, having played against us nine times in his career so far. Once for Colchester, five times for Sheffield Wednesday and three times for Nottingham Forest.

I watched most of those games he played against us and remember him being a thorn in our side. He’s quick, skilful and strong on the ball. He’s improved substantially since those days too, easily stepping up to the Premier League when he signed for West Ham for £7m two summers ago.

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West Ham v Town history

Huddersfield Town and West Ham United have played each other 39 times, we’ve won 22 of those meetings, lost 10, and drawn 7. The first meeting was back in 1919 in the second division, with Town winning 2-0.

You have to go back 20 years for our most recent meeting with West Ham, which was a two legged game in the League Cup. We lost 3-1 on aggregate, sunk by a John Hartson hat trick after taking a single goal lead into the away leg. Interestingly, there were only 16,137 fans at Upton Park that night. There’ll be substantially more at the game on Monday night.

Terrier Spirit opinion – West Ham 1 – 2 Huddersfield Town

It makes me nervous to read all the predictions that Town are going to win this game easily. There are lots of positives for Town and plenty of negatives for West Ham but it’ll be a surprise if it’s straight forward.

I’m going to predict a tight, 2-1 victory. Town’s first three games have proven that we can compete with teams at this level but the West Ham players will want to show some fight for their home fans and Bilic is fighting to save his job.

Both Ince and Kachunga are due goals, so I’ll predict them both to get one each. It would be great to keep another clean sheet, but I think our luck will run out eventually and we may let one in against the Hammers.

