Huddersfield Town host Swansea City at the John Smith's Stadium in the Championship on Saturday, with the home side looking for a win to move them off the bottom of the league standings.

The visitors have ambitions at the other end of the table, and they will know that a win could be good enough to move them into the playoff places.

Match preview

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After losing the Championship playoff final last season, Huddersfield have found it difficult to get themselves going again, particularly with former manager Carlos Corberan opting to leave the club.

The Terriers have made a very poor start to the season, averaging less than a point a game at this stage and currently four points from 21st-placed Blackpool.

However, after arriving at the club at the end of September, manager Mark Rotheringham has overseen a turnaround of sorts in recent times, notching two wins in his last four league outings.

A 1-0 win against playoff-chasing Millwall will have highlighted to Swansea the problems that Huddersfield can cause opponents at the other end of the league table, and this was then underlined by a 2-1 away victory against sixth-placed Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday night.

Lyndon Dykes opened the scoring for their opponents after just two minutes, but a first-half brace from Josh Ruffels, his first two goals of the season, proved to be enough for the Terriers to come away with all three points, a win that should give them confidence going into Saturday's game.

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Swansea have lost just two of their last 11 league matches, going on a fantastic run of seven wins in nine games from the start of September to the end of October, form which means they now sit in eighth place.

However, this has been curtailed for the Swans in recent weeks, and they are now four games without a win, the first of which being a 1-1 draw away against Bristol City, a game where they dominated the ball, but could not make the home side pay.

This has been an all-too-familiar scenario for Russell Martin's side in recent weeks, drawing 2-2 at home to Wigan Athletic despite having 77% possession and eight more attempts on goal than their opponents.

The Welsh side's most recent result will have been more tough to take, however, drawing 2-2 at Birmingham City, denied a victory by an 89th-minute Troy Deeney leveller, when a win would have secured a place in the playoff positions.

Team News

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Huddersfield are set to be without a number of important players for Saturday's clash, due to a whole host of different issues.

Long-term absentee Yuta Nakayama is set to be out for the season with an Achilles injury, so he will be missing from the Terriers' defence, as will Matty Pearson, who is out until December with a foot injury.

Also in the backline, Tom Lees has been suffering with COVID-19 and is unlikely to make a recovery ahead of this weekend's fixture, so William Boyle may accompany Michal Helik.

Swansea are more blessed in terms of the number of players they have to choose from, with Joe Allen and Liam Walsh the only members of the squad on the treatment table.

Olivier Ntcham has been a key player for Martin's side this season, weighing in with five goals from midfield, including one in his last game, and he may start in an advanced role alongside Luke Cundle, supporting striker Joel Piroe, who also has five goals to his name.

Huddersfield Town possible starting lineup:
Nicholls; Spencer, Boyle, Helik, Ruffels; Holmes, Diarra, Thomas, Rudoni, Jackson; Ward

Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Benda; Wood, Darling, Cabango; Latibeaudiere, Fulton, Grimes, Manning; Cundle, Ntcham, Piroe

We say: Huddersfield Town 1-1 Swansea City

Huddersfield will be buoyed after the win against QPR in their last match, although Swansea should be good enough to get a point on the road, especially given the fact that drawing games has been a habit for them recently.

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