Huddersfield Town v Manchester City Preview: can David beat Goliath?

HUDDERSFIELD, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 02: Huddersfield manager David Wagner during the Sky Bet Championship match between Huddersfield Town and Brighton & Hove Albion at Galpharm Stadium on February 2, 2017 in Huddersfield, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

The odds are stacked firmly against Huddersfield Town. Not only must they compete with one of the best top flight teams of all time, they must do so after a 4-0 defeat at Bournemouth last weekend.

Centre-back Christopher Schindler was sorely missed in that match, so David Wagner will be pleased to see him return to contention, given his early-season form. Martin Cranie is an honest enough professional, but there is a reason why he hadn’t played a top flight game for 10 years prior to the trip to the West Country.

Huddersfield pushed full-backs Florent Hadergjonaj and Scott Malone high up the pitch in the defeat, which didn’t help them defensively, even if the first two goals came from poor set piece marking.

We can expect a move to a 4-3-3, which was deployed in the last home game against Manchester opposition, when the Terriers beat United 2-1. City though are a different proposition.

They do not rely on individuals, because injuries to one or two players haven’t altered the overall system, which is a problem Liverpool encountered last season and United in this one.

For example, Benjamin Mendy had a great game against Liverpool at the beginning of September before picking up an injury,  but Fabian Delph has since not looked out of place as an auxiliary left-back.

In the other full-back position, Kyle Walker has looked excellent since joining from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer. Last season, left winger Rajiv Van La Parra would have relished facing Pablo Zabaleta one-on-one down City’s right, but Walker has a lot more pace. Those physical advantages mean he can push forward at will, but he can also recover his defensive position very quickly.

Pace is a key component of City’s play. In the last two years of Manuel Pellegrini’s tenure, they relied on David Silva and Sergio Aguero in the final third. While both remain important players for the Citizens, they now have different roles. Silva creates from a deeper position alongside the majestic Kevin De Bruyne, who is enjoying the best season of his career while Aguero is used a little more sparingly with Gabriel Jesus a regular figure.

The Brazilian flanked by Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane, creating a wonderful front trio. We saw glimpses of what those players can do in their performance at West Ham midway through last season and now they are starting to deliver consistently. All three are quick, they press from the front, they have excellent movement and they selflessly shift the ball with great intelligence.

Huddersfield will need to cut the supply to that attack and will need Aaron Mooy, on loan from the Citizens, to get through a lot of work. We saw last season how good the deep-lying playmaker is in terms of dictating the tempo and picking the right moments to play passes into forward areas, which no players in the Championship did better.

This year, the improved quality of opposition has meant we’ve seen more of what he can do defensively. The Aussie has made 36 tackles this season (Who Scored), only three central midfielders in the division have made more.

Sunday will be a huge challenge for Mooy and his teammates, who will not have faced a better side in their careers.

Most expect Huddersfield to get thrashed – but then again, rarely do David Wagner’s side conform to expectation.

The Football Lab’s Verdict: 1-2