Huddersfield v Coventry: Value opposing goals

Huddersfield head coach Carlos Corberan admitted the toothless Terriers didn’t deserve anything more than a share of the spoils in a 1-1 draw against struggling Barnsley last weekend. The Town boss was keen to see a reaction from the side’s poor showing in their previous outing with Middlesbrough, but the West Yorkshire outfit were again below-par.

Corberan’s charges did take the lead at Oakwell through Lewis O’Brien‘s first-half goal, although the Tykes levelled just before the break. Huddersfield were unable to find a second goal despite having 18 attempts at goal and multiple good counter-attacking opportunities.

Speaking post-match, the Terriers boss said, “It’s true that we had enough opportunities to score the goal, but the feeling of the game was that, at the end it was equal and I can tell you that the draw maybe was the fair result because we didn’t use our moments well enough in attack, [or] in defence to avoid chances and the goal they scored.”

Coventry beaten by Baggies

Coventry chief Mark Robins conceded his Sky Blues side didn’t deserve anything from their 2-1 defeat to high-flying West Brom last time out, despite being the victims of a blatant hand ball for the Baggies’ second goal. City made a rare poor start at the CBS Arena where they struggled to get to grips with Albion’s aggressive pressing tactics, falling 2-0 behind.

Coventry produced a determined second half fight-back when Kyle McFadzean pulled a goal back seven minutes from time, although the Sky Blues were unable to find a leveller as they slipped to only a second home reverse of the Championship campaign. To make matters worse, star midfield man Gustavo Hamer picked up a foot injury which rules him out here.

Speaking post-match, Robins said: “We were poor. We looked leggy and our pass execution was as poor as it’s been all season. We didn’t give ourselves a chance. The first half looked like it might have been a rout . We were better second half and won it 1-0 but that means nothing. In terms of the physicality of the team, it was a mismatch.”

Last season’s league meetings between Huddersfield and Coventry were the first between the pair since the duo occupied positions in the old Division 1 back in 1972/73. The two tussles ended all-square and the Sky Blues have now suffered a solitary league loss in seven head-to-head showdowns with the Terriers going back to 1966 (W3-D3-L1).

Huddersfield 2.767/4 have performed above pre-season expectations to be perched inside the top-half as we approach the hectic Christmas period. However, inconsistency has blighted the Terriers’ campaign; Town have W1-D2-L3 coming into this clash with Carlos Corberan’s men sitting third-bottom when viewing Expected Points (xP) returns over the past eight outings.

Coventry 2.747/4 have arguably the Championship’s surprise package with Mark Robins’ men just a point outside of the play-off places heading into the weekend. The Sky Blues have built their impressive campaign on strong home form with City tabling only two triumphs on their travels (W2-D4-L4), whilst scoring only eight (29%) of their overall 28 goals away.

Both Huddersfield and Coventry have delivered Under 2.5 Goals 1.608/13 in 6/10 (60%) of their respective home and away efforts in the Championship this season, as only six of those collective 20 contests produced four or more goals. In fact, Both Teams To Score has only banked on seven (35%) occasions during that same sample, and has to be opposed again.

Taking Both Teams To Score ‘No’ is the outside of the two options at an appealing 1.9110/11. Huddersfield have silenced six of their 10 visitors to the John Smith’s Stadium, with matches generating just 2.04 Expected Goals (xG) per-game here. Coventry’s road trips have been similarly tight affairs and the goal expectancy here is only 2.40.