Huddersfield vs Preston prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2022-10-17 18:45.
Huddersfield Town remain in the Championship relegation zone after they were beaten 2-1 by Rotherham, heightening fears that their 11-season stay above the third tier could be coming to an end (W3, D2, L8). Terriers boss Mark Fotheringham shouldered some of the blame himself for their latest loss but also insisted Huddersfield’s “final ball and killer instinct” must be improved upon. It’s still perhaps too early to judge Fotheringham’s performance just yet, despite failing to win three of his four games in charge so far (W1, D1, L2).
He may be glad of a return home after ending a run of six permanent Huddersfield managers to have lost their opening home league game with a 2-0 victory over Hull in his only outing here so far. That made it two straight wins for the Terriers at the John Smith’s Stadium, where they’ve won ten of their 11 points this season, but building on that won’t be easy as they have beaten Preston North End just once in the last four home H2Hs (D1, L2), a run which includes a heavy 4-1 defeat in the EFL cup here already this season.
The seemingly impenetrable Preston backline that didn’t concede a league goal across the first seven league games seems like a distant memory, as they’ve now conceded 60% of their league goals this term across their last three games. A 2-0 defeat against Alex Neil’s Stoke City at the weekend perhaps stung even more as it was Neil’s first return to Deepdale since leaving the club after a four-year reign.
A swift return to the road shouldn’t faze the Lilywhites who are unbeaten in four of their last five trips (W2, D2) and despite losing their last away outing 2-1 at Bristol City, Preston may still travel confident considering they are yet to record back-to-back travelling defeats this season. Perhaps dampening that confidence, however, is the news that Troy Parrott, who scored Preston’s winner last time they won on the road (3-2 vs Norwich), will be out until after the World Cup.
Players to watch: Danny Ward has contributed to Huddersfield goals in his last two appearances (G1, A1), but he’s yet to score against Preston after ten H2Hs. The influential Emil Riis has scored crucial goals in Preston’s last two wins and they’d be seven points worse off if not for his strikes this season.
Hot streak: Huddersfield are yet to see a goalless first half after 14 competitive games this season.