Huddersfield Town vs Man Utd: Match preview, probable line-ups and prediction

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Man Utd will hope to keep the pressure on rivals Man City at the top of the Premier League table when they take on Huddersfield Town on Saturday.

United’s draw at Liverpool last weekend allowed City to open up a two-point gap between the two teams, and so another slip-up here could prove costly with Pep Guardiola’s men at home to Burnley.

Jose Mourinho received plenty of criticism last time out for his negative tactics against Liverpool, and it would be a surprise to see anything similar here. The visitors undoubtedly possess the superior individual quality, but they know they’ll be in for a tough afternoon.

As for Huddersfield, David Wagner’s men have taken just one point from their last five games and the 4-0 defeat to Tottenham at home will be a reminder of how they can’t afford to play so open against the top teams.

It’s likely that they will have to soak up plenty of pressure and take their chances when they arrive, but that is of course much easier said than done.

Team news:

Steve Mounie is expected to hand the hosts a major boost with his return, as per BBC Sport, but Philip Billing is set to miss out with an ankle injury with Aaron Mooy tipped to come into the starting line-up in his place.

As for the visitors, they were handed a boost on Friday as Mourinho confirmed Marcus Rashford has shrugged off a knock picked up against Benfica to be available, but Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Michael Carrick, Marcos Rojo and Marouane Fellaini remain sidelined.

Probable Line-ups:

Huddersfield – Lossl; Smith, Schindler, Jorgensen, Malone; Mooy, Williams; Kachunga, Ince, Van La Parra; Mounie.

Man Utd – De Gea; Valencia, Jones, Smalling, Young; Matic, Herrera; Rashford, Mkhitaryan, Martial, Lukaku.

Prediction

Huddersfield will be on the back foot for most of this one, but I don’t expect them to be turned over like they were by Tottenham as they’ll have learned some lessons at least in keeping it tight and putting the pressure on United.

Having said that, with Lukaku out to silence his detractors after a poor display against Liverpool, coupled with the threat and pace of Rashford and Anthony Martial on the wings on the counter, the Red Devils should have enough to return to Manchester with all three points.

Huddersfield 1-2 Manchester United

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