An outstanding opening weekend of the Championship season concludes at the John Smith’s Stadium on Monday night when relegated Huddersfield take on the losing play-off finalists from last term in Derby County.
Both these teams will have their eyes set on one thing this term – promotion to the Premier League, and they begin their quest for that in this match. We’ve seen a competitive weekend so far with only really Leeds standing out, emphasising that this could be a wide open division.
Huddersfield Town
The Terriers will be looking to put a truly awful campaign last term behind them. If there is a positive for being out of your depth in a division then it is that you get a stack of time to prepare for what lies ahead, so you would expect Huddersfield to be prepared for the challenge that lies ahead. I guess in many ways you never truly know until it starts but it would be some pretty ordinary management if they were not ready for the Championship.
One of the big issues that confronted the Yorkshire outfit last season was a lack of goals and if they are going to get promoted or get anywhere near that then they are going to have to find a way to get the ball in the net more often. You would think that would come more naturally in this division but time will tell whether that is going to be the case or not.
Derby County
You could be forgiven for thinking that this is a big night for Derby County. They have undergone a lot of changes since then were beaten by Aston Villa in the play-off final in May. They have changed their manager with Frank Lampard leaving to go to Chelsea, and all eyes will be on Phillip Cocu to see what he has to offer in charge, with question marks over his suitability in the second tier of English football.
They have also lost a few key players and have had to cut their cloth accordingly, so it will be interesting to see if they are as good as last season. Logic would suggest that they can’t be, but once again the proof will be in the pudding. Derby were free flowing and high scoring last season but whether they have the attacking power to be that this time round remains to be seen.
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Team News
Huddersfield Town are likely to be without striker Steve Mounie, who spent much of the summer away in the Africa Cup of Nations. Tommy Elphick, Reece Brown, Josh Koroma, Herbert Bockhorn, Isaac Mbenza and Kamil Grabara could all make their debuts.
Derby County are without a whole host of players due to injury. Jack Marriott. Duane Holmes, Scott Carson, Andre Wisdom and Craig Forsyth are all doubts or definitely out but Graeme Shinnie and Kieran Dowell could make their debuts.
Betting
I would have fancied Huddersfield Town to win this match had Derby not had the amount of injuries that they have got but given that they are without some key players I think the visitors have to be opposed here. I think Huddersfield should be the more settled and ready for this challenge with Derby losing Lampard quite late in the summer and their transfer activity not really impressing too much.
If there is an area of concern within the home side it is a lack of goals, or a potential one at any rate, so with that in mind I’m going to take advantage of the draw cover we can get here and take them on the Asian lines. We’ll only lose half our stake if this does end in a draw but on a big night for both sides I think it will be Huddersfield who will get their campaign up and running with the desired result.
Tips
Back Huddersfield Town (-0.25AH) to beat Derby County for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with BetVictor
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