Huddersfield Town and Luton Town will square off in the second leg of their Championship playoff semi-final with the tie delicately poised at 1-1.
Whoever prevails at the John Smith's Stadium will set up a showdown against either Nottingham Forest or Sheffield United at Wembley Stadium.
Match preview
© Reuters
When the Championship playoff places were determined last weekend, Huddersfield and Luton would have felt that they had received the ideal draw as they bid to earn promotion to the Premier League.
As Huddersfield were denied what appeared to be a clear penalty in the opening seconds, it gave the impression that Luton may let the occasion get to them, allowing their third-placed opponents to seize control ahead of the reverse fixture.
However, despite the visitors taking a deserved lead courtesy of a smart finish from Daniel Sinani, Luton were well worth their equaliser through Sonny Bradley later in the first half.
While both clubs could argue that they could have taken a narrow lead into the second leg, as well as claim that refereeing decisions went against them, the draw sets up a highly-anticipated contest with the two sets of supporters now dealing with a mixture of optimism and nerves.
Huddersfield are likely to be the more confident of the two with Carlos Corberan's team having collected 45 points from their 23 games at the John Smith's Stadium this season.
© Reuters
Just one of their four home defeats have come since the start of December with eventual runners-up Bournemouth outclassing them on that occasion.
Nevertheless, they have responded with 10 points from a possible 12 since that setback, one of their wins being a 2-0 success over the Hatters who lost two of their final four games on their travels.
Most notably, Nathan Jones's team succumbed to a 7-0 defeat at champions Fulham, but it is worth noting that Luton ended the regular campaign with the fifth-best away record.
Although they lost nine games on the road, they were still able to record 32 points, conceding just 26 goals in 22 games before shipping a bagful to the Cottagers.
- D
- W
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- D
- L
- W
- D
Team News
© Reuters
Having suffered an injury towards the end of the first half, Ollie Turton may miss out for Huddersfield with Pipa likely to deputise on the right-hand side.
Corberan took no risks on Levi Colwill on Friday due to illness, but the Chelsea loanee will come under consideration for a recall.
Although Sorba Thomas impressed on his return from a knee injury, the winger may be kept in reserve rather than returning to the starting lineup.
Luton's main injury concern is Henri Lansbury, who needed to be withdraw ahead of the final quarter on Friday.
Tom Lockyer could be drafted into the starting lineup after replacing him, while leading marksman Elijah Adebayo may be fit enough to take a spot on the substitutes' bench.
Huddersfield Town possible starting lineup:
Nicholls; Lees, Hogg, Sarr; Pipa, Russell, O'Brien, Toffolo; Sinani, Ward, Holmes
Luton Town possible starting lineup:
Ingram; Burke, Bradley, Naismith; Bree, Campbell, Lansbury, Clark, Bell; Jerome, Cornick
We say: Huddersfield Town 2-1 Luton Town (Huddersfield to win 3-2 on aggregate)
Having kept themselves in the tie ahead of the trip to Yorkshire, Luton will feel like the pressure has been lifted with Huddersfield still the clear favourites to progress. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the Terriers' home form, leading us to predict a narrow victory for the hosts.
For additional data used by our team to analyse our suggested result please click here.
