A 2-2 draw away at Blackburn Rovers at Saturday lunchtime helped extend Huddersfield Town’s unbeaten run in the Championship to 4 matches under new boss, Danny Cowley, and The Terriers will be quietly confident that they can maintain this unbeaten run on Tuesday night at their John Smith’s Stadium.
The arrival of the former Lincoln City manager, Cowley, has had an almost immediate impact at the Yorkshire club and as each match passes, there is a distinct air of optimism amongst the squad which has produced some solid results of late.
Wins over Stoke City (1-0 away from home) and Hull City (3-0 at home) have been complemented by points picked up in draws with Millwall and Blackburn Rovers, and the hosts will be looking to heap further misery upon Middlesbrough on Tuesday night as they look to swap places in the league with their visitors.
Just 1 point and one league position separates third from bottom club Huddersfield Town and opponents Middlesbrough ahead of this important relegation clash, but the momentum is seemingly in Huddersfield’s favour as they’re now looking more dangerous in the attacking third under Cowley.
Middlesbrough find themselves in early trouble this season as they are perched just 1 point above the relegation zone but the rot appears to have well and truly set in under manager, Jonathan Woodgate, as his Boro outfit have now endured a 5-match spell without a win in the Championship.
4 defeats out of these last 5 matches overall have seen the north-east visitors lose to Cardiff City, Sheffield Wednesday, Birmingham City and West Brom while earning just 1 point from the last possible 15 on offer due to a 1-1 draw with Preston North End.
Middlesbrough have yet to register an away win this season too as they’ve drawn 2 and lost 3 of their first 5 matches on their travels this term, and indeed Boro have collected just 2 away wins out of their last 11 matches overall on the road.
However, Middlesbrough know that Huddersfield aren’t out of the woods yet and they’ll view this fixture as a game that they can bounce back with a win from, and with forward Assombalonga (4 goals) up front, the visitors will fancy their chances of at least scoring here.
Both teams will be desperate not to lose this one and we could see both teams cancelling each other out for a draw here.