Preview: Swansea City vs. Huddersfield Town - prediction, team news, lineups

Swansea City head into Saturday's Championship fixture with Huddersfield Town looking to end a four-match run without a victory.

At the same time, the visitors have collected four valuable points behind them, leaving just a one-point gap between these teams in the standings.

Match preview

© Reuters

The powers-that-be at Swansea will want to give Michael Duff as much time as possible to make a success of the role that he was given in the summer.

However, with just five wins from 18 games - four of which came in succession - Duff will be aware that he has a fight to retain his position in the short and long term.

In his defence, Swansea have faced some difficult fixtures and they have pushed Ipswich Town and Leeds United in their most recent two away outings.

Nevertheless, being held by Sunderland and Hull City at home has prevented the Welsh outfit from making progress up the table, now sitting as low down as 18th spot.

With 10 points now separating them to sixth-placed Hull, focus will be on ensuring that they do not become embroiled in any kind of a relegation battle, as the current gap to Queens Park Rangers is seven points.

In sharp contrast, Huddersfield now feel like a side on the up under Darren Moore, even though it has taken time for the former Sheffield Wednesday boss to make an impact.

Before the international break, the Terriers hierarchy may have been questioning their appointment, but four points have since been collected against Southampton and Sunderland.

The 2-1 success at the Stadium of Light ended a run of five games without success on their travels, and Huddersfield now sit six points clear of the bottom three.

On paper, the Yorkshire side have a more favourable run of fixtures in front of them, and another win on Saturday would suddenly bring the mid-table positions into sight when a relegation scrap looked a foregone conclusion.

Team News

© Reuters

Duff will almost certainly make a number of changes to his Swansea XI with Harry Darling and Charlie Patino both pushing for recalls.

Liam Cullen should also be included, but recent acquisition Yannick Bolasie will likely be given more time to build up his fitness from the substitutes' bench.

The likes of Harrison Ashby and Joe Allen remain on a lengthy injured list for the home side.

Huddersfield boss Moore will want to keep changes to a minimum, but he may make at least one alteration to freshen things up.

Brahima Diarra is an option in midfield, while Yuta Nakayama could feature at left wing-back if Moore chooses to rest Jaheim Headley, but Danny Ward will not be rushed back into the team after only just returning from a long-term injury.

Swansea City possible starting lineup:

Rushworth; Darling, Cabango, Humphreys, Tymon; Patino, Grimes; Cullen, Paterson, Lowe; Yates

Huddersfield Town possible starting lineup:

Maxwell; Pearson, Helik, Lees; Jackson, Kasumu, Hogg, Headley; Thomas, Burgzorg, Koroma

We say: Swansea City 1-1 Huddersfield Town

Huddersfield will fancy their chances of increasing the pressure on Duff when they take to the pitch in South Wales. However, we feel that the Swans will do enough to earn a share of the spoils, even if it will not boost Duff's hopes of retaining his job in the long run.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.