Preview: West Bromwich Albion vs. Huddersfield Town - prediction, team news, lineups

Huddersfield Town meet West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns on Friday evening with the opportunity to move three points clear of second-placed Bournemouth in the Championship standings.

While the Terriers are looking to bounce back from Monday's FA Cup exit, 13th-placed West Brom will attempt to build on their morale-boosting win at Hull City last time out.

Match preview

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For the first time in over three months, Huddersfield suffered real disappointment on Monday night as they bowed out of the FA Cup at the fifth-round stage, letting slip a lead to succumb 2-1 at Nottingham Forest.

Not only did the Terriers miss out on a home quarter-final clash with Liverpool, Carlos Corberan witnessed his side lose their long unbeaten record in all competitions, the streak being halted at 18 matches.

Nevertheless, Huddersfield can at least focus their attention on trying to keep pace with their promotion rivals, the majority poised to take advantage of having played fewer games than the Yorkshire outfit.

Corberan will insist on his squad taking one match at a time as they look to extend their Championship winning streak to five games, their latest success coming at home to Peterborough United last Friday.

Despite conceding twice at the City Ground, Corberan will be optimistic about Huddersfield further improving their recent defensive league record of shipping just three times in nine outings.

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They make the trip to a side in West Brom who scored more goals in their last fixture at Hull than they had done in their previous seven matches.

Karlan Grant's double on Humberside earned the Baggies a much-needed 2-0 victory, although it has only kept West Brom within eight points of the playoff spots ahead of this contest.

All things considered, Steve Bruce's team have little chance of making the top six unless they find consistency in the final third, but it should not be forgotten that they remain with the third-best defensive record in the second tier.

Just 10 goals have been conceded in 16 fixtures at The Hawthorns, a statistic which highlights that Huddersfield should not expect to have it all their own way against opponents who can move to within 10 points of them while still possessing a match in hand.

Team News

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Barring any injury issues, Bruce is unlikely to make any changes to his West Brom starting lineup for this contest.

While Grant netted the goals at Hull, academy graduate Taylor Gardner-Hickman made a difference in central midfield, and it will leave the likes of Jayson Molumby, Adam Reach and Grady Diangana on the substitutes' bench.

Corberan switched to a back three to match Forest on Monday night, making it possible that the Spaniard could stick with the same strategy for this game.

However, reverting back to the 4-3-3 and personnel from the Peterborough fixture is more likely, with Lee Nicholls, Oliver Turton, Harry Toffolo, Jonathan Russell and Danny Ward all in line for recalls.

Despite making two substitute appearances over the past week, Chelsea loanee Tino Anjorin will remain among the replacements.

West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup:

Johnstone; Ajayi, Bartley, Clarke; Furlong, Gardner-Hickman, Livermore, Mowatt, Townsend; Robinson, Grant

Huddersfield Town possible starting lineup:

Nicholls; Turton, Pearson, Lees, Toffolo; Sinani, Russell, O'Brien; Thomas, Ward, Holmes

We say: West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Huddersfield Town

With both clubs posting rare results last time out, it remains unclear how they will each react. Even though the Baggies will have more belief, you have to expect Huddersfield to shake off their FA Cup elimination, doing enough to earn a deserved share of the spoils in the West Midlands.