EPL: Huddersfield Town vs Southampton preview
Huddersfield Town vs Southampton preview
Huddersfield manager David Wagner will not consider selecting new signings Abdelhamid Sabiri and Florent Hadergjonaj for Saturday's Premier League clash against Southampton.
Wagner wants midfielder Sabiri and right-back Hadergjonaj to do some work in training before coming into contention for the trip to West Ham after the international break.
The Terriers have no fresh injury concerns following their Carabao Cup win over Rotherham but are still without midfielder Jonathan Hogg, forward Nahki Wells (both ankle) and defenders Martin Cranie (hip) and Jon Gorenc Stankovic (knee).
Southampton;s dutch defender Wesley Hoedt could make his Southampton debut in Saturday's Premier League game at Huddersfield.
The 23-year-old arrived at St Mary's on Tuesday for a reported £15million from Serie A club Lazio.
Saints, however, will once again be without wantaway centre-back Virgil van Dijk, according to manager Mauricio Pellegrino.
Southampton have failed to score in seven of their last 10 Premier League games, scoring just seven goals from 138 shots in these matches (5.1%).
Saints have won more Premier League away games in 2017 (4 of 10) than they have at home (3 of 11).
The last time that these two teams met was in December 2010 in the third tier of English football – Southampton won 4-1 that day.
These two sides last met in the top-flight back in December 1971; a season that Huddersfield finished bottom of Division One.
Huddersfield Town have started the season with two wins – the only other newly-promoted team to win their opening three games to a Premier League season were Bolton Wanderers in 2001-02.
The Terriers haven’t won their opening three league games of a season since the 1979-80 campaign, when they won the fourth tier; they last won their first three matches of a top-flight season in 1924-25, on their way to the second of three consecutive league titles.
Huddersfield have also kept a clean sheet in both of their Premier League games so far. The only previous occasion a newly-promoted side managed to do this in each of their opening three games in a Premier League season were Charlton Athletic in 1998-99.