Sports Mole previews Wednesday's Championship clash between Huddersfield Town and Cardiff City, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

An in-form Huddersfield Town side welcome 19th-placed Cardiff City to the John Smith's Stadium on Wednesday evening, when the hosts will be aiming to extend their unbeaten run to 15 games across all competitions.

The Bluebirds are not in such bad form themselves, entering this match having only lost once in their last six Championship outings, continuing to climb away from the relegation zone.

Match preview

Huddersfield Town manager Carlos Corberan on February 12, 2022 © Reuters

Carlos Corberan's side travelled to Craven Cottage on the weekend to face league leaders Fulham, who had only lost once in their previous 19 Championship matches, but the Terriers secured an impressive 2-1 victory.

Danny Ward and Duane Holmes struck in the first half to give the visitors the lead at half time, and despite Fulham's pressure, Huddersfield held on to pick up an important three points which kept them in fifth spot.

The five teams below Huddersfield in the current rankings all have two games in hand on Corberan's side, meaning that Wednesday's hosts cannot afford to drop points, especially to a team in the lower half of the table.

The Terriers would have been delighted with their three points on Saturday, and just as crucially, they returned to scoring ways in front of goal, having played out two goalless draws prior to the weekend, but they will still want to show more in the attacking third in front of their home crowd.

Cardiff City manager Steve Morison reacts on February 6, 2022 © Reuters

Cardiff enter this match on a two-game unbeaten run, having sealed a point in a 1-1 draw against Blackpool last time out, with Joel Bagan equalising for the home team just after half time in South Wales.

Steve Morrison's side need to improve defensively away from home, after conceding 30 goals in 16 outings, but having said that, Cardiff have managed to pick up two more points on their travels this term.

That will give the Bluebirds confidence heading into Wednesday's encounter, but Huddersfield will be looking to capitalise on their leaky defence.

Cardiff currently sit 15 points above the relegation zone, suggesting that there is not much to worry about for Morrison's team, but they will be looking to finish the campaign as strongly as possible with Morrison aiming to impress the owners to secure his role on a permanent basis for next season.

A repeat of the scoreline from the reverse of this fixture will be welcomed by Wednesday's visitors, who secured a 2-1 victory over Huddersfield at the Cardiff City Stadium in November.

Huddersfield Town Championship form:

Huddersfield Town form (all competitions):

Cardiff City Championship form:

Cardiff City form (all competitions):

Team News

Huddersfield Town's Duane Holmes celebrates scoring their first goal with Carel Eiting on February 2, 2022 © Reuters

There are a whole host of players unavailable to Corberan on Wednesday due to injury, including Alex Vallejo, Faustino Anjorin, Pipa, Levi Colwill and Rolando Aarons.

Holmes came back into the side in place of Josh Koroma on Saturday, but the latter is likely to return to the starting 11 as Corberan is expected to make a few changes during this busy schedule.

The midfield three, however, is expected to remain the same, with Lewis O'Brien, Jonathan Hogg and Jon Russell all likely to start, having done so in the previous two games.

Cardiff also have a few injury absentees, with Curtis Nelson and Sean Morrison certain to miss out on Wednesday, with Morrison ruled out for the remainder of the campaign.

Striker Max Watters only lasted 37 minutes against Coventry last Tuesday, and missed the weekend's outing against Blackpool, but he could return for a place on the bench this week.

The visitors will operate in a 5-3-2 formation, with Isaak Davies and Jordan Hugill expected to lead the line, while Bagan and Cody Drameh offer an attacking threat from their wing-back roles.

Huddersfield Town possible starting lineup:
Nicholls; Toffolo, Lees, Pearson, Turton; O'Brien, Hogg, Russell; Koroma, Ward, Thomas

Cardiff City possible starting lineup:
Smithies; Bagan, McGuinness, Flint, Ng, Drameh; Vaulks, Wintle, Doyle; Davies, Hugill

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We say: Huddersfield Town 2-0 Cardiff City

Saturday's victory over Fulham would have boosted Huddersfield's confidence massively and they need to use that momentum to secure three points on Wednesday.

Cardiff will make it a tough test for the hosts, but in their good form, the Terriers are expected to overcome any challenge Cardiff throw at them and go on to score a couple of goals.

Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 2.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Huddersfield Town win with a probability of 46.41%. A draw had a probability of 26.9% and a win for Cardiff City had a probability of 26.66%.

The most likely scoreline for a Huddersfield Town win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.73%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (8.95%) and 2-1 (8.91%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.67%), while for a Cardiff City win it was 0-1 (9.02%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with an 8.9% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Huddersfield Town would win this match.