Coventry v Huddersfield: Go against the goals grain

Coventry v Huddersfield
Wednesday December 16, 20:00
Sky Sports

Coventry extend unbeaten streak

Liam Kelly's double helped Coventry to a narrow 2-1 win over fellow newly-promoted side Wycombe at Adams Park on Saturday. Sky Blues skipper Kelly netted his first Coventry goal in over two years with a fine 25-yard strike after 34 minutes, and he doubled his tally deep into first-half stoppage time, heading home after a well-worked free-kick routine.

Wycombe pulled one back from the spot in the 61st minute, and hosts thought they'd levelled late on only for it to be ruled out for offside. In between, Coventry midfielder Gustavo Hamer nearly notched a goal of the season contender, striking the post with an audacious 40-yards effort after he spotted Wycombe's goalkeeper off his line.

The win stretched the unbeaten run of Mark Robins' men to seven league games and the Sky Blues boss was delighted with the outcome, saying: "It was a tough game, this is a really difficult place to go to. They got a soft penalty, but we got lucky at the end with the offside."

Kelly picked up an injury in Buckinghamshire and is unavailable in midweek.

Huddersfield humbled on the south coast

Huddersfield's improved recent run of results ground to a shuddering halt on Saturday as head coach Carlos Corberan's rotation gamble backfired at Bournemouth. The Terriers were hammered 5-0 on the south coast with the Town boss opting to field a below-strength side, omitting arguably four of Town's best-performing players so far this season.

Pipa, Carel Eiting, Isaac Mbenza and Fraizer Campbell dropped to the bench while Jonathan Hogg and Josh Koroma began their respective spells on the injured list. In came a cast of young players and first-teamers who had either barely featured or largely failed to fire this term and the result was a disastrously one-sided affair against a rampant Cherries outfit.

Defending his decision, Corberan said: "Sometimes we need to manage the squad and manage how many consecutive games the players play to avoid injuries. We made the decision to go with certain players and we should have been more competitive." Danny Ward and Ben Hamer were also added to the treatment table on a day to forget at the seaside.

Tough to separate the two sides

There's little head-to-head of relevance for the midweek match-up with Coventry and Huddersfield crossing swords for the first time in league action in 48 years. The Sky Blues enjoyed the upper-hand in meetings back then and have suffered a solitary reverse in six encounters against the Terriers since 1966, taking top honours four times (W4-D1-L1).

Coventry 2.407/5 appear to have consolidated following a tricky opening stanza since returning to the second-tier. The Sky Blues are unbeaten in seven (W3-D4-L0) since November's international break and boast a competitive record at their adopted St Andrew's home (W4-D3-L2). The hosts have W3-D3-L1 against the bottom-half.

Huddersfield 3.259/4 have proven to be a model of inconsistency on Carlos Corberan's watch. However, the Terriers have tended to excel when taking on teams in the lower echelons of the Championship standings; Town have returned W5-D2-L0 against bottom-eight outfits, a sample that includes six clean sheets and a solitary goal against.

Back goals at St Andrew's

Seventeen of the 24 Championship clubs have posted negative supremacy over 2.5 Goals 2.0811/10 records but Coventry (50%) and Huddersfield (56%) have been involved in more goal-heavy games than most. Collectively, the duo have seen an average of 2.67 goals per-game with 19/36 (53%) of those matches delivering Both Teams To Score 1.804/5 profit.

Indeed, the duo have scored in 25 (69%) of their combined league games and Wednesday night's clash could go against the second-tier grain by featuring more than just a couple of goals. Considering 12/18 (67%) of the pairs respective home/away dates have breached the over 2.5 Goals barrier, I'm more than happy to support a repeat at odds-against quotes.