Huddersfield Town vs Arsenal 09/02/19

09 February 2019

After a frustrating 3-1 road loss to Manchester City, Arsenal travel to the Kirklees Stadium hoping to bounce back against the dead-last Huddersfield Town.

Nailed to the bottom of the table, the struggling hosts could see their hopes of fighting survival slipping through their hands if they fail to come up with something special. Currently, 13 points distanced from the Premier League safety, the Terriers are desperate to bring a disastrous 12-game winless PL streak to an end (D1, L11). However, to do that, Jan Siewert’s men have to start scoring goals, which has been their principal problem over the past three months. Having failed to hit the back of the net in five successive outings across all competitions, Huddersfield remain by far the worst team in the English top flight. Their tally of 13 goals scored in 25 PL fixtures is a league low, with the Terriers failing to get their name on the scoresheet 13 times in the process. A defense that has already conceded 46 goals (joint second-worst PL record) can hardly console Siewert, especially knowing his players kept just four clean sheets for the entire campaign so far.

Meanwhile, lapses in concentration have seen the visitors lose three of their last seven PL meetings (W3, D1, L3), as they now see their chances of reaching the Champions League promotion compromised by the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United. Winless in the previous six PL road clashes (D2, L4), the Gunners come into this must-win contest looking to end a 2-game PL losing run. Faced with the weakest attack in the English top tier, Unai Emery hopes to see his team managing an elusive first clean sheet away from home, as they reside the only team in the PL that failed to preserve the clean slate on 12 league road trips this term. Meanwhile, Emery’s men have managed to score in each but one away game this campaign, bagging over 1.5 goals per match eight times (second-best record in PL).

Provisional line-up – Huddersfield Town:

Gk: Lossl Defense: Kongolo – Schindler – Tommy Smith – Chris Lowe Midfield: Mooy – Diakhaby – Billing – Bacuna Attack: Kachunga – Steve Mounie

Provisional line-up – Arsenal:

Gk: Leno Defense: Monreal – Koscielny – Mustafi – Lichtsteiner – Kolasinac Midfield: Torreira – Guendouzi – Iwobi Attack: Aubameyang – Lacazette