Huddersfield’s Jonathan Hogg has targeted back-to-back home wins after his side finally registered their first Premier League victory of the season.
The Terriers climbed off the foot of the table on Monday night by beating Fulham 1-0 to snap their 10-game winless start in the top flight.
“Saturday is another massive game for us,” said Hogg after Town had leapfrogged Fulham and Cardiff in the table. “We know the importance of it before the international break.
📝#htafc produced another characteristic display full of grit and determination on #MNF. 🙌 David Wagner's 50th win in charge of the Terriers, three years to the day since his arrival in West Yorkshire. ➡️ https://t.co/HDJzgI4ACK #HUDFUL (BP) pic.twitter.com/SlgRG5pcpN — Huddersfield Town (@htafcdotcom) November 5, 2018
“We knew we had a hard run of fixtures before (Monday night’s) game. The next six or seven games are crucial for us.
“We’ve got teams who are in and around us in the bottom half of the table, so we know it’s an important time for everyone.”
Boss David Wagner celebrated a vital win on the night of his third anniversary in charge as his side scored in front of their own fans for the first time in eight matches.
🧢 “Today the players left everything on the pitch. They really showed the Terriers identity." Town's Head Coach speaks after #htafc's 1-0 win against @FulhamFC 📹 https://t.co/1OjniH3SPJ#HTTV is sponsored by @absolute_ws #HUDFUL (CL) — Huddersfield Town (@htafcdotcom) November 5, 2018
Christopher Schindler’s 29th-minute header, later credited as Timothy Fosu-Mensah’s own goal after taking a deflection, was scant reward for a high-octane Terriers’ display which was too much for out-of-sorts Fulham.
The significance of Town’s overdue win was not lost on skipper Hogg, who feels it could change the complexion of their season.
“I think it does, yeah,” he added. “Everyone’s got a smile back on their faces. It’s been a long time coming.
“We’ve gone through a bit at this club. The start of the season hasn’t been great, but those three points are massive for us.”
Since the start of last season, only Man City, Spurs and Leicester (5 each) have benefited from more opposition own-goals in the #PL than Huddersfield (4) pic.twitter.com/Uiph1jEV0y — Premier League (@premierleague) November 6, 2018
Fulham slipped to a fifth straight Premier League defeat as the pressure continues to mount on manager Slavisa Jokanovic.
The Cottagers’ sole win since gaining promotion via the play-offs in May came back in August, while they equalled a Premier League record by conceding 29 goals in their opening 11 matches.
Jokanovic admitted his future was out of his hands and would be decided by the club’s board if his side fail to quickly turn their fortunes around.
“It’s not a nice situation for us, being bottom of the Premier League is extra pressure for the team, for all of us,” he said.
“My players had some words after the game between themselves, but it’s a little bit late. We had the opportunity to do our talking between 8 o’clock and 10 o’clock." Full reaction from @Jokanovic: https://t.co/08LD1NWBpL pic.twitter.com/IoK8XMA7yn — Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) November 5, 2018
“If you look at last season, after 11 games Crystal Palace had four points but didn’t end up in the Championship.
“Many points, many games, are ahead of us. We immediately need an important improvement because at the moment we are not competitive enough to give us the option to win the game.”
ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Mark Walker, Press Association Sport');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', 'ed1e37a5-423c-4497-90c0-b06d7667b6bc');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:club-news,paservice:sport:football,paservice:sport:uk');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Hogg hunting back-to-back wins after Huddersfield break Premier League duck'});
