With just three games left to escape the bottom three in the Championship table, Huddersfield Town will welcome Swansea City to the John Smith's Stadium on Saturday.
The Terriers dropped back into the relegation zone last weekend and sit a point adrift of safety, while their visitors have moved clear of the threat of the drop with consecutive victories.
Match preview
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Huddersfield Town return to Championship action on Saturday with the aim of escaping the relegation zone in the final run-in, having faltered in their survival bid and fallen back into the bottom three recently.
In 43 outings across spells under the tutelage of Neil Warnock, Darren Moore, Jon Worthington and current boss Andre Breitenreiter, the Terriers have earned just 44 points, with the most recent of their nine victories being a crucial one in a true six-pointer at home to Millwall in early April, as Rhys Healey netted the only goal of the game in the fourth minute of injury time.
Aiming to build on that and put daylight between themselves and the drop zone, Breitenreiter's men then travelled to Deepdale to take on Preston North End and led going into the interval through Josh Koroma, only to succumb to an eventual 4-1 beating, as Milutin Osmajic netted a hat-trick alongside a Will Keane goal, before most recently visiting Bristol City and looking set to take all three points at the weekend.
Koroma again opened the scoring in that encounter at Ashton Gate, giving his side an 81st-minute lead, and they remained ahead until deep into injury time, only to concede a last-gasp penalty which Nahki Wells converted to force a share of the spoils.
Having now fallen behind Birmingham City, who picked up a crucial victory last time out in the relegation dogfight, Huddersfield Town find themselves one point adrift of safety with nine left to fight for and will be desperate to leap back out of the drop zone with a vital return to winning ways on home turf on Saturday.
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In their way stand a Swansea City side who will bid to continue their upturn in form to end the Championship campaign, having moved well clear of the dogfight in recent games.
Luke Williams arrived in the hot seat in South Wales in January, with the Swans sat on 32 points from 26 matches, and he was unable to inspire an initial improvement in the New Year with their tough season continuing, as back-to-back defeats to Queens Park Rangers and Middlesbrough at the beginning of this month left them in the mix at the bottom end of the division on 47 points from 41 outings.
They have since bounced back in style to quickly scale the table, though, moving up to 14th spot with back-to-back wins in their last two attempts as they firstly returned to winning ways with a 3-0 beating of Stoke City on home turf thanks to goals from Liam Cullen, Matt Grimes and Josh Key.
Williams's men then welcomed already-relegated Rotherham United on Saturday, and after the encounter remained goalless for 74 minutes, they were eventually able to prevail and earn a 14th three-point haul of the season as Andy Rinomhota's own goal made the only difference between the teams.
Having now climbed up to 14th spot with three games to play, nine points clear of the bottom three and three behind 13th-placed Sunderland, Swansea City will bid to make it three wins on the bounce on Saturday to continue their positive end to the term and climb up the division.
Team News
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Huddersfield Town continue to contend with several injury issues ahead of the weekend's contest, with key midfielder Jonathan Hogg remaining sidelined alongside defenders Radinio Balker, Yuta Nakayama and Josh Ruffels.
Their injury issues were eased recently by the return of centre-back Tom Lees, though, and he should again start at the heart of a back four alongside Michal Helik, with Matty Pearson shifting out to the right-hand side.
In Hogg's absence, David Kasumu and Alex Matos may continue behind Jack Rudoni in the midfield, while Josh Koroma is bound to keep his place on the left wing having scored goals in consecutive Championship games with Sorba Thomas likely lining up on the other flank and Bojan Radulovic, Rhys Healey, Danny Ward and Delano Burgzorg all fighting to lead the line.
Swansea City are also impacted by several injury issues ahead of their trip to the John Smith's Stadium on Saturday, with Kyle Naughton, Joe Allen, Harrison Ashby, Josh Ginnelly and Przemyslaw Placheta all set to continue spells in the treatment room.
Luke Williams is unlikely to make many changes to his side from their win over Rotherham last time out, although Jamal Lowe will fight to return and lead the line from the outset after his substitute appearance in that game, while Jerry Yates is also in contention to displace Liam Cullen and start up top.
Whichever lone striker is preferred will likely have support from the trio of Ronald, Oliver Cooper and Jamie Paterson, while Jay Fulton and captain Matt Grimes should continue their partnership in the centre of the Swans' 4-2-3-1 setup.
Huddersfield Town possible starting lineup:
Nicholls; Pearson, Lees, Helik, Spencer; Matos, Kasumu; Thomas, Rudoni, Koroma; Radulovic
Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Rushworth; Key, Cabango, Darling, Tymon; Fulton, Grimes; Ronald, Cooper, Paterson; Lowe
We say: Huddersfield Town 1-1 Swansea City
After the agonising manner of their draw away at Bristol City last time out, Huddersfield Town will be desperate to bounce back with a win on Saturday, but they face a tough test against a rejuvenated Swansea City side and are yet to show they possess the tools to cruise to a victory against a team who have escaped the relegation fight.
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Sam Varley
