Blackpool v Huddersfield Town: Team news, predicted line-up and quotes from Neil Critchley

Neil Critchley’s men saw off Fulham at the weekend to claim their first three points of the season.

Josh Bowler was their hero, scoring a superb solo effort to beat a Fulham side that started the day atop of the Championship table.

As for Huddersfield, they still remain ninth despite slumping to an unfortunate 2-1 defeat to Stoke City at the weekend.

Tomorrow night’s encounter will be the first meeting between the two sides since the infamous final game of the 2014/15 season, which was abandoned due to fan protests.

Team news

Neil Critchley revealed during this morning’s pre-match press conference that there’s nothing new to report fitness wise.

It means the head coach will likely have the same set of players available to him than on Saturday.

Matty Virtue (ACL), Grant Ward (achilles), Demetri Mitchell (knee), Owen Dale (foot), CJ Hamilton (foot) and Gary Madine (groin) are all sidelined.

The likes of Oliver Casey, Callum Connolly and Reece James weren’t named in the squad against Fulham on Saturday, but are thought to be fit and available.

Elsewhere, Teddy Howe, Oliver Sarkic, Bez Lubala and Joe Nuttall will continue to be left out after not being named in Blackpool’s 25-man squad.

Shayne Lavery will be pushing to start in place of Tyreece John-Jules after only being named on the bench against Fulham having only just returned from international duty with Northern Ireland.

Neil Critchley’s pre-match comments

“The manager used to be at Leeds working under Bielsa, so Huddersfield adopt a similar type of approach.

“They’ve started the season very well and they’ve improved on where they were last season and it’ll be a very difficult game for us.

“It will be an exciting, entertaining game and hopefully we can go and perform as well as we did on Saturday, even though it will be different because the opposition will provide a different obstacle to Fulham.

“In many ways, it will be just as tough as Saturday. But it should be a really good game of football.

“They play on the front foot and they have no fear. They try to take the game to the opposition and I like that.

“They’re not passive, there’s no fear factor in the way they approach games. It’s about taking the game to the opposition.

“It’s a bit of a risk, but I like it. I’m not saying it’s right by the way, because everyone has their own way of setting up their team and that’s the beauty of football.

“The difference between teams makes it so interesting and so appealing to everyone.

“But I like the way Carlos has gone about his business, because you can see he likes to coach his team and they’ve got some good players. We’re in for a tough task.”

Opposition view

Huddersfield have started the season strongly after a disappointing campaign last season, where they finished 20th in the table, just six points above safety.

Carlos Corberan’s side currently sit ninth in this season’s table, having won three of their opening six games.

The Terriers were beaten at the weekend though, succumbing 2-1 to high-flying Stoke City.

Coming off the bench on Saturday was a certain Ollie Turton, who made a surprise move to West Yorkshire just four days after Blackpool’s play-off triumph at Wembley.

The defender made eight appearances so far this season for his new club after opting to bring an end to his four-year stay at Bloomfield Road.

Danny Ward (hip), Ryan Schofield (back), Pipa (hip), Jordan Rhodes (back) and Aaron Rowe (toe) all missed out for Huddersfield at the weekend as a result of injuries.

Former Oxford United left-back Josh Ruffels recently returned to the fold after recovering from Covid, while Levi Colwill and Danel Sinani will be pushing for starts after only being named on the bench against Stoke on their return from international duty.

Pool’s predicted line-up (442): Maxwell, Gabriel, Keogh, Ekpiteta, Garbutt, Stewart, Wintle, Bowler, Anderson, Lavery, Yates

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