Huddersfield Town will aim to narrow their gap to the top two in the League One table on Saturday, when they visit Bloomfield Road to take on Blackpool.
In the midst of a 15-match league unbeaten streak, the visitors trail the automatic promotion spots by four points, while their hosts sit 16th having failed to win any of their last five league outings.
Match preview
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Blackpool return to League One action on Saturday aiming to end a five-match winless streak and climb back towards the top half, having dropped to 16th spot in recent weeks.
The Tangerines moved onto 26 points from 18 outings with three straight victories in December, but they have since added just four more to that tally in five further attempts, finishing 2024 with goalless stalemates against Birmingham City and Stevenage either side of a Boxing Day defeat to Wrexham.
Aiming to improve their fortunes and climb towards the top end of the division, Steve Bruce's side have kicked off the new year with back-to-back draws, firstly being held by strugglers Shrewsbury Town after leading through Rob Apter before facing a tough trip to then-leaders Wycombe Wanderers.
Bruce's men trailed heading into injury time of that contest, but they were able to take a more creditable share of the spoils as Kyle Joseph levelled the scores in injury time at Adams Park.
Now returning to action after two weeks following the postponement of last week's meeting with Cambridge United, Blackpool find themselves 16th, but with just a two-point gap to 12th spot, they will be keen to quickly improve their standing with a return to winning ways.
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They face a tough test, though, with the visitors aiming to extend the division's longest unbeaten streak in their promotion pursuit.
After making a slow start in their bid to win an immediate promotion back to the Championship under the management of Michael Duff, Huddersfield Town have moved into a strong position since early October, amassing 35 points from their last 15 outings courtesy of 10 victories and five draws.
Two of those draws came at home to Burton Albion and Rotherham United around the turn of the year, but Duff's men bounced back to winning ways in a trip to then-leaders Wycombe Wanderers last time out, as Herbie Kane netted the only goal of the game in the first half.
The Terriers now head back out on the road having managed 20 points from their 11 league away games thus far, winning in each of their last four trips culminating in that triumph over Wycombe after beating Leyton Orient, Mansfield Town and Cambridge United late last year.
Now also returning after a postponement last weekend, Huddersfield Town find themselves four points behind second-placed Wycombe with a game in hand and six behind leaders Birmingham City, and they will bid to further improve their automatic promotion bid with a 15th league win of the campaign at the weekend.
Team News
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Blackpool remain without Elkan Baggott, Andrew Lyons and Jake Beesley due to ongoing injury issues.
Despite growing rumours linking him away from the club, Kyle Joseph should continue to lead the line, having netted a team-high tally of eight League One goals so far this season, with Ashley Fletcher and Jordan Rhodes competing to join him up top in their 4-4-2 setup.
Key men Albie Morgan and Lee Evans will continue their partnership in the midfield, while CJ Hamilton will hope to return on the wing from the outset in place of either Sonny Carey or Rob Apter, having made consecutive substitute appearances after an injury layoff.
Michael Duff should field a similar Huddersfield Town starting XI from their away win over Wycombe Wanderers last time out, with Lee Nicholls, Jonathan Hogg, Lasse Sorensen, Danny Ward and Rhys Healey remaining sidelined by injuries, while Ruben Roosken is suspended after being shown a red card on his debut against Rotherham United.
Despite the absence of Ward and Healey, there is plenty of competition in attack following the January arrivals of Joe Taylor, who netted 21 goals across League One and League Two last season and Dion Charles from Bolton, for whom he has notched up 40 goals in England's third tier since the beginning of the 2022-23 term.
They will both compete for debuts after Bojan Radulovic and Callum Marshall led the line at Adams Park, while Antony Evans will aim to return to the midfield after a long injury layoff, likely joining Herbie Kane and Ben Wiles in the engine room in their 3-5-2 shape.
Blackpool possible starting lineup:
Tyrer; Offiah, Pennington, Casey, Husband; Apter, Evans, Morgan, Hamilton; Joseph, Fletcher
Huddersfield Town possible starting lineup:
Chapman; Pearson, Lees, Spencer; Turton, Wiles, Evans, Kane, Koroma; Marshall, Charles
We say: Blackpool 1-2 Huddersfield Town
With the hosts having failed to get over the line in recent weeks and the visitors growing in confidence in their promotion bid after bouncing back to winning ways last time out, we back the Terriers to make it back-to-back three-point hauls when they visit Bloomfield Road.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
