Bournemouth Fan View: Experience can beat Huddersfield Town

I like Huddersfield Town. Who doesn’t? They remind me a lot of when we were promoted to the Premier League back in 2015, playing nerveless attacking football when possible – but often getting caught out by the savvier top flight outfits.

Hopefully my AFC Bournemouth side can be one of those savvy sides when they play the Terriers this Saturday. After the dramatic high of our last minute win at Newcastle United earlier this month we can really build some momentum and start to properly climb out of the mess we’ve found ourselves in.

We can help ourselves a great deal by playing to our strengths this weekend too, namely attacking Huddersfield with pace and subsequently dictating the game as much as possible.

Honing in on Huddersfield

Huddersfield have fared reasonably poorly on the road this season. They’ve lost every away game apart from trips to Crystal Palace and Burnley – a 3-0 win and 0-0 draw respectively.

This only supports my argument that to beat them you have to attack them with pace as well. When they played Crystal Palace the Eagles were under the stewardship of Frank de Boer after all, who preferred a more ponderous style of football. Which wasn’t very effective by all accounts.

As for Burnley, they play a more slow and grittier type version of the beautiful game. One which Huddersfield managed to cope with fairly well.

So naturally, attacking David Wagner’s side high up the pitch – with players pressing and making searching forward runs – can help us to pick them apart like a cheap economy padlock.

READ MORE: Who has the Premier League’s toughest Christmas fixture list?

READ MORE: Revealed: The staggering amount the Premier League’s top six have spent on injured players

Swans success

A high press worked for Swansea when they scored their opener against Huddersfield, a game the Welsh outfit went on to win 2-0. This was a Swans side that have lost every other one of their home games by the way.

Then there’s our front line, which is exciting to say the least. With the return of Callum Wilson we now have an impressive array of attacking options at our disposal.

I can see Eddie Howe plumping for Wilson to start up top with Josh King on Saturday. It appeared to be a partnership that promised much when we visited Newcastle earlier this week. Jermain Defoe can then always be relied upon to put in a lively appearance off the bench to expose tired legs.

Exploit tired legs

There will definitely be some tired legs in the Huddersfield squad too. I’m primarily talking about Aaron Mooy’s legs here though (please don’t read this sentence our of context).

He’s the hub of David Wagner’s side, and will surely be knackered after travelling to Honduras and Australia for his national side’s recent qualifiers. Then to add to his troubles he’ll have to trek it from Huddersfield to Bournemouth. He should probably use the fiver that kid gave him to stock up on energy drinks in all honesty.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t even get into their starting eleven because of it. The Terriers’s best defender, Christopher Schindler will also be missing.

Make no mistake, I think we have both the Premier League savvy and pace in attack to grab what would be a huge three points this weekend. But it definitely won’t be easy.