Huddersfield Town welcome newly relegated Burnley to John Smith’s Stadium in the opening match of 2022-23 Sky Bet Championship season.
Huddersfield are commencing their fourth season in the Championship after missing out on promotion via last season’s Play-Offs, where they lost to Nottingham Forest in the Final.
Burnley meanwhile return to the second-tier after six seasons in the Premier League where they were relegated on the final day of last season, after Leeds snatched a crucial win at Brentford and the Clarets lost to Newcastle.
Team News
Huddersfield could hand Jack Rudoni his first-team debut following a move from AFC Wimbledon this summer.
David Kasumu, Connor Mahoney and Yuta Nakayama could also feature after joining in the summer but Will Boyle is ruled out through suspension, whilst manager – Danny Schofield considers putting returning loanee, Tino Anjorin in the starting line-up.
Matty Pearson is a doubt after he suffered a foot injury in the Terriers’ final pre-season friendly against Bolton Wanderers.
Burnley could be without Maxwel Cornet due to transfer speculation surrounding his future at the club, whilst Dwight McNeil has signed for Everton just over 24 hours prior to kick-off.
Summer signings; Scott Twine, Luke McNally, CJ Egan-Riley, Samuel Bastien, Josh Cullen, Arijanet Muric and Vitinho could all make their Clarets debuts.
Ashley Westwood remains absent with an ankle injury suffered during last season.
Stat Attack
- Huddersfield have won three of their last six second-tier meetings against Burnley (W3, L3), although they have lost their last three clashes in the Championship.
- Burnley have won two of their last five league visits to Huddersfield (W2, D1, L2).
- Both teams have scored in each of their last four Championship meetings, in which Huddersfield scored six goals to Burnley’s nine goals.
- Each of Huddersfield’s last six permanent managers have lost their opening fixtures (L6), since the Terriers won 2-0 vs Exeter City in February 2012 under Simon Grayson.
- Just one of Burnley’s last five permanent managers have won their opening fixtures (W1, D2, L2), which was under Sean Dyche in a 2-0 home win against Wolves in November 2012.
Prediction
Having suffered Play-Off Final heartbreak two months ago and endured Carlos Corberan’s unexpected resignation earlier this month, Huddersfield now face a test of where they currently stand following a tricky pre-season in which they failed to keep a single clean sheet.
Burnley meanwhile are also under new management and come into this game off the back of relegation and having undergone a squad revamp, which is a huge risk for a team looking to claim promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
Given the tough summer and pre-seasons experienced by both clubs, I am honestly not sure on what to expect here because Huddersfield will want an instant reaction to last season’s heartbreak, whereas Burnley will be eager to quickly begin their promotion push despite a squad shakeup.
I therefore wouldn’t be too surprised if we see a quiet draw in this opening match because it’s too difficult to call a result.
Prediction: Huddersfield 1-1 Burnley
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