In-form Huddersfield can sweep Reading aside at the Kirklees Stadium on Tuesday night.
Huddersfield v Reading - Tuesday 19:45
David Wagner made seven changes for the FA Cup tie with Manchester City and his first-choice 11 couldn’t fail to be kept on their toes by the fight that the fringe players put up against the Premier League millionaires. It was a reaffirming display that could be platform for the Terriers to put down another serious marker in the promotion race.
Wagner’s decision to rotate so heavily means that Reading’s rest advantage from a free weekend is almost no advantage at all and this might be a turning point in the season where regression bites and the play-off picture finally begins to reflect the shot data. The gap between the two teams might only be one point, but Royals are way above their station in fourth place.
Town have won 12 of their last 15 matches in all competitions with Brighton and Leeds their last two victims in west Yorkshire. If they replicate those standards and Jaap Stam’s men serve up a display becoming of a team with a paltry 49 per cent shot ratio, then this could get messy. Back Huddersfield to clear the -1 handicap at 13/5.
The Terriers have triumphed by two clear goals only twice this season but you suspect there’s still plenty more to come from them, whereas most punters find themselves at a loss to explain why the Reading bubble hasn’t burst yet. It could here. Split a point between the Huddersfield 3-0 and Huddersfield 4-0 correct scores at 17/1 and 40/1 respectively.
