It's a fixture that seldom fails to produce thrills, spills and goals – but both sides would surely take a 1-0 win in front of the Sky cameras at Hillsborough.

Town go into their latest derby 15th in the Championship after disappointing defeats at Wigan and at home to Birmingham.

Meanwhile Wednesday are third-bottom after just one victory in 14 league games to date, although it was a handsome 5-2 success over Reading in their last home match.

Both sides have reason to believe they could, and should, be higher up the table, and coming out of the season’s third international break, will be targeting a morale-boosting win to kick off a crucial set of fixtures in the run-up to Christmas.

Everyone knew Town would miss James Vaughan after his red card at Leicester, and while they enjoyed that 3-2 home win over Leeds in the first of the three matches he missed through suspension, the feeling remains that had he been on duty against Wigan and Brum, Town might well have got points on board.

Huddersfield Town's James Vaughan sent off against Leicester City
Huddersfield Town's James Vaughan sent off against Leicester City

It’s great, therefore, to have the 11-goal top scorer – and stand-in skipper – back, and Mark Robins could also reintroduce Martin Paterson to the fray after his outing for Northern Ireland in Turkey a week ago.

The former Burnley man’s start to a two-year Town contract has hardly been smooth, but the feeling that his pace and experience could yet pay dividends persists.

While skipper Peter Clarke, out for up to three months, will be a big miss, the news on his fellow knee injury victim Jonathan Hogg is encouraging after he completed a series of training sessions this week without problem.

Injured at Wigan, his energy and ability to break down opposition attacks before they really get going was missed against Brum.

Wednesday will be tough to beat – while their league position is a big concern for boss Dave Jones, they have lost only once in their last six.

And they have no shortage of power, pace and experience in their ranks, with Town set to come up against a Premier League strikeforce in Matty Fryatt – as long as he is not recalled by Hull amid injury concerns at the KC Stadium – and his fellow loanee Connor Wickham, of Sunderland.

At the other end of the field, Jones can call on Chris Kirkland, who kept goal for both Liverpool and Wigan in the top flight.