Huddersfield Town take on Stoke City this weekend, with Paul Lambert taking charge of the Potters for the first time.

Both teams are fighting for survival in the Premier League this season, with the Terriers four points and four places above Stoke in the top-flight table.

Each side can distance themselves from the bottom three with a win at the bet365 Stadium, but neither have experienced that feeling since December.

Here's everything David Wagner had to say about the crucial upcoming clash.

Team news

“Phil [Billing] played 65 minutes on Sunday with the Under 23s. Good minutes – like Hef as well.

“He now has a good two weeks of training in his legs with some minutes in the cup and the 65 minutes will the 23s.

"My plan is to have him back for the cup game against Birmingham [City], this means I'd like to give him a few further minutes in training.

"He looks very good so far - there were no problems with his ankle - the same with Hef.

"Alex Pritchard played his first minutes against West Ham - he is a contender for the squad and the starting XI as well.

"We have a wonderful situation at the minute where only Martin Cranie is injured - and he will come back to the group on Sunday - latest next Tuesday.

"This means we have everybody available - even Jon Gorenc Stankovic is back in training over the majority of the time.

"It is a wonderful situation that everybody is healthy.

"We have real competition for places in the squad and the starting XI and everybody knows now 'it's my time, I have to shine'.

"And everybody really shows great effort and a really good attitude in training.

"Then it's up to us to help them to come to their best, to make the right decisions for Saturday and for all the upcoming games which we have.

"We all know it's a lot of games in front of us and we have to collect points as consistently as we can.

"Injury-wise we are in a very good position this week - apart from Cranie we had everyone in full training."

What will Alex Pritchard bring to the squad?

"First and foremost, creativity.

"He is a player who likes to play football in tight spaces and is confident and brave enough to ask for the ball and is creative, tactically very strong with good set plays.

"He can create and score goals so I think he is the type of player we haven't had so far in this number 10 spot.

"He has shown in training and in the minutes he played against West Ham that with the ball he has a lot of things to give us which he can add to our group.

"Against the ball, we defend a little bit different to the teams he played for before.

"There he has to adapt and he has to learn.

"We worked with him on the grass and on video so that he learns as quick as he can.

"We are very happy top have him in our group."

Is it a good time to play Stoke?

"Good or not, it is nothing that bothers me because I cannot influence it.

"In terms of changing a manager, usually you don't really like to play a team when the opponent changes the manager a few days before you meet them, but in this case we played Stoke three or four weeks ago so we are totally aware of their individuals and what they are capable of.

"We played against Paul Lambert twice since I came here to Huddersfield: Blackburn away when he was in charge and Wolves away when he was in charge.

"This means we are aware of what Paul Lambert's mindset is, so I don't expect major surprises even if they changed the manager because of these two reasons: we played Stoke a short time ago and Paul Lambert is someone we have met more often as well.

"This is why, in this case, them changing manager isn't such a big thing for us."

Neven Subotic and Samuel Bastien have been linked to Town - is there any interest in either of them?

"Who is the second one?

"I know Neven. I know him very well.

"He is a great guy, a very good character and a very good player as well, but everyone knows in the centre-back position we have no pressure or problems.

"What position does the other guy play? Well, no.

"Maybe I can cancel this now for the rest of the window.

"We have done our business. I am not in the market. Even if I have my eye on the market, I am very happy with the players we have, the group we have.

"Of course something can change in the next two or three weeks but, if everything goes to plan, we have done what we wanted to do.

"I am very happy with what we have together and this is why we don't have to discuss further names in the future of this window."

A definite no on Subotic?

"Yes. And all the other names as well.

"Even if we have our eye on the market, i think we have done our business.

"I am very happy with what we have done, even if it's never 100 per cent.

"This is not something I can give because nobody knows what happens in the next two-and-a-half weeks with three games which we have in front of us."

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Were you surprised at the permanent deal for Pritchard when loans had been mentioned by Dean Hoyle earlier in the window?

"Maybe he wanted to loan him and it was not possible!

"We always thought in both directions - loans and permanents.

"As always you have to have more targets and you can never be focused on just one solution - you have to be prepared with more than one solution because very often a lot of options are not actually options.

"This is why we worked on both loans and permanents and brought one loan in and one permanent in, which is very good for us and I'm very happy we were able to bring them in early."

Have Pritchard and Terrence Kongolo learned enough to start at Stoke this weekend?

"It is possible.

"Pritchard's thing he has to work on is the way we defend and Terrence had the winter break in France, so he has only been in training for two weeks.

"We know that we have a lot of game in front of us with both so we have to be careful not to risk anything in terms of the future with both.

"There are so many games in front of us - the first important one on Saturday.

"They are for sure in contention for the squad and the starting XI - if this will be the case, we will see after training on Friday."

Is this the strongest squad you have had available to you this season?

"In terms of numbers, absolutely.

"We had 22 players in training yesterday and I only needed 20 for what I wanted to do.

"This is a nice problem to have - to find solutions for two players or to swap over players if necessary.

"And - if everyone stays healthy - we will be up to 23 on Sunday or the beginning of next week.

"All 22 players are healthy - it's great to have this at this stage, at this moment in this competition.

"It's a perfect moment to give everybody the opportunity to show what he's capable of, and we have the competition that everyone has to show what he is capable of.

"We only have [Elias] Kachunga as a long-term injury and Martin Cranie only got a knock on his ankle - not a major injury.

"He is only out for a week to 10 days - everybody else is in full training."

Could you spring a surprise on Stoke with the amount of options you have?

"Hopefully we will perform on our best and this then shouldn't be a surprise.

"We will, like always, be focused on us and we will not change something special or extraordinary only because now we have players available.

"We have shown that we know exactly what our strength is and the players have a lot of belief and trust and faith in what they are doing and what they have done so far.

"There is no reason or point to change what makes you strong - you just have to show it on your best. This is what we like to do."

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Could a player like Pritchard cause a surprise because he plays so quickly?

"He adds something in our game because he likes the tight spaces and he is brave and confident enough to ask for the ball under pressure and can create something in a one against one or one against two situation.

"He can pick the last pass, he can score from distance and he has good set plays so he gives something to our group in the number 10 position that he did not have before.

"This is why it is good we have him with us.

"He for sure has to learn our game - this is the nature of the game if you come new to a team, club, manager or idea, but he is very football intelligent so this will not take a month, this will only take a few weeks."

Do you have an idea of how Paul Lambert will set up Stoke?

"I don't expect major surprises from what Paul will do with his team on Saturday.

"He has done more or less always what he's able to do with the group of players he has had and the other advantage we have is that we know exactly the group of players he has because we played them three weeks ago.

"This is why I don't expect any big surprises for us from Stoke."

Do you factor in the new manager boost before the trip?

"We are aware about it, but do I have it in my mind? No.

"We are focused on ourselves.

"Especially in the situations, it makes total sense to make sure that you are focused on what you have to do and are independent from the circumstance that the opponent changed their manager - even if we are aware of Paul Lambert and aware of the Stoke City players as well.

"I say it often - we need to make ourselves independent from circumstances which we are not able to influence. We only have to accept them.

"What we can influence is our performance to play on our best and to make our details right and to follow our game plan on Saturday.

"This is what we will do. We will be focused on ourself and hopefuly we can come to our best."

What are your thoughts on VAR after seeing it in action this week?

"This is exactly what I said a few weeks ago - why I don't like it.

"At the end you only change from discussing about the referee and his decisions to discussing about VAR and its decisions.

"We have seen it yesterday with these incidents: the first penalty decision which was a clear one even with VAR there was a big, big mistake - no penalty and a yellow card for a dive.

"The second penalty incident I think was a grey area.

"Some people would say 'yes, it was holding and a pen', 'while some would say no, that was soft' and there was no penalty and a yellow for a dive.

"It only changed the discussions from referee discussions to VAR discussions.

"This is why I'm very traditional and I don't like it because even if we've seen the day before they corrected a decision and they helped, there are too many situations where discussions will follow.

"This is why I don't think it's a major help and why I don't like this technology.

"We should keep the game a simple as it was in the past and don't make it more comp[licated.

"As long as there are grey areas, there will be discussions and even with VAR there will be grey areas.

"It is different with goal-line technology where there is only goal or no goal with no grey area - perfect technology that I like."

Can you ever imagine a Huddersfield player earning as much as Alexis Sanchez is rumoured to have been offered at Manchester United?

"If this is ever the case, I will not be here.

"In charge as a manager and probably not here on earth.

"I can't see this coming true."

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Does that show how crazy the game is going at the top end?

"No. This is the market.

"I will never blame the market because I am part of this business as well and get paid from this business.

"This is why I will never blame it.

"I do not know the English word for it - if you benefit from it, but blame it - this is not possible.

"But this is how the market improves and it doesn't look like this is the end."

What memories to you have of playing against Lambert?

"Not as a player, but as a manager.

"These are very positive memories - we have beaten Blackburn 2-0 away and we have beaten Wolves 1-0 away the two times I met him as a manager at Huddersfield Town.

"But, as a player, I have no memories."

Do you remember him playing for Borussia Dortmund?

"I remember him, of course.

"If you follow Borussia Dortmund, you know Paul Lambert.

"He was an outstanding midfielder - a working midfielder.

"He was a little bit like a Terrier - like a Hoggy [Jonathan Hogg] in his time and he played in a very successful team at the time."

If he was 20 years younger, would you have brought him in?

"He would have been a perfect fit for us - maybe 25 years ago!"

Jon Gorenc Stankovic update

"Since last week he joined the group in parts in training, and in this week he made some whole training sessions with the group and he is ready to join the group in full contact.

"Now it is all about finding the balance between training and recovering.

"He trains full - not every day - but he trains full and now we have to build up a plan of what we are doing to increase and improve the amount of training sessions a week he is doing.

"He will get some further sessions with the Under 23s - Mark Hudson's team - and some minutes maybe in the next two or three weeks with the U23s as well.

"He is in full training even if he doesn't make every training session a week with the team."

Did Stankovic's injury provide a factor for bringing in Kongolo in the January transfer window?

"Yes.

"And the fact that Hef, in his two-and-a-half weeks back in training, has no issues.

"His Achilles looks fine - no problems.

"of course, he has to catch up some fitness but these two people - in Stankovic and Hefele - have shown such good signs since they have come back to team training, they gave us the bravery to say we don't have to go back into the market for a centre back - that, as well as the signing of Kongolo."

How has Aaron Mooy been in training?

"He wasn't on his best last Saturday, but that isn't a major problem for me because he is a human and he has played a lot of minutes.

"We tried to give him some freshness back into his legs when we played the cup game against Bolton [Wanderers] where he got some days off to catch up some days off that the players not on international duty had.

"It did not work against West Ham, but hopefully it will work for Saturday and the future that he gets some energy out of the days that we gave him off.

"He had a usual week - nothing extraordinary.

"If you ask me whether he was through the roof or below par in training this week, it was a good week from him, as it was with the whole group.

"He as well sees that we have a lot of players in training and he hasd a normal week for sure.

"If Aaron is on his best, we usually show a good team performance and we need him on his best and this is what we have to do to help him to be on his best on Saturday."