Watford v Huddersfield Town: Three key battles which could decide Vicarage Road clash

Huddersfield Town head to Watford on Saturday hoping to bounce back from the midweek disappointment of a Capital One Cup second-round exit to Nottingham Forest at a ground where they experienced success on the final day of last season.

An inaugural Terriers goal for Joe Lolley, as well as a Danny Ward hat-trick allowed former manager Mark Robins and his charges to sign off the 2013/2014 season in style with a 4-1 win at Vicarage Road.

Having finished the season with a four-goal flourish, they started the new one by floundering in conceding four goals during the opening-day humbling by Bournemouth, but caretaker manager Mark Lillis has inspired two wins and a draw from his five matches in all competitions since.

Watford are an altogether different proposition from the side that were hit for four by Town and sit second in the Championship after winning three of their opening four games, with only third-placed Norwich City coming out on top so far.

Only Forest - who sit atop the embryonic Championship standings - can boast a better goal haul than the Hornets so far this season too, with Giuseppe Sannino's side already netting nine from their first four games so Town will have on their guard defensively.

Here are the three battles which could decide the trip to the second-placed outfit.

Tommy Hoban v Nahki Wells

 

The 20-year-old central defender has been a revelation for Watford so far this season and has formed one part of a sturdy defensive trio alongside Gabriele Angella and summer purchase Gabriel Tamas.

He earned plenty of praise for his display in a 2-0 win at Rotherham United and was rewarded with a starting berth for the 4-1 win over Leeds United as a result after an assist and a clean sheet.

If Town do field a 4-4-2, as can be expected in the absences of several personnel, then Hoban will have to be as resolute as he has proven already this season to thwart James Vaughan and Wells.

The latter has also been an injury concern for manager Lillis but it seems as if he will be fit to spearhead Town's attacking play and his movement will be the key, as Vaughan has the pace to exploit Tamas in particular.

Tamas may play a sweeper-type role to compensate for that and allow Angella and the Northern Ireland international to attack the ball and prevent Town from enjoying any space in and around the back five.

Troy Deeney v Joel Lynch

 

Lynch has featured on a near-weekly basis in Town's key battles but it is impossible to overlook his status right now as Town's senior leader at the back.

Put plainly, Anthony Gerrard and - to a lesser extent - Lee Peltier's injury troubles have left the Terriers in short supply of bona fide experienced central defensive options and Lynch deserves credit for coping admirably after a nightmare on opening day against Bournemouth.

He dealt brilliantly with Pavel Pogrebnyak at Reading and had handled Charlton's Igor Vetokele with similar ease until the striker pounced on an error in the 90th minute to level, but in Deeney he faces one of the league's top marksmen.

His pace, power and strength are all well-documented, but it is equally his ability to usher the Hornet's wide players high up the pitch and bring the craftsmen in midfield into play which equally have to be accounted for.

Having signed a new deal in the week, much to the relief of everyone associated with Watford, he will be buoyed and his pre-match comments on being intent on securing promotion make matches like this ones he will be determined to come out on top in.

If Lynch can stop him from latching onto the service from midfield and on the flanks, he may have a say in preventing that.

Matej Vydra v Murray Wallace

 

Operating with two frontmen is hardly en vogue nowadays, with most managers preferring to field one physical focal point at the apex of an attacking line.

Tomorrow's game sees two teams go head-to-head, in most likelihood, with two conventional centre-forwards leading their respective lines and ensures a challenge for both sets of defences.

Wallace's goal at Cardiff City and subsequent run in the starting XI has seen him come on leaps and bounds in such a short space of time but he faces a test of his progress against Vydra, should the Czech be given the nod from the start.

Fernando Forestieri's devastating impact in the 4-1 rout of Leeds United last weekend may result in a place amongst the substitutes, but don't be surprised to see Sannino reunite one of 2012/2013's most revered strikeforces in Vydra and Deeney before the former's unsuccessful season-long stint at West Bromwich Albion.

He is capable of giving the young Scot a major headache with his ability to drop deep and pick up the ball allied with searing speed which could exploit the fact Wallace is a left-footer operating on the right-hand side of the central defensive duo.