You know what, it's normally quite fun writing about the tactics of opposition teams. You get to sit there, spend time looking in to their previous games, working out their combinations, discovering little nuances of how they function and go about their business. There's usually a surprise or two involved - players who are doing something within a team you weren't aware they were until you took a closer look, or a manager who's got his own interpretation of a particular system to unpack and understand. Usually, that sort of thing is a pleasure. You actually enjoy the game on the weekend more for having done it, recognising things in practice you've written about in theory, seeing how the team adjust within the match to counter their opposition or change what their approach is to try and get more joy.

This week, sadly, Huddersfield Town are playing West Bromwich Albion, so all of that fun stuff is going to have to be put to one side for now. You can thank Tony Pulis for that.

Huddersfield's Laurent Depoitre crosses the ball in Premier League Football Liverpool v Huddersfield Town 28/10/17 (Pic by John Rushworth) Football Images are covered by DataCo licence agreements. For Editorial Use Only No Free Use permitted.

So, here's the thing: West Brom are likely to play what they'll try and sell as a 3-5-2, but in reality, it's closer to flat back eight with two sorry lads playing a tad bit higher than the rest. It's abysmal to watch, and almost as bad to write about. This isn't likely to be a brilliant game as a result, and what's worse is, Tony Pulis knows all that, and actually likes it. That's sort of his plan. He's football's answer to the Grinch, but in a baseball cap and tracksuit.

Ben Foster will play in goal, with a trio of Gareth McAuley, Jonny Evans and Ahmed Hegazi in a flat line in front of him. In the wide areas, Kieran Gibbs will play down the left, with Allan Nyom likely to play down the right. In midfield, they'll have Gareth Barry, Jake Livermore and Grzegorz Krychowiak in a flat line, protecting their deep lying defence. Somewhere ahead of them, Solomon Rondon and Jay Rodriquez will be keeping each other company, reminiscing about the last time they were actually played a ball to feet.

Huddersfield Town keeper Jonas Lossl

The most annoying thing about this though it's that it's actually really effective. West Brom have become experts in absolutely stinking out a match so that nothing whatsoever is capable in open play, with creativity about as likely to flourish as greenery in a nuclear fallout zone. They look to score the majority of their goals through set plays or via the occasional break, which they're fairly proficient at doing. Huddersfield know this, too, with both David Wagner and Chris Lowe saying as much in their pre-match press conference. How they go about playing against it though, is anybody's guess.

Town will probably line up as you'd expect, and are likely to revert back to 4-2-3-1 after spending a couple of games in a more compact 4-3-3. Jonas Lossl will be between the posts, Tommy Smith at right-back, Chris Lowe at left-back and the familiar partnership of Mathias Zanka and Christopher Schindler in the middle. Ahead of them, it'll be interesting to see how Wagner shuffles his pack, but it would be interesting to see Jonathan Hoog given a rest after the work he put in against Manchester United and Liverpool, with Danny Williams and Aaron Mooy making up the first band of midfield.

Huddersfield Town boss David Wagner celebrates the win over Manchester United.
Huddersfield Town boss David Wagner celebrates the win over Manchester United.

Tom Ince and Elias Kachunga are likely to start in the wider areas either side of Laurent Depoitre, and it would be nice to see Town roll the dice a little and name Abdelhamid Sabiri in at number 10, as we've not seen him from the start in a while. Given how much possession Huddersfield are likely to be given, there's no harm whatsoever in having as many ballplayers and potential match winners on the field as possible, especially if their attempts at goal are going to be largely limited to strikes from distance. Town's entire attacking identity is based on drawing a side out and hitting them when they're vulnerable at the back - that simply isn't going to work against a side who never leave themselves short within the vicinity of their own goal.

Huddersfield need to pay extra attention when defending set plays, and should be prepared to deal with flat, high, long passes coming at them from a variety of angles. While it's a simplistic approach - to say the least - West Brom prey on sides losing their concentration and giving them an opening that they wouldn't have gotten otherwise. If you you were being unkind, you'd accuse it of being death by boredom, but we wouldn't dream of doing that here.

West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Pulis

To win, the earlier Town score the better. The longer the game continues, the deeper West Brom will get - and then it will almost impossible to break through them. David Wagner's outlook on football and the way Pulis treats the game are complete and utter opposites - it will interesting, if not entertaining, to see how that battle of contrasting philosophies manifests itself on the day.

You can follow Raj Bains on Twitter over on @BainsXIII , and his Huddersfield Town book Underdog is being published later in 2017. It is available to order now, with the opportunity to have the name of your choice printed in a fans list at the back of the book. Please visit www.gnbooks.co.uk or call 01274 735056.