Huddersfield Town v Luton Town: Lewis O’Brien happy to be leading man

So has their ferocious sense of internal competition, according to Lewis O’Brien.

It is not all to do with the battle to secure starting spots on a match-day either in the view of the influential midfielder.

It also revolves around the sky-high standards at the club’s Canalside training ground and the John Smith’s Stadium. Players push themselves in their desire to be the best in terms of physical output with all relevant data scrutinised intensely by the Town coaching staff and backroom team.

It offers another insight and reason as to why the Terriers are the division’s surprise Championship success story of 2021-22, alongside tonight’s opponents Luton Town.

O’Brien commented: “After games, the GPS results are always sent through and the lads do have a little look at them. I am normally at the top, so there’s no beating that, to be fair!

“It’s a good thing to have. When you come in after the game and have won and are in high spirits, you have banter about who has run more and who has done this.

“People like to say: ‘You are just running away from the ball, that’s why you have got more stats.’ The mood in the dressing room is good and it is obvious to see when we are out on the pitch.”

Named as one of four members of Town’s core leadership group at the start of the season alongside Jonathan Hogg, Harry Toffolo and Fraizer Campbell, O’Brien is the ‘junior member.’

In a season when Huddersfield have proved to be greater than the sum of their parts on the pitch, with contributions coming across the board, other leaders have rapidly emerged.

Town must make do without one of them tonight and potentially for the rest of the season in Matty Pearson, with the former Luton defender being sidelined with a knee injury.

O’Brien added “At the start of the season, I don’t think many teams will have as many vice-captains as we do. Carlos (Corberan’s) decision was that from the season prior to this, he could see the players that were driving the training and maybe the other players looked up to them and respected them a bit.

“I am obviously honoured to be in such a group, as such a young player. It is one of those groups where there probably aren’t four people in the group now, it is a whole team.

“We are just the middle men between Carlos and the rest of the players. All the players are leaders on and off the pitch and that has shown throughout the season.

“Sometimes when I am in the meetings, I kind of do think: ‘Why am I in there, I don’t understand any of this! (as a younger player).’ But it is obviously one of those learning curves and I am obviously young and being in these meetings so early will help me in my career further along.

“All the lads are a really close bunch and get on with each other well. It obviously helps on the pitch when it comes to that. When we are in, it is so intense with Carlos and you do need that time to switch off (after).

“But we all have a group chat and we speak to each other all the time. We don’t really speak about football because when we are in, that’s when our full concentration is used. At home, it is time to relax and chill out.”

Back in 2019-20, these two sides met at the John Smith’s Stadium in a late-season fixture of major significance at the foot of the table.

Such is Championship life that both meet tonight in a game of key importance at the top end of the division.

It says everything about the most wonderfully unpredictable league in Europe.

O’Brien added: “Football is a crazy game and anything can happen in one season. We were both fighting relegation three or four games out at the end of that season and this season, look where we are.

He continued: “It is crazy, there are swings and roundabouts in football all the time and we are just glad we are where we are and will work hard to stay where we are.”

Victory tonight would see Town move back up into third place above Nottingham Forest.