Huddersfield Town will be ready for leaders Newcastle after FA Cup exit

Huddersfield Town's Dean Whitehead challenges Manchester City's Sergio Aguero in Wednesday's FA Cup replay (Picture: Mike Egerton/PA Wire).

This is the confident assertion of Dean Whitehead, who twice steered Sunderland to the Championship title before helping Middlesbrough to the 2015 play-off final.

Disappointed not to be facing his former club Boro in the FA Cup quarter-finals, Whitehead put things in perspective about defeat at the Etihad when third-placed Town made nine changes ahead of tomorrow’s televised crunch encounter against Championship leaders Newcastle United.

The 35-year-old holding midfield player said of the replay: “We got in front, but then got a bit sloppy and they stepped up a couple of gears and really got on top of us and we struggled to get into the game after that.

“We can take a lot of positives from our run in the Cup. The boys who had their chance to play have done well, but we will forget about this quickly, move on and get focused and refreshed for Newcastle.

“Manchester City are world-class players who put five past Monaco in the Champions League. They are some of the top players in the world and we took them to a replay so we will hold our heads high and move on, although we are disappointed we did not perform to the levels that we have done.”

Sergio Aguero, meanwhile, hopes to put an end to any uncertainty over his Manchester City future by meeting club officials at the end of the season.

City’s top scorer has described recent proclamations from the club and manager Pep Guardiola that they want him to stay as a “breakthrough”, but he says he is yet to receive such assurances in person.

Speculation over Aguero’s long-term future under Guardiola has recurred throughout the campaign and intensified when he lost his place to exciting new signing Gabriel Jesus last month.

But since Jesus suffered a foot injury a fortnight ago, Aguero has roared back to form with four goals in the last two games against Monaco and Huddersfield.

Aguero’s double in the 5-1 fifth-round replay win took his tally for the season to 22 and his overall haul since joining the club in 2011 to 158.

Such continuing excellence makes the 28-year-old a hugely attractive proposition for the game’s biggest clubs, and the Argentinian has again been linked with Real Madrid, but he insists he is not interested in a move.