Huddersfield Town v Cardiff City: Clean bill of health for the Terriers

Huddersfield manager David Wagner declared a full bill of health for his squad ahead of their Premier League game with Cardiff.
Back for Town: Denmark's Mathias Jorgensen, left, in World Cup action against Croatia's Ante Rebic.Back for Town: Denmark's Mathias Jorgensen, left, in World Cup action against Croatia's Ante Rebic.
Back for Town: Denmark's Mathias Jorgensen, left, in World Cup action against Croatia's Ante Rebic.

The Terriers were missing Jonathan Hogg and key defender Mathias Jorgensen for their heavy defeat by Manchester City last week but both are back in contention.

Wagner said: “Everyone is back in training. Injury-wise, we are in a perfect situation.

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“It is great to have a full healthy squad available. Today, I have 23 available players and I’m pretty sure before the international break, we will use all of them.”

Pundits in some quarters have billed the game as a relegation six-pointer, despite the season being in its infancy.

Wagner dismissed the all-or-nothing nature of the fixture.

“It is not like this,” he said. “If you win a cup final you have a trophy, if you lose a cup final everything is over.

“It is an important game, because it is the next one.

“We are focused on us and our work to do everything as good as we can. Then we want to bring this energy and intensity into the John Smith’s Stadium.”

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Neil Warnock is hoping Cardiff can follow the Huddersfield formula and survive in the Premier League.

“We wanted Huddersfield to stay up last season and it shows what can be achieved,” said Cardiff manager Warnock .

“We beat them at the end of the season they went up, they were going in the play-offs and no-one expected anything.

“David Wagner has done a great job, he’s improved the squad no end and they’ve spent quite a bit of money.

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“But it will be tough and they’ll see this as a must-win game after the start they’ve had, although everyone is going to lose two games to Chelsea and Man City.”

Promoted Cardiff have picked one point from their opening two games and have yet to score.

Cardiff are again without Aron Gunnarsson. He is making progress after a knee injury and he could be fit for the visit of Arsenal next weekend, although the Iceland midfielder’s return may be delayed until after the international break.

Lee Peltier is pushing to replace Bruno Ecuele Manga at right-back and Warnock is assessing his forward options.