Newcastle United travel to take on Huddersfield Town this afternoon.
Pundit Mark Lawrenson has told BBC Sport that he thinks Huddersfield Town and Newcastle United will draw 1-1 at the John Smith’s Stadium this afternoon.
Huddersfield’s first ever Premier League campaign began at Crystal Palace last weekend, and David Wagner enjoyed a dream afternoon at Selhurst Park as his Terriers side picked up a 3-0 victory.
A general view inside the John Smith’s Stadium
Summer signing Steve Mounie hit two goals after Joel Ward’s own goal to give Huddersfield a thumping win on the opening weekend of the season, showing that Wagner’s men can compete in the top flight.
Today, Huddersfield play their first home game in the Premier League, and they take on a side they faced off against last season in the Championship promotion race, as Newcastle United arrive in Yorkshire.
Rafael Benitez’s men opened their season with a 2-0 home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday, though Newcastle were holding their own until Jonjo Shelvey’s red card for a stamp on Dele Alli, with Alli and Ben Davies notching the goals for Spurs.
Having landed striker Joselu from Stoke City since that game, Newcastle will hope to get off the mark with their first win of the season, especially having beaten Huddersfield 3-1 on the road back in March.
Ahead of today’s game, pundit Mark Lawrenson has told BBC Sport that he loved David Wagner’s reaction to beating Crystal Palace, which was simply to not get too carried away with a win on the opening day.
Lawrenson also predicted a 1-1 draw against Newcastle, suggesting that Benitez won’t want to start with two straight defeats, and may look to keep things tight as a result.
“I loved the comments of Huddersfield manager David Wagner after his side’s win over Crystal Palace, which were along the lines of, ‘we have made a really good start but we are not kidding ourselves’. I thought that was the perfect way to approach it, because he knows there is a lot more hard work to go,” said Lawrenson.
“Newcastle were doing all right against Tottenham until Jonjo Shelvey got himself sent off, and that was the end of that. Magpies boss Rafael Benitez will not want to start the season having played two, lost two, so I think they will be keeping things pretty tight. A draw would not be a disaster for Huddersfield, though. That would leave them on four points, and they would only need another 36 to stay up,” he added.
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