Manchester City v Huddersfield Town: Head To Head

Holders Manchester City face struggling Huddersfield Town as the defence of the FA Cup gets underway. The blues won the famous old competition by beating Manchester United in June, while Huddersfield lifted the trophy for the only time in their history in 1922.

The blues will be looking to progress to the fourth round for the 12th successive season, while Huddersfield went out at the 3rd round stage last season, losing 3-1 to Preston.

Despite being in different divisions over the years, the blues have hosted Huddersfield 40 times since they first met in 1920. Sunday’s FA Cup tie is the fourth time the two have been drawn together, and City have won all four.

They first met in the competition in 1920, with City running out 4-0 winners. In the 1987/88 season, City and Huddersfield locked horns five times - twice in the league and three times in the FA Cup. The league encounters finished 10-1 to City at Maine Road, while Huddersfield gained a modicum of revenge, winning 1-0 at Leeds Road.

In the FA Cup tie, City were leading 1-0 at half-time, but the Terriers came back to lead, and the blues needed a last-minute goal by John Gidman to force a replay. That ended 0-0 at Maine Road, but in the second replay, the blues went through, winning 3-0 at Leeds Road.

And the two teams last met in the cup in 2017. A goalless draw in the first game saw the blues welcoming Town to the Etihad Stadium for the replay. Despite Huddersfield taking the lead, City came back strongly and comfortably won 5-1.

The blues are currently unbeaten in three matches at home against the Terriers, with the last defeat coming in November 1999, when Huddersfield won 1-0. Overall, the blues have won 20 to Huddersfield’s 10. The visitor’s biggest win is 5-1, which they achieved in February 1926, with City’s being that 10-1 hammering back in 1987. Exactly ten years to the day following that crushing defeat, the Terriers returned to Maine Road and won 1-0.

City have struggled to keep a clean sheet against the Terriers, only achieving this 14 times, however, Town have only stopped City from scoring on eight occasions, so goals on Sunday are very likely.

The blues have scored 84 times overall in this fixture, and have hit five or more four times. Huddersfield have 44 goals on City soil, an average of just over one per game.

These two have met six times in January, with City winning four to Huddersfield’s one, but they have never met on 7th January. That’ll keep the superstitious happy.

The stats all point to a City win, but, with it being the cup, anything can happen.