Huddersfield Town fixture list points to issue from last season that must be overcome

There aren’t a huge number of ways Huddersfield Town can look to squeeze more points out of the fixture list next season having just finished third with an impressive 82 points last season, but there was a bit of a trend last season that they will be keen to avoid in the new campaign.

We spoke about Town’s travel sickness issue last season, though not in the sense of poor away form; the issue was more that there were several times when they struggled in games immediately following long midweek away trip. Those included defeats in poor performances at home to Middlesbrough having just visited QPR in November, and then again at home to Bournemouth just after losing away to Millwall in midweek.

The fixtures for the new season suggest Town will need to find a way to overcome that. They have 12 three-to-four day turnarounds after away trips in the new season, nine seven-day turnarounds and one 14 day gap, with the trip to Millwall in mid-March coming on the eve of an international break. That is, presumably, the same as the rest of the Championship.

What may pose particular difficulty for Town, if last season is anything to go by, is just how many of those short breaks between games come after long away trips. Seven of their nine longest away trips this season will be followed by a game just three or four days later, with Cardiff and Millwall the only ones Town get a decent rest after.

Some are worse than others: it’s not unthinkable that Town might arrange to stay in the area after facing Reading on 1st October given that they visit Luton three days later, for instance. But travelling to Sunderland just three days after playing in Swansea in April – Town’s longest away trip of the season – looks particularly gruelling.

It’