Huddersfield Town's 'momentum shift' warning ahead of pivotal Bournemouth promotion clash

The effort of Huddersfield Town’s 17-game unbeaten Championship run ‘caught up to them’ against Millwall and they now need to redouble their efforts to avoid being caught by the sides below them, according to pundit Jobi McAnuff. Carlos Corberan’s side were firmly second-best in their 2-0 defeat away to Millwall on Wednesday evening having last week experienced the double disappointment of an FA Cup exit and the late concession of a two-goal lead at West Bromwich Albion.

That leaves Town three points behind second-placed Bournemouth, who have three games in hand, and just four points clear of seventh with all of the chasing pack except Blackburn Rovers holding at least one game in hand. Town must play four of the current top seven over their remaining eight games, setting up a tense end to what has been an unexpectedly excellent season for Town so far.

McAnuff twice played for promotion-winning sides in his career, helping Reading go up to the Premier League as second-tier champions in 2012 before playing alongside Josh Koroma to help Leyton Orient top the National League in 2019. And asked if Town now need to beat Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon to stand any chance of even thinking about an automatic promotion challenge, he said: “Yes, is the short answer to that.

“I think when you look at Bournemouth’s games in hand, they have to certainly take points off of them to get even anywhere near that second place. I think they’re going to be a little bit more worried about what’s coming behind them now.

“I think that’s why it’s such a big, big game coming up now. From their point of view they’ve had a fantastic, fantastic run and you’ve got to give them much much credit. They just looked a little bit like it caught up with