Now we’ll see what the champions are made of on a cold winter’s night
BRIGHTON didn’t enjoy it, Man City did only for the last few minutes, while Man United had a thoroughly miserable time. Chelsea are next in town tomorrow and Tom Ince claims they won’t relish visiting Huddersfield either on what promises to be a cold, winter’s night.
Huddersfield Town are formidable at home and Ince says they will make it difficult for Antonio Conte’s wounded champions.
“I don’t think Chelsea or anyone fancies coming here because of the way we get in people’s faces,” said the young midfielder.
“We stop people playing, we win our tackles, we win our battles, and we make it difficult for teams.
“We have to keep going to make this place our fortress and make sure that whoever comes here has a very difficult night.
“We feel we can cause any team problems here. We beat Man United here and we ran Man City close.”
Conte has dismissed Chelsea’s title bid and Ince is backing City to win a first Premier League under Pep Guardiola.
“You look at Man City, how good they are and the talent they’ve got, and I can’t see past them,” said the former England Under-21 star. “But we can’t think about what Conte says. We just have to play our own game. We’re not going to roll over for Chelsea and hopefully we can cause an upset.”
David Wagner’s men have picked up 14 points at home and he says they will test Chelsea’s ability to perform on a cold, December night in Huddersfield.
“We’ve shown we can give the best teams a fight and we’ll do so again on Tuesday,” said the Town boss.
Huddersfield, much improved after losing their previous four Premier League games, scored from two set- pieces. Steve Mounie applied the killer touch and his two goals were his first since the opening day of the season at Crystal Palace.
Ince still has not scored, despite clocking up 38 efforts on goal, and joked he needs one to go in off his backside.
“I’m hoping that, once the first goes in, whether it’s off my ear or my bum, there will be a flurry,” he said.
Brighton, hammered 5-1 last week by Liverpool, were dreadful here. They created nothing, while Lewis Dunk’s disappointing display in front of England manager Gareth Southgate summed up their new defensive frailty.
They have taken just two points from five games to slide down the Premier League and boss Chris Hughton is worried.
“It is a concern,” he admitted. “We started the season very well. But a team that comes up is never going to keep those levels right throughout the entire season.
“At the moment we’re in a hugely disappointing period. It’s not nice to lose games, but it’s a time to think about the qualities we’ve got to try and get back on track.”