Big matches always seem to “bring the best” out of Nahki Wells. The Huddersfield Town striker will be hoping for that trend to continue when he and his team-mates make the short trip to Elland Road today to face Leeds United in a West Yorkshire derby.

“The big matches bring the best out of me,” said Wells, who has netted 17 goals this season, including two in the Sky Bet Championship. “When I played in big, important games for Bradford, I did well, which was good because I wasn’t sure how well I would handle the occasion.

“I played against Arsenal, Aston Villa and at Wembley last season and felt like I handled the occasions well. Tomorrow’s game is a big one for Huddersfield Town, but I have played in bigger and I feel that I am capable of rising to it.”

Mark Robins, the Huddersfield manager, will certainly be looking for his record signing to rise to the big occasion as the visiting side attempt to snap a three-game losing skid in all competitions and complete a league double over their nearby rivals.

Huddersfield won the first league meeting 3-2 at the John Smith’s Stadium last October.

Having featured in derby matches for Bradford City before his record move to Huddersfield this month, Wells, 23, is fully aware of the importance of today’s match.

“I understand the rivalry; pride is at stake,” he said. “This division has a lot of teams within close proximity of one another, which makes for good games. The games are tough and normally tight affairs, but they are matches that you enjoy.

“One of my first professional fixtures at Bradford was at Elland Road. I didn’t come off the bench, but the atmosphere in the ground was fantastic.”

Wells and his team-mates can expect up to 34,000 today and a Leeds side that should have further motivation to impress after Brian McDermott was sacked yesterday.

McDermott, the former Reading manager, was in the job for fewer than 12 months but Leeds are winless in eight matches and the 52-year-old paid the price for heavy reversals in recent weeks, including a 6-0 thumping away to Sheffield Wednesday and an FA Cup defeat by Rochdale of League Two,

“The players understand the importance of the game and what it means to the fans, but at the end of the day, there are still only three points to be won,” Wells said. “We would overtake Leeds if we won and bring an end to our bit of poor form.”

The former Dandy Town man could not have asked for a better start at his new club, having scored in two of his three appearances, including the winner against Millwall on debut.

“I have been delighted with the way things have gone,” Wells said. “The lads welcomed me and my debut couldn’t have gone any better, scoring the winner.

“The manager believes in me and I want to repay him. I still need to get up to the tempo of this league, but I believe I can. I will continue to improve with every game that I play.

“The manager is very ambitious and is always pushing us; we are a young team that plays good football. It was his ambition and the football the team played that attracted me here.

“Within the two weeks of signing, I have learnt so much from the manager. We talk a lot and he understands my game, and I like to think that there are quite a lot of similarities between our styles of play.”