Two of last season’s relegated teams from the Premier League will face off at the Cardiff City stadium on Friday night when Cardiff City take on Fulham with a precious three points at stake for both teams in their quest to make a swift return to the top flight.
Taking a look at Cardiff City’s results so far first of all, and The Bluebirds have seen a mixed return on their performances so far this season which include defeats to Wigan Athletic 3-2 and a heavy 3-0 loss away at Reading which raised a few eyebrows, not least because Neil Warnock’s team were well beaten by The Royals.
However, it should be noted that both of these defeats were inflicted upon Cardiff away from home, while on home turf at their Cardiff City Stadium, Warnock’s side have collected two wins from two matches with victories against Luton Town and Huddersfield Town, with the hosts winning both matches 2-1.
Although they lost 3-0 at home to Luton Town in the League Cup, this won’t deter Cardiff City on Friday night as they go in search of a third league win on the trot in their own backyard.
Visitors, Fulham, also tasted defeat during the week in the League Cup as they were beaten by Premier League outfit, Southampton, and after losing last weekend’s clash 2-1 at home to Nottingham Forest in the Championship, Fulham manager, Scott Parker, will be demanding an improved performance from his side on Friday night.
Prior to these two defeats, Fulham had put together a 3-match winning streak which saw The Cottagers record victories over Blackburn Rovers, Huddersfield Town and Millwall which has helped them up into an early play-off position and just 4 points adrift of the early league leaders, Leeds United and Swansea City.
There’s plenty of incentive therefore for Fulham to go for all three points here as a win would see them move within a point at the top of the Championship.
However, having won just 2 of their last 22 away matches, the goal market seems the best option for this clash.
8 of the last 9 encounters between Cardiff City and Fulham have resulted in both teams scoring and tonight’s clash could see the trend continuing in Wales.