Cardiff City vs Bristol City. Sky Bet Championship.
Cardiff City StadiumAttendance23,846.
Watch live on Sky Sports Football from 11.30am on Sunday; Kick-off is at midday.
Sunday 10 November 2019 14:15, UK
Cardiff face Bristol City in the Sky Bet Championship on Sunday, live on Sky Sports Football.
Cardiff have several concerns ahead of the Severnside derby with Bristol City on Sunday. Sean Morrison missed last week's 4-2 victory over Birmingham with a fractured wrist and Bluebirds boss Neil Warnock said his captain was due to see a surgeon on Friday.
Joe Ralls, who scored a hat-trick against Birmingham, has been troubled by an ongoing groin problem, while strikers Danny Ward (suspension), Robert Glatzel (hamstring) and Isaac Vassell (quad) will definitely be missing. But Lee Tomlin has trained this week after missing the last couple of games and Northern Ireland winger Gavin Whyte should shake off a niggle to feature.
Bristol City have also had problems in the build-up to the Sky Bet Championship clash and influential midfielder Josh Brownhill could miss out. Brownhill has not trained all week after suffering a back spasm in the Robins' 2-2 draw at Barnsley.
Hungary midfielder Adam Nagy and full-back Jack Hunt are also injury doubts, while Jay Dasilva (tibia fracture) is unlikely to be back until December at the earliest. Senegalese striker Famara Diedhiou completes a three-match ban, so Marley Watkins could again feature in attack alongside Andreas Weimann.
Cardiff ended a four-game winless streak last weekend, following a thrilling 4-2 victory over Birmingham at the Cardiff City Stadium. That came after a narrow 1-0 defeat to Swansea on October 27 and but before that, they'd registered two successive points, holding Millwall to a 2-2 draw at The Den four days after Lee Tomlin's dramatic equaliser in the 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday.
Bristol City, meanwhile, are looking for their first win since October 23, following consecutive 2-2 draws with Barnsley and Wigan in their previous two outings. That last victory came when they beat Charlton 2-1 at Ashton Gate and was a welcome boost after the 3-0 defeat away at Luton on October 19.
Cardiff boss Neil Warnock: "It's always special for me and I always get a loud welcome from their fans. They are two very good sets of fans and clubs. With the game on TV too, it'll be a super atmosphere. It's a rivalry I'm looking forward to."
Bristol City boss Lee Johnson: "I'm very much looking forward to it. It's always a passionate game, the fans will be there in their numbers and that's going to be key. Our record (away from home) has been decent so far this season and it's going to need to be decent again because of the quality of the Cardiff players.
"The lads have been great. To be in the position that we are in, to have lost one in 14 (games), given the situation of so many key players being out for whatever reason. But at this stage of the season, with this new group, it's still a learning curve and we have to make sure that we are peaking into that last 10/15 games of the season."
Cardiff have won 10 of their last 14 league matches against Bristol City (W10 D1 L3).
Bristol City have won none of their last nine league visits to Cardiff (W0 D2 L7) since winning 2-0 in December 2002.
Cardiff City have won 17 of their last 23 home Championship matches (W17 D3 L3), a run stretching back to October 2017.
Bristol City have won just two of their last 15 league games in Wales (W2 D4 L9), though won on their most recent visit in August 2018 against Swansea.
Cardiff boss Neil Warnock hasn't ended on the losing side at home to Bristol City since May 2008 in a Championship play-off semi-final with Crystal Palace - current Robins boss Lee Johnson featured that day, while they were managed by his father Gary Johnson.
Bristol City winger Niclas Eliasson has the most assists in the Championship this season (6), despite starting just three games and playing only 520 minutes.
Neil Warnock will be hoping that win over Birmingham last Saturday provides a real pick-me-up for his side, who have really underwhelmed since returning to this level.
Lee Johnson was so frustrated with his side and the way they threw away such a dominant position at Barnsley. Those are the kind of results you look back on at the end of the season when you have just missed out on the top two or the top six. He will hope it doesn't haunt them. Their frustration may well continue, as I fancy a narrow Cardiff win.
David Prutton predicts: 2-1 (8/1 with Sky Bet)
