Preview: Cardiff City vs. Bristol City - prediction, team news, lineups

Severnside rivals Cardiff City and Bristol City face off in South Wales in this week's Friday evening clash in the Championship.

Cardiff returned to winning ways in midweek but are still five points behind Bristol City, who themselves ended a five-game winless run last time out.

Match preview

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It may still be too early in the season to describe Tuesday's meeting with Barnsley as a must-win game for Cardiff, but the pressure was certainly on to pick up all three points.

After collecting three points from the last 12 on offer, a run culminating in a late 3-2 loss at Queens Park Rangers, the Bluebirds bounced back with a 3-0 win in that midweek clash.

Junior Hoilett put Cardiff in front early on and Joe Ralls added a penalty late in the first half, before Harry Wilson sealed his side's first home victory of the campaign.

It was a much-needed win for the Welsh outfit and puts them just about back in playoff contention, though Neil Harris will know a lot more consistency needs to be shown.

Not since their final three games of the 2019-20 regular season have Cardiff won successive matches, losing five, drawing four and winning four since then.

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Bristol City have also been rather hit-and-miss this term, following up a four-game winning streak to begin the campaign with a run of five games without a win.

That run was ended on Tuesday with a 2-1 win at Huddersfield Town - Jay Dasilva 's first professional goal and Jamie Paterson 's strike sealing a late comeback victory.

The Robins have now won three of their last five away league matches, which stands them in good stead for this trip to the Cardiff City Stadium.

It is a ground that they won at last season through Josh Brownhill 's impressive long-range strike.

However, that is one of only four occasions that they have beaten the Bluebirds in all competitions in the last 21 meetings between the sides.

None of the last seven encounters have finished as a draw, but that is a scoreline that would likely suit Bristol City far more than their opponents, who need to target the win as they play catch up.

Cardiff City Championship form: WDDDLW

Bristol City Championship form: DLDLLW

Team News

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Harris opted to field Kieffer Moore and Robert Glatzel alongside each other for the win over Barnsley, with Hoilett and the returning Wilson providing support from wide.

It is a tactic that paid off, but the Bluebirds may look to freshen things up on Friday as Sheyi Ojo, Josh Murphy and Gavin Whyte are all desperate for minutes.

Lee Tomlin will definitely play no part against his former side due to injury, however, and there are still doubts over the fitness of full-backs Greg Cunningham and Jordi Osei-Tutu.

As for the visitors, boss Dean Holden praised the impact of his substitutes in the win over Huddersfield and may bring a couple of them in for starts in this game.

Antoine Semenyo played a part in both goals and Famara Diedhiou 's introduction also paid dividends as the Robins changed shape in the second half.

Holden remains without a number of players as the likes of Nathan Baker, Steven Sessegnon and Alfie Mawson are all nursing injuries.

Cardiff City possible starting lineup:

Smithies; Bacuna, Morrison, Nelson, Bennett; Ojo, Pack, Ralls, Hoilett; Wilson; Moore

Bristol City possible starting lineup:

Bentley; Vyner, Moore, Kalas; Hunt, Bakinson, Nagy, Dasilva; Paterson; Martin, Wells

We say: Cardiff City 1-2 Bristol City

Both teams picked up morale-boosting victories last time out and will therefore enter this game with a bit of confidence.

Cardiff tend to perform better away from home, while Bristol City have also averaged more points on their travels this term, so we are backing the visitors to snatch a narrow victory.

Top betting tip

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