Preview: Cardiff City vs. Fulham

Cardiff City and Fulham will meet in South Wales this Saturday having found life difficult back in the second tier of English football so far.

Both teams were relegated from the Premier League last season and expected to challenge for an immediate return but, just after the halfway stage of the campaign, they sit nine and 12 points respectively off the playoffs.

It is Cardiff who are the closer of the two sides, although their renewed push for the top six came to a juddering halt at the end of 2014 as they picked up just two points from a possible 15 in December.

There was no shortage of entertainment for the fans, with 21 goals in their last four league games, but their lack of victories saw them drop to 12th in the table.

They did return to winning ways in the FA Cup, however, becoming the first team to book their spot in the fourth round with a 3-1 victory over Colchester United last Friday night.

It is the league that Russell Slade will be most interested in, however, and they are currently closer to the bottom three than they are to the playoffs.

Following a 100% start at home, Slade has now seen his side fall to consecutive league defeats in South Wales, conceding seven goals in the process, and the fans have made their feelings known recently.

The Bluebirds have moved to tighten things up at the back with the signing of Scott Malone from Millwall, and he could well make his debut for the club this weekend.

It is understood that Rotherham United striker Alex Revell is also close to a move, although his transfer may not go through in time to face Fulham.

The Cottagers have not been as busy during the January transfer window, having undergone a huge overhaul of players in the summer.

That may well have contributed to their poor first half to the campaign, leaving them down in 17th place going into this weekend's match.

Things have improved slightly since Kit Symons was awarded the manager's job on a permanent basis, but they ended the year in disappointing fashion with back-to-back defeats.

They face a trip to Molineux on Tuesday for their FA Cup third-round replay against Wolverhampton Wanderers having only managed a goalless draw in the original tie last Saturday.

No team has conceded more goals away from home in the division than Fulham this season, but they have won two of their last three on the road to show signs of improvement.

Indeed, Fulham have now kept clean sheets in three of their last five outings, although they have also failed to score at the other end in their last three games.

Symons may not change his strikeforce despite that, though, with Hugo Rodallega and Ross McCormack expected to partner each other up front once again.

Cardiff:

Form in Championship: WDLLDL Form in all competitions: DLLDLW

Possible starting lineup: Marshall; Brayford, Turner, Morrison, Malone; Adeyemi, Gunnarsson, Whittingham, Noone; Jones, Le Fondre

Fulham:

Form in Championship: WLWWLL Form in all competitions: LWWLLD

Possible starting lineup: Bettinelli; Grimmer, Hutchinson, Bodurov, Stafylidis; Ruiz, Parker, Williams, Christensen; Rodallega, McCormack

Sports Mole says: 2-1