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

Cardiff City play host to Birmingham City on Saturday afternoon looking to bounce back from a defeat at Reading last weekend.

At a time when the Bluebirds occupy ninth position in the Championship standings, Blues are fourth after coming through their opening two games with four points.

Match preview

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When Cardiff started the season with a 1-0 victory over promotion favourites Norwich City, their supporters would have been increasingly optimistic about a prolonged spell in the top six.

However, losing from a winning position at Reading and succumbing to a one-sided 3-0 defeat at the hands of Portsmouth in the EFL Cup has changed the mood in South Wales.

The latter of those setbacks came after Steve Morison had made widespread changes to his team, but he still would have expected a higher-level performance from players who were being given the opportunity to impress.

With a trip to West Bromwich Albion and a showdown with rivals Bristol City to come in the next two games, Morison will be eager to get more points on the board from this contest.

That said, their opponents have emerged as one of the surprise packages in any of England's top four divisions since the beginning of the campaign.

Given their well-documented issues off the pitch, many expect Birmingham to be contenders for relegation, but they have upset the odds in their opening two games.

A goalless draw at last season's playoff semi-finalists Luton Town was followed by a 2-1 victory over finalists Huddersfield Town at St Andrew's.

Blues also came from two goals behind to draw 2-2 with Norwich in the EFL Cup first round, only to eventually succumb to the Canaries on penalties.

Much was made of the decision to hand the reins to John Eustace, someone who had only been the leading figure in the dugout during a stint with non-league Kidderminster Harriers.

Nevertheless, the 42-year-old appears to be relishing the chance to manage one of his local clubs, leading to supporters anticipating another positive result at the weekend.

Team News

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Having made numerous changes for the trip to East Anglia, Eustace is expected to revert back to the team from the victory over Huddersfield.

However, Birmingham duo Harlee Dean and Gary Gardner will miss out on the visit to Wales through injury.

The Cardiff starting lineup is less cut and dried given the manner of their last two defeats, but Perry Ng has served his one-match suspension.

Jaden Philogene-Bidace, who is on loan from Birmingham's neighbours Aston Villa, may have to remain among the replacements.

Sheyi Ojo should start on one of the flanks, while Max Watters is battling to retain his place down the middle of the attack.

Cardiff City possible starting lineup:

Allsop; Romeo, Ng, Kipre, Collins; Wintle, Ralls, Sawyers; Ojo, Watters, O'Dowda

Birmingham City possible starting lineup:

Ruddy; Trusty, Roberts, Sanderson; Colin, James, Woods, Placheta; Bacuna; Hogan, Deeney

We say: Cardiff City 2-1 Birmingham City

This is a difficult match to call, particularly with Birmingham continuing to impress despite the negative pre-season predictions. Although we fancy the visitors to have their moments in South Wales, Cardiff will want to bounce back from the embarrassment in midweek, something that we feel they will achieve in a hard-fought contest.

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