Preview: Exeter City vs Cardiff City - prediction, team news, lineups

Cardiff City will continue their quest to secure an immediate return to the Championship when they head to St James’ Park for Saturday’s clash with Exeter City.

The Bluebirds currently occupy second spot in the League One table, while the Grecians are down in 16th position.

Match preview

Exeter recently experienced a change in manager after Gary Caldwell left his role to take over the reins at relegation rivals Wigan Athletic.

Matt Taylor was subsequently named as Caldwell's temporary successor, accepting the chance to return to the club on a deal until the end of the season.

Taylor, who spent five years in charge of Exeter before leaving in 2022, has taken just a point from the first three matches of his second spell in the St James' Park hotseat.

After playing out a 1-1 draw with Burton Albion, the Grecians went on to lose 2-1 away to Barnsley before falling to a 1-0 defeat in Tuesday's home clash with table toppers Lincoln.

The Grecians have now gone 10 consecutive league matches without a win since beating Port Vale 3-1 on January 24 (D6, L4), leaving them in 16th place and four points above the drop zone ahead of Saturday's fixture.

Exeter will be desperate to widen that gap by claiming their first league win over Cardiff since a 2-0 victory in December 1996.

Cardiff are currently on course for a top-two finish, but there may be some nerves creeping in after mustering just one win from their last two league outings.

After falling to a heavy 5-2 loss against Plymouth Argyle, Cardiff quickly returned to winning ways with a commanding 4-0 win over Doncaster Rovers, only to be stopped in their tracks by a 2-0 loss to promotion rivals Lincoln City.

They were then made to settle for a 1-1 draw in Tuesday’s away clash with Barnsley, leaving them four points adrift of leaders Lincoln and nine points clear of Bolton Wanderers and Bradford City in third and fourth place respectively.

Their automatic promotion spot is not currently in danger, but Brian Barry-Murphy's side will want to ease any arising doubts by returning to winning ways in their third competitive meeting with Exeter of the season.

Callum Robinson scored the decisive goal in September’s 1-0 victory in the EFL Trophy group stage encounter at St James’ Park, before the Bluebirds repeated that scoreline in December's reverse league fixture.

Cardiff, who also beat Exeter 1-0 in December’s reverse league fixture, will head on their travels with the division’s second-best away record, having collected 30 points from their 18 road trips.

Exeter City League One form:

D D L D L L

Cardiff City League One form:

W W L W L D

Team News

Exeter are unable to call upon the services of Sunderland loanee Timur Tutierov, who is expected to miss a third consecutive game with a hamstring injury.

Exeter could also be without the services of Pedro Borges, Johnly Yfeko, Jack Fitzwater, Jake Doyle-Hayes and Ed Burns.

Reece Cole and Danny Andrew could come into Taylor’s thinking if he opts to freshen up his lineup for the trip to the Cardiff City Stadium.

As for Cardiff, striker Yousef Salech is unlikely to return before the international break, as he continues to work on his rehabilitation from the neck injury he sustained in January’s draw with Stockport.

Saturday’s game will come too soon for forward Isaak Davies, while goalkeeper Harry Tyrer has suffered a setback in his recovery from a back issue.

In positive news, centre-back Gabriel Osho will return to the fold after missing the midweek clash with Barnsley due to illness.

Exeter City possible starting lineup:

Whitwork; McMillan, Sweeney, Woodhouse; Niskanen; Cole, Brierley, Andrew; Aitchison; Wareham, Magennis

Cardiff City possible starting lineup:

Trott; Ng, Lawlor, Osho, Bagan; Wintle, Robertson; Tanner, R. Colwill, Ashford; Kellyman

We say: Exeter City 1-3 Cardiff City

Cardiff have experienced a slight dip in form, but they are still one of the best teams in the division, and we think they will showcase their quality to return to winning ways against an Exeter side low on confidence following a poor run of results.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.