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

Stoke City make the journey to the Welsh capital on Tuesday evening looking to make it three Championship victories in a row when they face newly-promoted Cardiff City, who are still searching for their first win since returning to the second tier.

The Bluebirds suffered a second consecutive defeat at the weekend when they lost 2-0 to Portsmouth at Fratton Park, while the Potters have put their difficult start to the campaign behind them with back-to-back victories, including a thumping 4-0 win over Charlton Athletic.

Match preview

After earning promotion from League One last season by finishing second with 91 points, Brian Barry-Murphy's Cardiff City side have returned to the Championship still searching for their first victory, with three draws followed by back-to-back defeats.

The Bluebirds remained unbeaten through their first three league matches after recording draws against Wrexham, Derby County and Sheffield United, with the Welsh side showing plenty of promise in attack by scoring five goals across those contests.

However, Cardiff travelled to West London last week and suffered their first defeat of the campaign as a brace from Rumarn Burrell helped Queens Park Rangers to a 2-1 victory, before another loss at Portsmouth followed at the weekend.

Barry-Murphy's side conceded either side of half time to Conor Shaughnessy and Marko Milovanovic, suffering their second defeat in four days and dropping into the bottom three for the first time since returning to the Championship.

Despite their low position, which may carry little significance with 41 league matches still to play, the Bluebirds have shown encouraging signs in front of goal, with six strikes in five games ranking among the best tallies in the bottom 10, although their nine goals conceded will concern Barry-Murphy after Cardiff were strong defensively in last season.

As for visiting Stoke City, they make the trip from Staffordshire to South Wales in good form, with their recent revival coming at an ideal time for Mark Robins and his team.

The Potters endured a disastrous start to the 2026-27 campaign and sat bottom without a point after three matches, but Stoke have since turned things around by beating Norwich City 1-0 before thrashing Charlton Athletic 4-0, a result that came against their former manager Nathan Jones.

The weekend victory was particularly impressive given that Robins's side faced a Charlton team who arrived at the bet365 Stadium unbeaten, only for the Addicks' promising start to be brought to an abrupt end.

The previous weekend had seen the Potters endure plenty of criticism from their own supporters after a 4-1 thrashing at the hands of recently relegated Wolverhampton Wanderers, but their new summer recruits helped to put things right on Saturday afternoon.

A brace from Justin Devenny and goals from Ethan Galbraith and George Hirst saw Stoke race into a 4-0 lead inside the opening 40 minutes, and after the visitors were reduced to 10 men early in the second half, Robins's side comfortably saw out the victory to climb 11 places in four days and return to more familiar mid-table territory.

With Cardiff having spent last season in League One, this will be the first meeting between the sides since the 2024-25 campaign, when they met three times, with a draw and a Stoke victory coming in the league while the Bluebirds progressed on penalties in the FA Cup at the bet365 Stadium.

Cardiff City Championship form:

Cardiff City form (all competitions):

Stoke City Championship form:

Stoke City form (all competitions):

Team News

After a winless return to the Championship, Barry-Murphy may already have been considering changes for this midweek clash, but an incident during the 2-0 defeat at Fratton Park could now make that decision for him.

Police are investigating an altercation involving new Bluebirds signing Krystian Bielik and a Portsmouth supporter after the defender went to retrieve the ball, with it yet to be determined whether the Polish international will be available for Tuesday's game.

As far as injuries are concerned, Cardiff have not picked up any fresh concerns but remain without Dylan Lawlor, William Fish and Calum Chambers.

The Potters, meanwhile, would have hoped to keep the same XI that produced their biggest win of the season at the weekend, but further injuries have forced Robins to consider changes.

Sam Gallagher was forced off after 34 minutes with an injury, while Irish defender Bosun Lawal was also withdrawn with half an hour still to play, and both players are expected to miss the trip to the Welsh capital.

The injured duo will join Ben Gibson, Aaron Cresswell, Junior Tchamadeu, Svante Ingelsson and Ato Ampah in the treatment room.

With those latest fitness concerns, Robert Bozenik and Maksym Talovierov could come into the starting XI.

Cardiff City possible starting lineup:

Trott; Ng, Scanlon, Osho, Bagan; Robertson, Turnbull; Tanner, Moylan, Willock; Salech

Stoke City possible starting lineup:

V. Johansson; Wilmot, Graham, Talovierov; Johnson, Devenny, Soumare, Galbraith, Bocat; Bozenik, Hirst

We say: Cardiff City 2-2 Stoke City

Just under a week ago, both of these sides were still searching for their first Championship victory, but Stoke now enter their sixth league outing with successive wins behind them and will be targeting a third straight success.

However, Cardiff have lost only twice and have already come close to claiming victories on several occasions, so we expect the Bluebirds to end their losing run in front of their home supporters as the two sides play out an entertaining draw.

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