Wednesday night, Watford will go to Cardiff, Wales, to take on Cardiff City in the Premier League. The Hornets are hoping for their fourth win in their last five Championship matches.
Despite the Hornets’ current seventh place in the rankings, Cardiff is now in 17th following a weekend triumph.
Our Match Preview: Cardiff City vs Watford
Since Slaven Bilic’s tenure at Watford had off with three losses in five matches, parallels were drawn with Rob Edwards’ dismissal after he suffered the same number of defeats over a longer
period.
After losing to Luton Town and Wigan Athletic, the Hornets bounced back with two crucial victories.
Watford needed a different sort of performance after scoring four times against the Hatters, and they didn’t get it until Joao Pedro scored with three minutes left against the Latics.
The Brazilian attacker has now made a contribution in three straight games after going scoreless in August. With him at his best, Bilic believes Watford can only become better.
Watford is 15th in the league while playing away from home in the season (2022-23), despite winning two of their past four games.
Bilic’s squad is traveling to Wales to take on the club with the league’s 12th-best home record, but it may not be telling the full tale.
With a 1-0 victory against Rotherham United on the weekend, Cardiff recorded their fifth clean sheet at home in a span of eight games.
Given that Cardiff had lost their previous three games in a row, a win was crucial if Mark Hudson was to keep his job as manager for the long term.
The Bluebirds are currently four points above the relegation zone and can play with more confidence, but they have not scored more than once in any of their previous eight games.
Our Team News: Cardiff City vs Watford
Substitutes Mahlon Romeo and Jaden Philogene-Bidace both made significant contributions in Cardiff’s match against Rotherham and are pushing for a spot in the starting lineup.
Tom Sang and Sheyi Ojo might be benched if Hudson sticks with a four-man defense.
Callum Robinson is now serving the second of a three-game ban, during which he is unable to play.
If Keinan Davis can recover from the hip injury that forced him to miss Watford’s game against Wigan, he might rejoin the Hornets’ assault.
Hamza Choudhury is out for the season after picking up his fifth caution of the season over the weekend, while Craig Cathcart may also make his way back to the team following an injury.
It’s possible that Mario Gaspar will go to right back and Dan Gosling will return to the midfield.
- Cardiff City Possible Starting Lineup: Allsop, Romeo, Ng, Kipre, Nkounkou, Rinomhota, Wintle, Ralls, Philogene-Bidace, Harris, O’Dowda.
- Watford Possible Starting Lineup: Bachmann, Gaspar, Troost-Ekong, Sierralta, Kamara, Gosling, Kayembe, Sema, Pedro, Sarr, Bayo.
Our Prediction: Cardiff City 1-2 Watford
After getting back on track this weekend, Hudson and Cardiff will be feeling great. But there’s no denying that Watford has the better talent in the final third, and that’s why we think the Hornets will win this game by a score of 3-2.
