Wayne Rooney's Birmingham visit the CCS as they seek to get back on track after a poor run of form.
The Opposition:
John Eustace oversaw a big summer rebuild at Blues, with many departures in the summer such as Jobe Bellingham and Tahith Chong. However, Blues have recruited well bringing in Ethan Laird from Manchester United, Tyler Roberts from Leeds, Jay Stansfield from Fulham, former Bluebird Dion Sanderson from Wolves, Koji Miyoshi from Royal Antwerp, Krystian Bielik from Derby, Siriki Dembele from Birmingham, Keshi Anderson from Blackpool and Lee Buchanan from Werder Bremen, Cody Drameh from Leeds, Emanuel Aiwu from Cremonese and Oliver Burke from Werder Bremen. After a decent start to the season, Eustace was suprisingly relieved of his duties and swiftly replaced by Wayne Rooney.
Rooney's sides are typically high neregy and in your face with a strong press, Rooney's sides are always high in the table for possession won in the final third. Rooney doesn't typically play a possession focused style, however, a more direct system with the aim of getting balls into the box as quick as possible.
After a poor run since Rooney's appointment, Blues sit 17th in the Championship table.
The Bluebirds:
Cardiff come in off the back of a decent home win against Milwall on the weekend. The Bluebirds will seek to produce a better performance and make the most of a Birmingham team low on confidence.
I see it being a pretty balanced game possession wise, but, The Bluebirds best work will likely come down the flanks with Blues missing a few fullbacks, Bowler's directness could be a game changer in this one. I could see this also being the perfect game for bringing Etete in from the start as his intesity could hurt Birmingham also.
Team News:
Cardiff City - Clean bill of health except for long term absentees Callum O'Dowda and Aaron Ramsey who remain out. Likely to be changes after playing on the weekend.
Birmingham City - Dion Sanderson is back available for the visitors. Cody Drameh, Ethan Laird, George Hall, Alfie Chang, Kevin Long, Keshi Anderson and Tyler Roberts all out for Blues.
Preferred XI:
GK - Alex Runarsson
RB - Perry Ng
RCB - Dimitrios Goutas
LCB - Jonathan Panzo
LB - Jamilu Collins
LDM - Joe Ralls
RDM - Manolis Siopis
CAM - Rubin Colwill
RW - Josh Bowler
LW - Karlan Grant
ST - Kion Etete
Prediction:
Cardiff City 3-2 Birmingham City
This is typically a high scoring game, and I see it staying that way. I do think The Bluebirds may have just too much for Birmingham and edge it out by a goal.
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