Cardiff City remain on the road as they face Tom Cleverley's Watford at Vicarage Road.
The Opposition:
Valerian Ismael started the 23/24 season at The Hornets. Despite an encouraging start at Watford, the Frenchman was giving his marching orders in March, and replaced by Tom Cleverley who guided Watford to a mid table finish.
Cleverley had to deal with departures of key men Yaser Asprilla, Wesley Hoedt and Isamel Kone in his first summer as The Hornets' boss. The 35 year-old used funds raised from those three deals to bring in Rocco Vata from Celtic, Angelo Ogbonna from West Ham, Moussa Sissoko from FC Nantes, Pierre Dwomoh from Antwerp, Festy Ebosele from Udinese, Vakoun Bayo from Udinese, Antonio Tikvic from Udinese, Daniel Jebbison from Bournemouth, Kevin Keben from Toulouse, Kayky Almeida from Fluminense, Jonathan Bond from LA Galaxy, Yasser Larouci from Troyes, and Mamadou Doumbia from Blackstars.
The Hornets have been fairly consistent with a three at the back this season, but have on occasions opted for a back four. Watford enjoy to dominate the ball. A lot of emphasis is put on the wide areas, with athletic fullbacks capable of stretching the pitch and getting up and down. A lot of the creativity comes from Giorgi Chakvetadze, the Georgian is one of the two typically operated behind the striker.
The Bluebirds:
Cardiff come into this one on the back of a defeat against Oxford United. City were open and poor defensively and showed little imagination going forward until late on, leading to a ninth game in a row without victory.
City will have to exploit the space left centrally by Watford, The likelihood is Cardiff will have an overload in the middle, therefore they will have to use the ball well in central areas, whilst staying calculated in wide areas.
Team News:
Cardiff City - Omer Riza stated one or two injured player could be back available for this one. Isaak Davies, Aaron Ramsey, David Turnbull and Kion Etete remain out.
Watford - Kevin Keben and Tom Dele-Bashiru out injured for the hosts. Kwadwo Baah suspended.
Preferred XI:
GK - Ethan Horvath
RCB - Dimitrios Goutas
CB - Will Fish
LCB - Jesper Daland
RM - Ronan Kpakio
RCM - Alex Robertson
LCM - Manolis Siopis
LM - Callum O'Dowda
RAM - Cian Ashford
LAM - Chris Willock
ST - Callum Robinson
Prediction:
Watford 3-0 Cardiff City
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