Cardiff v Crystal Palace Preview

These are two sides who were tipped to have similar fortunes by pundits yet now lie quite far apart in the table. Cardiff boss Dave Jones will be relatively happy with his team’s placing of 6th, while Neil Warnock knows that there needs to be a lot more to come from his Crystal Palace side if they are to match last season’s play off finish.

Cardiff were up to 3rd in the table a couple of weeks ago and things couldn’t have been going any better for them. However, injuries to strikers Jay Bothroyd and Ross McCormack seem to have rocked them and they’ve now lost their last two games. While the signing of Michael Chopra should more than cover Bothroyd and McCormack’s absence, it will take time for the on loan striker to regain match fitness after playing so little football within the last few months. However, Cardiff are a side who have struggled to score goals for years and just as it was beginning to click for them, it’s all gone pear shaped. Recent defeats to Wolves and QPR suggest that they’re missing Bothroyd and McCormack more than first anticipated, so a lot is resting on Michael Chopra and he needs to show the sort of form that earned him that big money move a year or so ago.

As for Palace, inconsistency seems a good word to describe them with. Many had high hopes for the Selhurst Park outfit after Neil Warnock transformed them last season and took them from the depths of the division to the play offs. However, they’re struggling to string results together and this means they’re languishing in 16th position. They got a good away win against Coventry last week but before that they had only collected two points from their last four games. When he joined the club Warnock revealed his aspirations of taking them to the Premiership, yet unless they can start building on results that aim seems a far cry away.

Dave Jones could have some welcome news heading into this one with Ross McCormack having a slight chance of being fit. The Cardiff top scorer has missed the last few games with a hamstring problem yet will undergo a late fitness test ahead of this one. Elsewhere, Kevin McNaughton is a doubt through illness, while Mark Kennedy is tipped to make a return. There’s not much to report for Crystal Palace with Neil Warnock having no new concerns. Goalkeeper Julian Speroni was an early doubt but should now play.

Palace may have won their last game, but we have a feeling over Cardiff for this one. The Bluebirds are a good side on paper and now Michael Chopra has had time to settle in, we think they’ll be up and ready to take all three points from this – 1-0 Bluebirds.