Welsh bragging rights is on the line on Sunday afternoon when the latest round of Sky Bet Championship matches draws to a close as Swansea City play host to bitter rivals Cardiff City in front of a huge crowd and a big TV audience.
Both teams sit in the bottom six at kick off so it goes without saying they haven’t had the best opening quarter of the campaign. This match offers up a chance to take something forward with them over what is a busy week for both sides.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football channels with the build-up to the action beginning at 11.30am and kick off at the Liberty Stadium coming at 12pm.
Swansea City
Given that they have been beaten in the playoffs in the last two seasons, Swansea City will not have been expecting to find themselves sat in the bottom six this time around. There was always going to be a transitional period once Steve Cooper left the club, even more so when you consider the amount of loan players they had which they have not been able to keep hold of, but I think Swans fans would have been justified to expect more than what they’ve been given so far this term.
Russell Martin’s side are undergoing a clear change in the style they want to use this season, which while admirable is not getting the desired results. They have won just one of their last seven matches and in the 11 games they have played this term they have found the net on just eight occasions and three of them came in a crazy 20 minute spell at Kenilworth Road a few weeks back. You sense Swansea need an injection of quality put into their squad in January.
Cardiff City
After making a late dart to the playoffs only to come up short last season, things certainly have not gone to plan for Cardiff City this term and they need to start winning matches soon or else you would imagine the reset button is going to get hit and they will be starting all over again. That almost worked out for them in the previous campaign but it isn’t really a good long-term approach. A win here over their rivals will ease any pressure which has to be growing on Mick McCarthy.
One of the big problems McCarthy and Cardiff have is the style isn’t particularly attractive and while that is accepted when you are winning matches, when you start losing it cuts little or no slack and this is a Bluebirds side who have lost their last five matches. They were a bit unlucky last time out against Reading but there is no doubt that the international break has come at a good time for them. They will be hoping the time to take stock and reassess will have worked and they can go again here.
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Team News
Russell Martin has reported a fully fit squad to pick from for this South Wales derby. He will have to decide on which attacking players to use with Morgan Whittaker waiting for his chance to shine on the big occasion.
Mick McCarthy has hinted that Kieffer Moore will be fine to feature even though he picked up an eye issue while he was away with Wales. There could be returns to the side for both Perry Ng and Sean Morrison too.
Betting
Derby matches are never the easiest to bet on but whenever they do come around I always look for the team who have the more big match players and I believe that is Cardiff City. I think they are a better team than Swansea City anyway, although that doesn’t necessarily count for a lot in a derby game. Swansea have the crowd on side here but that can go two ways when you are struggling. They will either rally them or if things don’t start great could be on their backs.
You always need a calm and assured head in these matches and I expect Cardiff to bring that to the party. They have a manager who has seen it and done it and a number of players who have been there for a while and played at the highest level. Cardiff haven’t been winning matches of late but of their five defeats they have played three of the top four and a Blackburn side who were on the fringes of the top six heading into the weekend. They also battered Reading last time out but the ball wouldn’t go in. I sense Cardiff are in a better place than Swansea right now and if there is a winner in this match I fancy it will be them. At a perfectly acceptable price with the 0.25 goal start I’ll side with the visitors on the Asian lines.
Tips
Back Cardiff City (+0.25AH) to beat Swansea City for a 3/10 stake at 1.86 with BetVictor
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