Cardiff v Wolves Premier League Preview

It’s a battle of the 2 newly promoted sides at the Cardiff City Stadium as Wolverhampton Wanderers travel to the Welsh capital to face the Blue Birds in the first fixture of match day 14 in the Premier League. While Friday night’s game pits last season’s top two teams in the championship together in the Premier League, their respective starts and form has been miles apart. Cardiff City are in a relegation scrap and have been battling to save their season while Wolves have held several Premier League giants to a draw while playing some of the most beautiful football in the league this season.

Cardiff are 19th with 8 points from 13 games played. They have only managed 2 wins, 2 draws and 9 defeats in the league all season while conceding 26 and scoring just 11. Only Crystal Palace, Huddersfield and Southampton have scored fewer goals than the Blue Birds. 9 of the 11 goals scored by Cardiff have come at home while Callum Paterson tops their scoring charts with 3 goals which have come in his previous 5 appearances.

Cardiff City’s game last week against Everton ended in a 0-1 loss to Everton which was their third loss in their last 4 in the league. However, the Blue Birds have good memories of their last home game in which they came from behind to defeat a 10-man Brighton team 2-1. A win on Friday may take Cardiff as far 15th if other results go their way.

Neil Warnock favours the hurly-burly direct approach and that will be put to test by Wolves Nuno Espirito Santo who is a stickler for the expansive style of play championed by Manchester City.

Wolves continue to dazzle fans and neutrals alike and are comfortably sitting in 11th position in the league with 16 points – a product of 4 wins and 4 draws. Wolves start to the season was nothing short of electric but have slowed down in recent weeks having taken only a draw from their last 5 games in the league. The West Midlands side have picked up 8 points on the road but have scored 12 goals in all while conceding 15. They are pretty much a 2nd half team having scored only 2 goals in the first halves of games. After drawing 1-1 with Arsenal, last week’s home 0-2 loss to Huddersfield came as a bit of surprise and saw the team drop down to 11th place.

Wolves have lost only 1 of their last 6 away games in all competitions and will need to win on Friday to stop the rut of a 5-match win less run in the Premier League. Portuguese Nuno Espirito Santo has seen his side win in all 4 of their league games played on a Friday, though they all came in the Championship last season.

Team News

Neil Warnock has a late decision to make with “two or three niggles” in the squad. Kenneth Zohore is still out with a calf injury while Josh Murphy is expected to be in the starting XI. Ashley Jazz Richards has recovered from a minor knock and is in contention to play

Left-back Jonny Otto suffered a ligament injury while on international duty and is the only absentee for Wolves

Verdict

This is a battle of two contrasting styles and Wolves will have to show a bit of grit alongside their brains to match Cardiff’s brawn. This game looks likely to end in a draw. Looking at the betting and this pretty match backs that up with Wolves marked as slight favourites due to their better league position. I certainly don't see Cardiff winning this, I think Wolves will be too much of an opponent for that to happen, the draw is based on the fact that Wolves will probably take an away point and their recent form has dipped a bit.

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