Cardiff vs Nottingham Forest: Back against struggling Bluebirds

Live on Sky Sports, Cardiff City host Nottingham Forest in this all important Championship fixture at the Cardiff City Stadium on Sunday at 4pm.

The hosts come into this game in awful form with no win in their last 7 games in all competitions. They were beaten 3-2 by a struggling Bristol City side and now the interim manager Steve Morison could very well be replaced, with reports suggesting that Neil Warnock could make a return to the club.

There is a lot of pressure on Morrison to avoid defeat here, but they are up against a confident Nottingham Forest side who arrive here off the back of 4 consecutive wins, including an impressive 3-0 win over Barnsley last week. They have the 4th best away record in the league with just 3 defeats on their travels in their 13 away games so far this campaign. Cardiff, on the other hand, have the worst home record in the league with 9 losses in their last 10 games at the Cardiff City Stadium. It has been an incredibly disappointing season so far and relegation will be a massive worry if they don’t manage to avoid defeat here. The away side are just 2 points below the playoffs with a game in hand, so another 3 points here would be a major boost in their ambitions of securing a top 6 spot.

An intriguing and hugely significant fixture awaits us and as usual I have you covered with my 2 best betting angles for this game included in the preview below:

Team News:

Kieffer Moore is doubtful for Cardiff.

Joe Lolley, Joe Worrall, Loic Mbe Soh & Alex Mighten are out for Nottingham.

Cardiff City possible starting lineup: Smithies; McGuinness, Flint, Morrison; Drameh, Doyle, Pack, Vaulks, Ng; Collins, Watters

Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup: Samba; Yates, Cook, McKenna; Spence, Garner, Colback, Lowe; Johnson, Grabban; Davis

Cardiff City are on a horrible run of form especially at home where they have lost their last 9 out of 10 games. Morale around the club is low and this is a fixture they will not be looking forward to. Nottingham Forest are one of the most in-form sides in the league at the moment with 6 wins in their last 8 games. They have one of the best away records in the league, having lost just 1 game out of their last 11 on the road. They have also beaten Cardiff at this stadium 1-0 in their last 2 visits and they have a great chance of making it 3 in a row. I expect a full of confidence Forest side to assert their dominance and take advantage of the hosts’ poor form. We will be taking the draw no bet selection @ 4/5 with a 1pt stake, with an assurance just in case we see an improved performance from the hosts resulting in a draw. However, I really cannot see Forest losing this fixture.

Lewis Grabban is Nottingham Forest’s top scorer with 12 goals for the season and is in top form at the moment in front of goal having scored 3 goals in his last 4 appearances. He also scored against Cardiff in the reverse fixture. Mark McGuinness is Cardiff’s 2nd most booked player with 5 yellow cards to his name in 18 appearances this term. He is averaging the 2nd most fouls in the expected XI and I could see him picking up a booking on the counter.  Lastly, Cardiff have seen at least 8 corners in their last 7 out of 8 home games while Forest have seen at least 8 corners in their last 5 out of 6 away games. Combining these 3 selections gives a cracking longshot @ 16/1 and I am happy to place a very small 0.25pt stake on that.

Best of luck if you follow these selections. Please always gamble responsibly.