Cardiff and Fulham to play to their strengths
The Championship continues to be Europe’s most exciting division in which anyone can beat anyone. Fulham travel to Cardiff on Friday night for a clash of last season’s Premier League dropouts. Who will emerge victorious? Have a read of our preview here:
Fulham an attacking force
Scott Parker’s job at Fulham appears fairly simple. Sort out the defence and everything else will fall into place. This line of thinking is actually not far from the truth as the Cottagers have one of the most talented squads in the Championship and one that is blessed with an attacking trio all of whom could play in the Premier League.
Aleksander Mitrovic is a natural goal scorer at this level and he netted in the defeat against Forest at the weekend. He is ably supported by the more creative trio of Anthony Knockaert, Ivan Cavaleiro and Tom Cairney. This is a side that will find scoring goals easy this season despite the defensive resilience of Sabri Lamouchi’s outfit on Saturday.
This will be something the Whites will have to get around and Scott Parker will be well aware of the challenges of breaking down sides that sit deep and look to hit them on the break like Nottingham Forest did with such devastating effect.
Defensively the Cottagers are not yet convincing, and this is likely to be their downfall. They look vulnerable when balls go into their box and there are plenty of sides in the Championship that have the ability to capitalise.
Cardiff still working it out
The Bluebirds have struggled to recapture that swash bucking style that saw them win promotion in 2017-18. It is always more difficult when dropping out of the Premier League but they do have the master of second-tier football in Neil Warnock.
The seasoned manager has tasted success at this level on a consistent basis and will be looking to his players to keep up with the early pace setters. After the 0-0 draw at Blackburn the manager admitted that his side had a few injury concerns that were limiting his depth but with Gavin Whyte and Junior Hoilett, they have players that can create chances.
"We've got four tough points from two games so I'm delighted,” Warnock said following the draw last weekend.
“You look at Leeds and Fulham and you look at a few lads who might pull away and we just have to hang on to their coat-tails."
Cardiff v Fulham betting tip
With Fulham defensively frail and Cardiff always a threat from set-pieces this game should have a couple of goals. The Cottagers will always create chances so backing both teams to score at odds of 4/6 has enough value to make it worth a punt here.
