MATCH THREAD “ CARDIFF CITY v FULHAM “ MATCH THREAD

CARDIFF CITY v FULHAM
Tuesday 26th December, 3pm
SkyBet Championship
Cardiff City Stadium


STARTING 11

Neil Etheridge
Lee Peltier
Sol Bamba
Bruno Manga
Joe Bennett
Craig Bryson
Loic Damour
Joe Ralls
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing
Junior Hoilett
Kenneth Zohore

SUBSTIUTES

Brian Murphy
Callum Paterson
Greg Halford
Liam Feeney
Anthony Pilkington
Lee Tomlin
Rhys Healey



Cardiff City are expecting our biggest home crowd of the season a 28,000 plus home crowd

Rem its pay on the day / No excuses

PAY ON THE DAY 3PM / BOXING DAY/ NO EXCUSES

Kenneth Zohore likely to start

Sean Morrison still injured.

Craig Bryson has recovered from ankle injury, but will Warnock risk him?

Aron Gunnarsson and Danny ward both out still recovering from injuries/operation.

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About Fulham

Fulham Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fulham, London, England. Founded in 1879, they play in the Championship, the second tier of English football, having been relegated from the Premier League in 2013–14 after 13 consecutive seasons in the top flight. They are the oldest-established football team from London to have played in the Premier League.

The club has spent 25 seasons in English football's top division, the majority of these in two spells during the 1960s and 2000s. The latter spell was associated with former chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed, after the club had climbed up from the fourth tier in the 1990s. Fulham have never won a major honour, although they have reached two major finals: in 1975, as a Second Division team, they contested the FA Cup Final for the only time in their history, losing 2–0 to West Ham United, and in 2010 they reached the final of the UEFA Europa League, which they contested with Atlético Madrid in Hamburg, losing 2–1 after extra time.

The club has produced many English greats, including Johnny Haynes, George Cohen, Bobby Robson, Rodney Marsh and Alan Mullery. They play at Craven Cottage, a ground on the banks of the River Thames in Fulham which has been their home since 1896. Fulham's training ground is located near Motspur Park, where the club's Academy is also situated.

Team News - Predicted Line-Ups

Cardiff City: Etheridge, Peltier, Manga, Bamba, Bennett, Halford, Damour, Ralls, Mendez-Laing, Hoilett, Bogle

Fulham: Bettinelli, Fredericks, Kalas, Ream, Sessegnon, Cairney, McDonald, Norwood, Ojo, Johansen, Fonte

Previous Meeting

Cardiff City went to Fulham way back on September 9th, and came away with a draw. At the time, we were top of the league but went 1-0 down in the 75th minute after Ryan Sessegnon scored for Fulham.

However, an 83rd minute Danny Ward header saw us claim a draw.

Form - Last Three Games

Bolton Wanderers 2-0 Cardiff City
Cardiff City 1-0 Hull City
Reading 2-2 Cardiff City

Fulham 2-1 Barnsley
Sunderland 1-0 Fulham
Fulham 1-0 Birmingham City

Match Odds

Cardiff City - 21/20
Fulham - 13/5
Draw - 23/10

Predictions

Post your predictions below



Don't forget to vote for your Man of the Match after the game. That poll will be posted on this forum at full time

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Sadly cant see us getting much from this game. Fulham are a very good footballing team. We will struggle to have much of the ball.
Probably a 1-0 loss. I would take a draw now

I wouldn't bother fielding any of our fit strikers. They don't do anything.

A City Boxing Day Win with a near 30,000 Crowd

So Rem still 2nd in the Championship/Undefeated at home and so lets see 30,000 on Boxing Day, its pay on the day

Fulham will travel more than any other team in the league over the Christmas period.

Aron Gunnarsson and Danny ward both out still recovering from injuries/operation.

Any news on Morrison ??
It's all fine quiet on his injury.

Also Merry Christmas to all Bluebirds everywhere : thumbup:

Any news on Morrison ??
It's all fine quiet on his injury.

Also Merry Christmas to all Bluebirds everywhere : thumbup:

It wouldn't surprise me to see him and Bryson back in the team.

City 1-0 hard fought win, if we are at it then can see us scoring more in a bigger win!!!

This game has 1-1 written all over it.

Did Zahore appear yesterday?

Would like him to come on for 25 minutes

1-0 City

Cardiff v Fulham - Fascinating Facts

Ahead of the difficult looking trip to take on Cardiff, down in South Wales, we`ve dug deep to come up with some fascinating facts for you to mull over:

• Cardiff enter this fixture on a poor run of form, their last 6 matches in all competitions have seen the Welsh side lose 2 and draw 4.

• Fulham travel to the Cardiff City Stadium having never won a league fixture there. The 4 fixtures they`ve played have seen the Cottagers lose 2 and draw 2.

• Ryan Sessegnon, the subject of much transfer speculation this week, has a good record against Cardiff City, in the last 3 fixtures against Cardiff, Sessegnon has scored in each game.

• Boxing Day doesn`t normally produce good results for Cardiff City, the last 17 league games they`ve played on the aforementioned day have resulted in 2 wins, 8 draws and 7 losses.

Craig Bryson has recovered from ankle injury, but will Warnock risk him?

Cardiff City are expecting our biggest home crowd of the season a 28,000 plus home crowd

Rem its pay on the day / No excuses

City 2 - 0 Fulham

Fulham up next for them / Welsh Club Cardiff City


Tomorrow afternoon Fulham will travel to Cardiff in their fifth straight Boxing Day away fixture.

Thanks to Chelsea’s commitments at home against Brighton, the Fulham faithful will make the journey to south Wales in search of a result that could lift them closer to the coveted play-off places.

Fulham’s Boxing Day opponents have enjoyed a strong start to the season, currently sitting 15 points and nine places ahead of the Cottagers. The Bluebirds also have established a fortress at the Cardiff City Stadium; they are yet to lose a home match all season.

Led by experienced Championship manager Neil Warnock, Cardiff’s defence is the second best in the division. The backline, marshalled by former Fulham goalkeeper Neil Etheridge, has conceded just 18 goals in 23 matches. In addition, their attack is laden with pace, featuring the likes of Kenneth Zohore, Nathan Mendez-Laing, and top-scorer Junior Hoilett.

Yet Fulham can take heart from Cardiff’s surprising slip-up against Bolton at the weekend. Cardiff were frustrated by Bolton’s physical style of play and conceded two goals in the closing 15 minutes for their fourth league defeat of the year.

Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Barnsley will give the Whites confidence heading into this difficult assignment, and although recent performances may not have set the world on fire, Fulham have nevertheless won four out of their last six. Form like this carried Slavisa Jokanovic’s side into to the play-offs last season, and massive away performances are needed for the Whites to replicate that sensational second-half surge.

Jokanovic seemed to have found an effective front three in the weekend win over the Tykes, with Sheyi Ojo, Aboubakar Kamara and Floyd Ayite providing both goals and a constant threat all match. However, many supporters will be clamoring for teenage sensation Ryan Sessegnon to receive the nod at left wing, especially considering his thrilling late November performance.

The last time the Cottagers played the league’s second-best team away, Sessegnon truly wrote his name into the headlines with a remarkable hat trick against Sheffield United. Sessegnon tore the previously unstoppable Blades apart, scoring three superb goals in a thrilling a 5-4 win. Surely Slavisa will replicate that winning formula and play the young talent in his most-favoured position?

And with Neeskens Kebano and Lucas Piazon back in contention, Jokanovic will have even more attacking options to choose from on Tuesday.

Six points and five places off the play-offs, Fulham can ill afford to drop many more points at this stage of the season. Last Boxing Day brought a comprehensive 2-0 away win over Ipswich, yet both goalscorers that day (Chris Martin and Ragnar Sigurdsson) are no longer with the club. That result left the Whites just one point off sixth position, revealing the gap in performance between 2016/17 and this season.

If Fulham can unsettle the Bluebirds with a strong midfield showing from Stefan Johansen, Kevin McDonald, and Tom Cairney, while punishing Cardiff with the incisiveness of their counter attacks, the festive fixture might just mark a vital three points come May.

MY FULHAM XI (4-3-3): Bettinelli; Odoi, Kalas, Ream, Fredericks; McDonald, Johansen, Cairney; Sessegnon, Kamara, Ojo

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Possible Cardiff City absentees v Fulham FC

Sean Morrison - groin injury

Danny Ward - knee injury

Craig Bryson - Achilles injury

Aron Gunnarsson - ankle injury

Frederic Gounongbe - injury

Jazz Richards - ankle injury

Kadeem Harris - ankle injury

Lee Camp - groin injury

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Ticket office were putting out we had sold 23,500, but up until Xmas Eve City had Only sold 19,200

Fulham are yet to beat Cardiff at the Cardiff City Stadium in a league match (D2 L2) - their last away win came at Ninian Park in November 1996 under Micky Adams.

Ryan Sessegnon has scored in all three of his games against Cardiff in all competitions, scoring once in each match.

The Bluebirds have won just twice in their last 17 league games on Boxing Day, although both wins came at home (D8 L7).

according to SSN both Gunnarsson and Bryson are fit. I find that hard to believe as isn't Gunnarsson supposed to be out for 6 months?

according to SSN both Gunnarsson and Bryson are fit. I find that hard to believe as isn't Gunnarsson supposed to be out for 6 months?

Warnocks own words Gunnarsson op, so will be end of Jan.

Bryson has recovered but not fit yet.

according to SSN both Gunnarsson and Bryson are fit. I find that hard to believe as isn't Gunnarsson supposed to be out for 6 months?

Warnocks own words Gunnarsson op, so will be end of Jan.

Bryson has recovered but not fit yet.

Not sure where they get their info from Annis but I thought this was wrong. Pulis to Boro just confirmed...

Fulham are probably the best ball playing team in the league, going to be a tough game 1-0 city hopefully

1-0 down

1-0 down

1-0 down

Game on now!

Fulham so far the better team

First shot on target

27 minutes in and Cardiff get their first shot on target.

Joe Ralls cuts inside from the left and forces Bettinelli into a routine save.

Nothing to write home about really.

Embarrassing free-kick

A decent ball in nearly sees Sol Bamba get a header on goal, before Floyd Ayite gets the first booking of the day for puling down Mendez-Laing.

From the free-kick, Mendez-Laing and Bennett both line up to take it - and nearly run into each other!

Expect to see that on a football bloopers DVD next Christmas!

Pretty much sums up their day.