' MATCH THREAD: CARDIFF CITY V MK DONS ' MATCH THREAD '

MK Dons

Alex Revell will not make his debut due to an agreement between new club MK Dons and Cardiff City.

While Jay Emmanuel-Thomas is expected to start. Former Cardiff forward Nicky Maynard could start while Josh Murphy, who has scored twice against Cardiff this season, is also likely to start. Matthew Upson, Carl Baker and Ben Reeves all missed the Dons last fixture with Chelsea and are likely to miss out this week. MK Dons have recently recalled full-back George Baldock from his loan at Oxford United and the 22-year-old could start as soon as this weekend.

MK Dons Want to make it three wins in a row v Cardiff City

Thursday 4th February 2016


Dons will have their work cut out for them though. They head to the Cardiff City Stadium coming off two big and somewhat embarrassing defeats against Bolton and Chelsea

They say things come in threes and it’s certainly something Karl Robinson will be hoping for as MK Dons and Cardiff City lock horns for a third time on Saturday.

On both previous occasions this season, Dons have sent Russell Slade’s side back to Wales with nothing to show for their efforts. And in both cases, they’ve had Josh Murphy to thank for that.


Making his Dons debut back in August, Murphy delivered the killer blow to Cardiff in the second half of extra time to knock them out of the League Cup.


And when the league game looked destined for a draw, Murphy rattled home a 90th minute winner to secure all three points for Robinson’s side on Boxing Day.

“Someone told me ‘you never beat a team three times in one season’ so I’m not looking forward to it now!” said the manager earlier this week. “We’re looking forward to that challenge. The players they’ve brought in are so talented.

“They’ll be disappointed by the last two results (against Dons). We have to make sure we go there and put a performance in.”


Dons will have their work cut out for them though. They head to the Cardiff City Stadium coming off two big and somewhat embarrassing defeats against Bolton and Chelsea. And to add to the challenge, Cardiff have lost just once at home this season when Hull beat them 2-0 back in September.

While Dons continue flirt dangerously with the Championship relegation zone, Cardiff on the other hand sit ninth, four points outside the playoff spots, losing one of their last five league games.


Having missed out against Reading and Bolton with a hamstring injury, Dons striker Nicky Maynard got 15 minutes under his belt in the defeat against Chelsea last Sunday, but he has competition for the spot up front.

While new boy Alex Revell is ineligible to play against the club he left on Monday, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas is in contention to make his first start for the club.

The Football League have now announced the Match Day officials that will take charge of the game against MK Dons this weekend.

Cardiff City host MK Dons on Saturday February 6 for the game at the Cardiff City Stadium and the match carries a 3pm kick off.

Referee: Kevin Johnson
Linesmen: Chris Powell and Mark Russell
Fourth Official: Rob Lewis

Match Day referee Johnson is yet to officiate a Cardiff game this season.

He has however already taken in nineteen other matches so far in 2015-16 and in those games, across all competitions and football divisions, he has handed out a total of 61 yellow cards and zero red cards.

He was most card happy in the match between Port Vale and Oldham on September 29 with a total of six yellows being shown. He also showed six in the game between Portsmouth and Accrington in December.

Let`s hope it`s not another repeat and more of our players edge closer to automatic bans.

They've beaten us twice this season and they won't do it three times. For some reason (madness probably) I'm going for 4-1 City. We are long overdue to give someone a thumping. This will probably bite me on the arse.

Tom Lawrence will make his Cardiff debut at home to MK Dons.

The Wales striker has joined from Leicester for the rest of the season after spending five months on loan at Cardiff's Sky Bet Championship rivals Blackburn.

Denmark Under-21 striker Kenneth Zohore, another transfer deadline day loan signing from Bluebirds owner Vincent Tan's Belgian club KV Kortrijk, is set to start his Cardiff career on the bench.

Defender Lee Peltier is available after serving his one-match ban in last weekend's 3-2 victory at Huddersfield.

New signing Alex Revell will have to wait for his Dons debut.

Revell swapped Cardiff for Milton Keynes this week on a free transfer but part of the deal was that he would not feature against his old club.
Another deadline-day arrival Jay Emmanuel-Thomas is in contention to make his first appearance after joining on loan from QPR. He will provide competition for the fit-again Nicky Maynard, who got 15 minutes under his belt in the FA Cup defeat against Chelsea on Sunday.

Carl Baker (ankle), Ben Reeves (thigh) and Matt Upson are continuing their recoveries from injury and remain unavailable to Dons boss Karl Robinson.

' Emmanuel-Thomas '

Emmanuel-Thomas’ time in the Welsh capital was brief and seems an eternity ago now to many. He was brought in on loan from then-club Arsenal by former Bluebirds’ boss Dave Jones. Over 14 appearances for the Bluebirds he found the net twice and his louche, laid-back style seemed to infuriate Cardiff fans as much as it entertained.

His last ever appearance for the Bluebirds turned out to be manager Jones’ last in charge too as Cardiff crashed out of the play-off semi-finals at the hands of Reading.

Emmanuel-Thomas eventually departed the Gunners for Ipswich and after a spell at Bristol City he shipped up at QPR and now on loan with the Dons. He will be itching to make his Dons’ debut this weekend against his former club.

It would be fair to say Maynard and Emmanuel-Thomas have plenty to prove to Cardiff City supporters underwhelmed by their time at the club. The two front-men will be hoping to set that straight then by making it an uncomfortable afternoon for the home crowd at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Cardiff City Vs MK Dons: Match Preview

By Jamie Kemble

5th Feb 2016

Date and Time: Saturday 6th February

Venue: Cardiff City Stadium

Referee: Kevin Johnson

Cardiff look to continue their good form against a struggling MK Dons outfit who continue to flirt with relegation in their first season in the Sky Bet Championship. The Bluebirds have taken seven points from their last nine and are currently four points outside the top six.


Russell Slade’s men look to continue their re-established play-off push with a win against MK Dons on Saturday. Cardiff added to their ranks on deadline day, signing Leicester City and Wales wide-man/forward Tom Lawrence and former Odense Boldklub striker Kenneth Zohore, both are expected to be in the matchday squad on Saturday.

Cardiff won in their last outing, beating Huddersfield Town 3-2 away from home, making it two consecutive away wins. The fixture is the second of three very winnable fixtures before Cardiff host tricky opposition Brighton and then face even trickier opposition when they travel to title-chasing Middlesbrough.

MK Dons added to their squad on deadline day also, signing Cardiff City forward Alex Revell and former Cardiff City loanee Jay Emmanuel-Thomas on loan from QPR. Emmanuel-Thomas is likely to make his début but Revell won’t because of an agreement between Cardiff and MK Dons barring him from playing this weekend.



The Dons are currently twentieth in the Sky Bet Championship, just one point above the dreaded relegation zone. Karl Robinson’s men have lost three of their last five conceding thirteen goals but granted one of the fixtures was against current Premier League champions Chelsea.

In their last league outing, the Dons lost 3-1 away to Championship bottom-club Bolton Wanderers who face an uphill battle to stay in the league. Robinson’s men face a very tricky next few fixtures as they face Cardiff, Derby and Middlesbrough before hosting fellow Championship strugglers Bristol City.

Josh Murphy, on loan from Norwich City, tops MK Dons scoring charts with six goals. Former Cardiff player Nicky Maynard has four goals so far for the Dons and is expected to face his former club on Saturday.

Cardiff have already lost to MK Dons twice this season with both score-lines at Stadium:MK finishing 2-1 and Josh Murphy scoring the winner on both occasions, once in the League Cup in extra time and then late-on in the league fixture. The meeting is only the fifth competitive meeting between the two teams.

CARDIFF 9th
Cardiff have won 45%, drawn 40% and lost 15% of their last 20 home games.

In their last 20 home games against teams positioned in the bottom half of the table, Cardiff have won 12, drawn 6 and lost 2 of these matches.

In their last 20 home games against teams positioned below them in the table, Cardiff have won 11, drawn 8 and lost 1 of these matches.


MK DONS 20th
MK Dons have won 25%, drawn 30% and lost 45% of their last 20 away games.

In their last 20 away games against teams positioned in the top half of the table, MK Dons have won 7, drawn 2 and lost 11 of these matches.

In their last 20 away games against teams positioned above them in the table, MK Dons have won 2, drawn 3 and lost 15 of these matches

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Cardiff City 3-1 MK Dons

Craig Noone is ruled out as he has bruising on his chest.

Idriss Saadi just not read yet after his injury, needs more time even though he had a run out with the DVP team.

Noone will be out unfortunately. We’ve looked at it. Bruising to his chest. It’s one of those, if he can put up with discomfort in a week he can come back to training.

Peltier is back after suspension.


Saadi is making progress. We have game here on Monday which should put him right [Millwall at training ground]. Dons too early.

The Top 6 tonight

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TEAM NEWS

BBC

Wales striker Tom Lawrence makes his Cardiff debut after joining on loan from Leicester for the season.

Denmark Under-21 striker Kenneth Zohore, another recent loan signing, is on the bench and defender Lee Peltier is back from his one-match ban.

MK Dons' new signing Alex Revell's contract stipulates he cannot play against former club Cardiff so he must wait to make his debut.

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas will vie with fit-again Nicky Maynard for a forward spot.

Russell Slade excited by Lawrence signing

He’s a very good fit here in every sense. Paul Trollope has worked a little bit with him at Wales. Martyn Margetson has seen him a lot. I did seek their opinion. I’ve always liked Tom anyway and I like a number ten in my team. First thing I did was get Joe Mason back from Bolton. I saw Tom Lawrence as the ideal replacement. Blackburn were keen to keep him, I did a bit of work to try to hijack him out of there and it came off.

Russell Slade excited by Lawrence signing

He’s a very good fit here in every sense. Paul Trollope has worked a little bit with him at Wales. Martyn Margetson has seen him a lot. I did seek their opinion. I’ve always liked Tom anyway and I like a number ten in my team. First thing I did was get Joe Mason back from Bolton. I saw Tom Lawrence as the ideal replacement. Blackburn were keen to keep him, I did a bit of work to try to hijack him out of there and it came off.

Fair play to Slade here.Nailed his colours to the mast on Lawrence and seems excited by this kid.Maybe a run at 10 is all he needs for goals because reading between the lines I think we'll be seeing quite alot of him.

Come on City

CARDIFF CITY TEAM: Marshall, Fabio, Malone, Connolly, Manga, Ameobi, O'Keefe, Ralls, Whittingham, Lawrence & Pilkington.

Subs : Moore, Peltier, Dikgacoi, Gunnarsson, Macheda, Immers, Zohore.

CARDIFF CITY TEAM: Marshall, Fabio, Malone, Connolly, Manga, Ameobi, O'Keefe, Ralls, Whittingham, Lawrence & Pilkington.

Subs : Moore, Peltier, Dikgacoi, Gunnarsson, Macheda, Immers, Zohore.

Terrible conditions for both teams to play in

Steve Tucker on that first half:

Not a great first-half to be honest. Poor atmosphere here, wet pitch which is cutting up. Cardiff been lethargic for most of it. Dons looked like they have wanted it a bit more. But a clutch of late chances at least give some hope for the second-half, both for Slade and us watching.

A massive 3 points we have to dig deep and pinch them!!

Get Zohore on.

Time to go for it!