Match Day Thread Cardiff City v Swansea City

Cardiff City v Swansea City

Competition - Sky Bet Championship
Venue - The Cardiff City Stadium
Date - Saturday, 12 December 2020
Kick Off - 12.30pm

Following their hard fought 0-0 draw against fellow promotion contenders Bournemouth, next up for Steve Cooper’s Swansea squad is the South Wales derby clash away at the Cardiff City Stadium, aka Legoland.

On Tuesday, the Swans went into the game with the best defensive record in the Championship, but manager Steve Cooper had to deal with a mini-crisis as both Ryan Bennett and Marc Guehi were ruled out with injury.

It meant the home boss gave Joel Latibeaudiere his first start and has young Wales international Ben Cabango to police the dangerous Dominic Solanke.

The Swans took their time to build into the game and seemed happy to sit back and rely on a defensive system that had already delivered eight clean sheets in 16 games, whereas the Cherries pressed hard from the start and kept possession for the opening two-and-a-half minutes of the match.

Their early pressure saw Lewis Cook set-up Stanislas for the first shot of the night.

The Swans were better on the break in the second half and managed to release Yan Dhanda down the right. He skipped past Diego Rico and drove into the box, but his fierce shot hit the side-netting.

Bournemouth thought they should have had a penalty when Brooks went down after cutting inside Latibeaudiere in the 71st minute, but the referee waved play on after taking a long, hard look.

As a result of the draw, Bournemouth remained in 2nd and the Swans moved up to 4th in the Championship.

The same evening, Cardiff City captain Sean Morrison had an evening of lows and highs as his side came from behind to win away against Stoke City.

Morrison scored an own goal to hand the hosts a first-half lead, turning a Tyrese Campbell cross into his own net from close range.

The Bluebirds centre-back then conceded a penalty after the break, but Stoke substitute Sam Vokes' effort was saved by Alex Smithies.

Robert Glatzel then came off the bench to equalise for Cardiff before Morrison sealed his redemption by heading in the winning goal from a corner.

A fourth successive win lifts Cardiff - the current form side in the Championship - up to ninth in the table, two points behind Stoke who drop to sixth.

The Swans have played the Bluebirds on 68 occasions, winning 28, losing 22 and drawing 18.

In the corresponding fixture last season, the teams finished level in a 0-0 draw in front of 28,529 fans.

My favourite derby in recent years was:

Turning to Saturday, the Covid restrictions give Cardiff a huge advantage as they are used to playing in front of an empty stadium ...

Seriously, Cardiff are currently on a roll with 12 pts out of a possible 12 pts from their last 4 matches, meaning that Neil Harris has gone from zero to hero in short order.

Victory on Saturday could see him being awarded the Freedom of the City , and they will fancy their chances against a Swansea side likely to be without 2 of their regular centre backs in Guehi and Bennett.

That said, the Swans have been largely excellent on the road this season & away matches don’t come any bigger than this. I expect that Cooper will set them up defensively, aiming to hit Cardiff on the break.

Personally, I ‘hate’ matches against the Bluebirds, they are either gigantic highs (like the 3-0 win above) or huge lows if we lose.

That said, I’m going for a 1-1 draw. Ayew to score for the Swans with Moore equalising for Cardiff.

 

2 - 1 to us

 

Thanks. ...... another great introduction to the game.

 

0-1

 

No fans but I hear the police are taking no chances and have got 500 cops on standby in case the warring factions decide to turn up and have a mass punch up outside.

 

Thanks Taff...Rina there won’t be many police there because they are doing road blocks and house searches for Dripford and co.
Clueless reckons we are a good football side and they are a hoof ball team so with the pitch probably in better shape than ours I will go for a two nil win to us....Ayew and Cullen to score...

 

To me, there are echoes of how we played under Sousa. Keep tight at the back, and try and ‘nick’ a goal ....

 

Well played Sir

A draw wouldn't be the worst result but let's build some excitement... 2 - 3 (HT 2 - 0)

Injury time winner

 

Sadly, my gut feeling is that Cardiff will win 1-0. A Kiefer Moore header.

 

Ok prediction time, no pressure tight game as they always are so I’m in my optimistic mood so Swans win 2-1

 

He misses moore than he scores so it's still 0_1

 

Their form is very good, will be tough. I am crossing everything that can be crossed.

 

Thanks Taff I too hate these games and will be happy with a 1-1 to end their winning streak but wouldn't an 89th minute Ayew winner in a scrappy 0-1 game be a great Christmas present.

 

Oh yes!!

Edit.

Can it be in the 93 min? I don’t think I could do the injury time.

 

1-1

 

Thanks again for the foreword Taff.

SCU 1-2 SWA

#COYJBs

 

Thought you were playing us not Scunthorpe
I think everyone is agreed that it's going to be another tight affair.
Hope everyone is keeping well

 

Agreed. Nothing in this one Clingo (apart from the massive gap in the table )

 

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/s...cVM3md8z7MMpYi2hGTEqjh64AxfUAZlAizJ96Au7mWZsg

 

Well that's put the kiss of death on it