📏 Form Guide

Cardiff City

LLWDDW ⚖

Cardiff City, following on from their previous result, will be hoping for more of the same after the 0-1 FA Cup triumph vs Sheffield United.

In that match, Cardiff City had 39% possession and 10 shots at goal with 4 of them on target. The scorer for Cardiff City was Cian Ashford (19'). Sheffield United got 15 attempts at goal with 7 on target.

It has been seldom in recent games where Cardiff City have kept a clean sheet. It will be a concern for them that Cardiff City have failed to prevent opponents from scoring in 5 of their previous 6 matches, giving up 8 goals along the way. That kind of trend might not be sustained here, though.

Taking a look at their past results, Cardiff City:

• have not lost a league tie with Watford in their last 4 games.
• are without a win at home for the past 5 league matches. Fans are getting restless.

Watford

LWLLLL 📉

After a losing effort in their last game against Fulham in FA Cup competition, Watford and their travelling supporters will be hoping that they can get a better result in this one.

In that match, Watford managed 28% possession and 5 shots at goal with 2 of them on target. The scorer for Watford was Rocco Vata (33'). At the other end, Fulham got 27 attempts on goal with 8 of them on target. Rodrigo Muniz (26'), Raúl Jiménez (49'), Joachim Andersen (65') and Timothy Castagne (85') scored for Fulham.

Looking at their form, and Watford have been scored against in 6 of their last 6 matches, seeing their opponents hit 14 goals overall. In defence, Watford have not been doing too well.

Their prior results show that Watford:

• have not been beaten by Cardiff City when they have played them away from home in the previous 5 league games. A very good record, indeed.
• have not won away from home in their last 5 league matches.

↔️ Head to head

Inspecting their prior head to head meetings dating back to 13/03/2021 shows that Cardiff City have won 3 of them and Watford 2, with the tally of drawn results standing at 1.

A sum of 16 goals were scored between the two sides in this period, with 9 of them for The Bluebirds and 7 coming from The Hornets. That’s an average goals per game figure of 2.67.

The last league match featuring the two was Championship match day 24 on 29/12/2024 which ended up with the score at Watford 1-2 Cardiff City.

That day, Watford managed 72% possession and 9 attempts on goal with 1 on target. Their only player on the scoresheet was Giorgi Chakvetadze (38').

At the other end, Cardiff City got 9 attempts on goal with 3 on target. Callum Robinson (1', 42') was the scorer.

The referee was Sam Allison.

🗞️ Team News: Cardiff City

Aaron Ramsey (Hamstring injury) and Roko Simic (unknown injury) will not be able to play for Cardiff City manager Omer Riza.

In all likelihood, The Bluebirds look set to kick off with a 3-4-2-1 formation, beginning the first half with Conor Hazard, Kornél Szűcs, Julio Pleguezuelo, Brendan Galloway, Matthew Sorinola, Darko Gyabi, Adam Randell, Bali Mumba, Morgan Whittaker, Michael Obafemi and Rami Al Hajj.

ℹ️ Team News: Watford

Watford boss Tom Cleverley has to choose from a squad that has some fitness concerns. Tom Dele-Bashiru (Knee injury) and Daniel Bachmann (unknown injury) miss out here.

We believe The Hornets seem likely to elect for a 4-2-3-1 formation, starting Jamie Cumming, Peter Kioso, Sam Long, Ciaron Brown, Greg Leigh, Will Vaulks, Joshua McEachran, Matt Phillips, Ruben Rodrigues, Louie Sibley and Dane Scarlett.

✨ Prediction

We’re of the view that Watford may well find it hard to find the net against this Cardiff City outfit who we think should get a goal themselves and run out victorious.

We’re therefore tipping a very competitive game with a 1-0 winning score for Cardiff City when the referee blows for full-time.

Will be interesting to see how this one goes.

Our expert partners are tipping under 3.5 goals for this match. Check out their VIP predictions here.

Victor Martins, 19:06 14/01/2025