Cardiff City will travel to Preston North End for the EFL Championship fixture on Saturday. The home side lost their previous fixture before the international break, while the away side enjoyed a victory. Can the Lilywhites bounce back against Cardiff?
Preston North End will come into the game after a 0-3 defeat against Nottingham Forest. They are placed 16th in the Championship with five wins, six draws and six losses in 17 matches. The Lilywhites will be looking forward to continuing their positive form as they have secured three wins from their previous four matches. They displayed brilliant performance against table leaders Bournemouth previously. They are also unbeaten at home this season. The injury list for the Lilywhites remains to prolong with Patrick Bauer, Ched Evans, Joshua Murphy, Isaiah Brown, Matthew Olosunde, and Ched Evans all being unavailable due to injury.
Preston were dominated in their previous game against Forest. They also failed to take enough shots on target. Though they created more positional attacks and pressed more effectively, they were unable to create enough chances.
In terms of successful dribbles and successful dribbles per 90, Preston are placed at the bottom, which indicates that they have failed to win one-on-one battles and have been unsuccessful in getting into threatening positions.
Cardiff City are currently struggling in the league. They are placed at the 20th spot in the league and remain close to the bottom. So far, they have four wins, three draws and 10 losses in 17 games. In their previous game, they managed to secure a win as Moore scored in the 92nd minute to secure three points for his side against Huddersfield Town. They will be looking to improve under the newly appointed Morison. Thomas Sang, Isaac Vassell and James Collins all have been ruled out due to injury.
In their previous game against Huddersfield Town, Cardiff were impressive. They attempted 15 shots with an accuracy rate of 33.33% and an xG rate of 1.24. Moore’s double ensured their victory in the final moments.
In terms of xG, Cardiff are placed 12th in the Championship while their average xG per match also puts them in the 12th spot.
Predicted Eleven
Preston North End (3-4-1-2): Daniel Iversen; Jordan Storey, Andrew Hughes, Greg Cunningham; Josh Earl, Benjamin Whiteman, Ryan Ledson, Sepp van den Berg; Daniel Johnson; Emil Riis Jakobsen, Scott Sinclair.
Cardiff City (3-4-2-1): Alex Smithies; Mark McGuinness, Aden Flint, Curtis Nelson; Ryan Giles, Will Vaulks, Marlon Pack, Perry Ng; Rubin Colwill, Mark Harris; Kieffer Moore.
Prediction
This will be a close game, however, Preston is likely to secure victory.
