Cardiff vs Reading prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-02-16 20:00.
Sabri Lamouchi is finally feeling the love at Cardiff, after picking up his first win as manager on Valentine’s Day. The Welsh side ended a run of five successive defeats in all competitions by beating Birmingham 2-0 on Tuesday, and the new boss is now urging his players “to believe in our quality” as they look to pull away from the Championship relegation zone.
Three of those losses had come since Lamouchi took charge last month, while a dozen winless outings in the league (D5, L7) had seen the Bluebirds fall perilously close to the bottom three. Their next step is to finally pick up a victory at home, as Cardiff have lost five of their last eight Championship outings (D3) in the Welsh capital, despite leading in four of those matches (D2, L2).
As if that’s not bad enough, visitors Reading arrive at the Cardiff City Stadium looking to inflict more misery, having only lost one of the last 14 H2H meetings between the two sides (W7, D6, L1). The Royals are also full of confidence after completing a dramatic comeback against Rotherham on Tuesday night, when Tyrese Fornah’s 90th-minute goal earned a 2-1 victory.
That ended a run of six league outings without a win for Reading (D3, L3), and means they are now closer to the play-off positions than the relegation zone. Manager Paul Ince, however, insists their ambition is “to stay in this league,” and accepts his side simply have to improve away from home, where they have lost eight of their last 11 Championship clashes (W1, D2), while conceding first in each of the last seven!
Key battle: Cardiff goalkeeper Ryan Allsop has only kept one clean sheet in five H2H clashes with Reading (W1, D1, L3). He may be trying to thwart Andy Carroll, who has scored twice while achieving a 100% record against the Bluebirds (W4). He’s also lost just once in his last eight goalscoring appearances (W5, D2), including against Rotherham on Tuesday.
Hot stat: Cardiff’s league matches this season are averaging 1.88 goals per game, the lowest total in the division.