Cardiff vs Southampton prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2024-04-19 14:00.
[p]Erol Bulut’s Cardiff City continued their hot and cold streak of alternating wins and losses (W2, L3) with a humbling 3-1 loss to lowly Millwall last weekend, a result which leaves them in the mid table abyss with nothing but pride to play for across the final three games. Bulut actually called out the mentality of his team in the wake of their latest defeat, saying he demands “maximum effort,” so time will tell if he can gee up his men with only a top-half finish now at stake.[/p]
[p]A home return isn’t exactly guaranteed to stimulate progress as the Bluebirds have followed up a three-game winning streak here with a pair of multi-goal margin defeats ahead of this latest outing. Another cause for concern is the fact that Cardiff have won only one of their league games at any venue against sides beginning this round within the top-seven (W1, D1, L11), which is coincidentally where promotion-chasing foes Southampton reside. [/p]
[p]The Saints made fine use of their game in hand in midweek as they recorded a thumping 3-0 victory over Preston, thus keeping their interest in the race for automatic promotion alive, especially as they still have to play Leeds and Leicester. They enter the weekend just four points adrift of the top-two and having played one fewer game than two of the three sides above them, making the race for the top-two look like a four-horse affair as we head into the climax of the campaign. [/p]
[p]Whilst the visitors travel here on the back of three straight wins, they are winless across their last two away games (D1, L1), and having conceded exactly three times in three of their last four league trips, tightening their defensive line could be critical to taking another victory. Even so, Southampton haven’t won any of their away league games at sides beginning the round between 8th-13th (D2, L3), conceding at least twice in all but one of those games. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Cardiff’s joint-top league scorer Perry Ng (G6) often scores when it counts, with five of his eight overall strikes since moving to the club proving decisive in victories. As for Southampton, Adam Armstrong picked up two of his 20-goal Championship haul within the opening 15 minutes of the 2-0 reverse H2H victory, with each of his last four strikes overall also coming before half-time.  [/p]
[p]Hot stat: Southampton have failed to win seven of their nine away league games against sides beginning this round in the top-13 (W2, D3, L4). [/p]