Cardiff vs Watford prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2022-11-01 19:45.
Just hours after they were lambasted by club legend Danny Gabbidon as lacking “direction” or “a proper manager”, caretaker boss Mark Hudson ended Cardiff City’s longest losing streak of this Championship season with a 1-0 home win against Rotherham. A fascinating four-game period before the World Cup break features three home games for Cardiff, including against two genuine top-six contenders, which gives Hudson the opportunity to secure another scalp having already defeated promotion-chasing Blackburn.
To their credit, Cardiff have often performed on home turf and cannot be discounted against Watford, particularly after showing against Rotherham what Hudson described as “unbelievable character when you’ve had a tough week”. All four of their home wins this Championship season have been against clubs placed above them in the standings (D2, L1), whilst their season home league record of W1, D2, L1 as pre-match outsiders illustrates their ability to rise to the occasion in familiar surroundings.
Watford’s rise to the Premier League in 2020/21 came in spite of being the Championship’s eighth-best away side (W8, D8, L7). Similar issues are plaguing the Hornets this time around, as they languish outside of the play-offs partly in thanks to another underwhelming travelling record, including failing to win their first four Championship away games as favourites (D3, L1).
A crucial breakthrough came in a 1-0 away win against Wigan at the weekend, which remarkably secured Watford back-to-back victories for the first time this Championship season. That was the most pleasing aspect for Watford’s Dan Gosling, who insisted his side “have to kick on and go again” and he would be delighted if a trend that has seen five of the last six H2Hs won by the visiting side on the day were to continue.
Players to watch: Cardiff may invest more game time in young Jaden Philogene-Bidace, who has been their only goalscorer in two of their four 1-0 Championship home wins this season. Watford would perhaps benefit from JoĂŁo Pedro making his presence felt a little earlier considering his four 2022/23 Championship goals have all arrived after half-time.
Hot stat: Cardiff have failed to score before half-time in ten of their last 11 Championship matches.