Coventry vs Cardiff prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2022-12-28 19:45.
Even playing against ten men for some time couldn’t prevent Coventry City losing 3-1 at Sheffield United on Monday. Despite that result seeing them slip out of the top ten, the Sky Blues are still only three points behind the play-off spots so will want to close the year in style, especially after losing their final league game in both 2020 and 2021!
Playing at home may work in their favour considering they’ve dropped only two points across their last five Championship home matches (W4, D1), with no team keeping more home league clean sheets than Coventry’s six this season. Any win here would be historic too, as Coventry won the reverse fixture against Cardiff City 1-0 and are in line to post a first league H2H double since the 1965/66 season.
Halting that sequence will be high on Cardiff’s agenda after losing by the same 1-0 scoreline in their last two away H2Hs. The Bluebirds are also coming off a goalless draw against Queens Park Rangers on Monday in what was their tenth failure to score this league season, something that needs fast improvement if they are to avoid any drop zone drama.
Six of those scoring failures have come on the road, a seemingly huge factor in Cardiff remaining one of the poorest travellers this Championship season (W3, D2, L6). When they do score it is often early however, as four of the last five away league matches in which Cardiff found the net saw them take a lead within the first ten minutes.
Key battle: Watch out for Boxing Day goalscorer Viktor Gyökeres, who scored Coventry’s winner in the reverse H2H as well as in this fixture last season. Cardiff goalkeeper Ryan Allsop will have to rise above his poor personal record against Coventry to keep Gyökeres quiet, having conceded 15 goals across nine previous matches.
Hot stat: Coventry have scored their first match goal after the 75th minute in a league-high three games this season.