by Cardiff City v Stoke City Live: Team news and latest updates
Cardiff City host Stoke in the Championship as Erol Bulut’s side look to kick-start their season after a difficult run.
The Bluebirds were improved in midweek against Blackburn Rovers but failed to score in a 0-0 draw. Cardiff have won just one game in their last eight, losing six of them, and have not won at home since December 9. They have also failed to score a goal at home since Boxing Day.
They welcome a Stoke side who are in even worse form and sit five places below them in 19th in the Championship table. Sign up to our Cardiff City daily newsletter here.
Yakou Meite will be back for after missing the last two games with a calf injury. Republic of Ireland duo Callum O’Dowda and Callum Robinson are also training but are not yet ready to feature, however Bulut hopes the former can get some action next week and leading into the international break, which will be a big boost for the Bluebirds.
Jak Alnwick needs one more week before he is fully fit and ready to play again, while Perry Ng and Joe Ralls are both in contention to start at home today.
Team news is expected around 2pm, with full live match updates below from 3pm.
Cardiff City: Horvath; Ng, Goutas, Phillips; Wilson-Esbrand, Ralls (c), Siopis, R.Colwill, Grant; Bowler, Etete
Subs: Turner, Romeo, Collins, Wintle, J.Colwil, Turnbull, Meite, Ashford, Diedhou
Stoke City: Iversen; Thompson, Rose, Wilmot, Manhoef; Baker, Burger, Cundle; Bae, Ennis, Tchamadeu
Subs: Bonham, Gooch, Pearson, Vidigal, Campbell, Hoever, Leris, Laurent, Lowe
Tom Coleman
Warm-ups underway
Both teams going through their pre-match routines ahead of kick-off here.
It’s a little chilly at the Cardiff City Stadium, despite the pleasant wash of sunshine.
Tom Coleman
Match stats
- Five of the last six meetings between Cardiff and Stoke have ended as a draw – the other was a 2-1 win for the Bluebirds in March 2022.
- Stoke City are winless in their last five away league games against Cardiff City (D3 L2) since a 1-0 win in August 2007.
- Stoke City didn’t lose any of their last five league games under Steven Schumacher (W2 D3) but have since lost five of their last six matches (W1).
- Since netting four goals in a 4-1 league win over Rotherham United in their opening match of this season’s Championship, Stoke have averaged just 0.8 goals in their 32 league games since (26 in 32 games), scoring more than once in just one of their last 15 games.
Tom Coleman
Three changes
Captain Joe Ralls returns to the starting line-up for today’s clash. He comes in for Ryan Wintle, who drops to the bench today.
Meanwhile, Perry Ng and Josh Wilson-Esbrand are preferred to Mahlon Romeo and Jamilu Collins, both of whom are also among the substitutes today.
Stoke have gone with six changes for this clash, with Daniel Iversen returning in goal.
Tchamadeu, Burger, Manhoef, Junho and Ennis are also drafted in.
Tom Coleman
TEAM NEWS – Stoke City
And here’s how the visitors line up…
In the red corner pic.twitter.com/oq4Cp01YcK
— Stoke City FC (@stokecity) February 24, 2024
KEY EVENT
TEAM NEWS – Cardiff City
Here’s how Cardiff line up this afternoon.
Cardiff City: Horvath; Ng, Goutas, Phillips; Wilson-Esbrand, Ralls (c), Siopis, R.Colwill, Grant; Bowler, Etete
Subs: Turner, Romeo, Collins, Wintle, J.Colwil, Turnbull, Meite, Ashford, Diedhou
Tom Coleman
Team news in 15
We’ll have today’s teams in around 15 minutes or so.
Tom Coleman
Blackburn ‘restored a lot of confidence’
Some thoughts from Erol Bulut in today’s programme notes.
“Following a tough run of results, we put in a good performance here on Tuesday evening against Blackburn that restored a lot of confidence in the squad. Defensively we were solid, played with real commitment and on another day would have taken all three points as opposed to one. We created some good chances and just have to be a bit more clinical when we find ourselves in those positions this afternoon.
“When I first came to Cardiff last summer, I did so because I believe we could do some great things together. I still believe we can; at times it’s about coming through difficult spells united, learning from them and using them to good effect as you move forward. We are building and we will do so together, on and off the field.”
Tom Coleman
Horvath’s bullish ahead of Stoke clash
Double promotion-winner Ethan Horvath believes the club is in a similar position to Luton Town the season before they got promoted and sees no reason why they cannot build on this campaign in the summer and launch for the top six next year.
Horvath has won back-to-back promotions out of the Championship with Nottingham Forest and Luton Town. It looks highly unlikely he will make that three in a row, but he hopes that Cardiff have the same hallmarks as his time with the Hatters, where they made marginal gains the season before they eventually achieved an unlikely promotion to the Premier League.
“When I first went to Luton, for myself, thoughts about promotion were not there, it was about minutes,” he said. “What happened happened and I’m happy that they’re in the Premier League.
“Coming here, I don’t see why [we can’t achieve promotion], I see a lot of quality in the players. There’s a project in place so hopefully we can have a very strong finish to the season and let’s see what happens in the summer. I don’t see why we can’t make a push for the top six.”
The USA international has also spoken of the influence former Bluebirds and Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had on his career.
The goalkeeper enjoyed the early part of his career at Norwegian club Molde under the ex-striker, who moved back to his homeland after being sacked following a dismal reign in south Wales.
However, Solskjaer went on to achieve success with Molde and Horvath won two titles while in Norway. Speaking about Solskjaer, Horvath said: “To come here, there wasn’t any influence by Ole at all. I know he had a good time here and he enjoyed the club and the city. My first experience with him was unbelievable, he’s an amazing guy, a top coach and a top person. The years I spent with him were very good.
“I played Europa League with him at Molde which was a nice experience, we played some good teams and had a really successful run there. Those are memories I’ll always have to look back on with him.
“I came over to Europe when I was 16, so really early. The fact that I came over so young I think I was 19 when I first started playing for them. That was my first team, that’s something I’ll always have to be thankful for because that was my first opportunity in European football.”
Tom Coleman
Welcome
Afternoon Bluebirds.
Cardiff City are back in Championship action once again today, with Stoke City the visitors to the Cardiff City Stadium.
As ever, team news will be dropping at 2pm, and you can follow updates from what is shaping up to be a crucial clash for Erol Bulut’s men right throughout the afternoon.
Stick around.