Cardiff City will be looking to build on their South Wales derby victory prior to the international break when they host Nottingham Forest on Friday afternoon.
The Bluebirds beat Swansea City 1-0 to keep their playoff hopes alive, while Forest held Brentford 1-1 a fortnight ago to move into 17th place.
Match preview
© Reuters
Cardiff's momentum appeared to have dried up following goalless draws with Huddersfield Town and Stoke City, either side of a 2-1 home loss at the hands of Watford.
However, the Aden Flint-inspired win at the Liberty Stadium two weeks ago has revived hopes of a push for the top six places across their final eight fixtures.
Mick McCarthy's men are four points behind Reading into the final playoff spot, while Barnsley are a further two points better off in fifth.
It is all to play for in that regard, then, and Cardiff will see this as a great opportunity to put back-to-back wins on the board for the first time since February.
City have won 10 of their last 12 league meetings with Forest, though the Reds did come out on top 1-0 at the Cardiff City Stadium last season.
© Reuters
Never in their history have Forest won successive away league matches against Cardiff, but recent results suggest that they could possibly achieve that on Friday.
Chris Hughton's men have taken points off top-six sides Reading and Brentford in two of their last three games, either side of a 2-0 defeat against runaway leaders Norwich City.
However, the Reds are without a win in six matches and are not yet assured of safety, potentially needing a couple more wins for that to be the case.
Since winning 3-0 against Wycombe Wanderers in February, Forest have scored just five goals in 10 league games and never more than once in a match.
With games against three of the sides below them still to come, this would be the ideal time for Hughton's men to end their winless streak and prevent a nervy final month.
- D
- W
- D
- L
- D
- W
- D
- L
- L
- D
- L
- D
Team News
© Reuters
Cardiff have had a number of players away on international duty, which may force McCarthy's hand a little given that this match takes place on Friday.
The Bluebirds are already without a number of first-team players through injury and other health reasons, with Joe Bennett, Lee Tomlin and Sol Bamba all sidelined.
Kieffer Moore played in all three of Wales's games over the international break, albeit as a substitute in two of them, and will almost certainly start this contest.
As for Forest, they have Joe Worrall available for their trip to the Welsh capital following a three-game absence with a rib injury.
Joe Lolley is unlikely to play again this season, however, after undergoing surgery on a hamstring issue.
Fouad Bachirou and Harry Arter, who spent time on loan at Cardiff during their most recent Premier League campaign, are Forest's other confirmed absentees.
Cardiff City possible starting lineup:
Phillips; Morrison, Flint, Brown; Sang, Vaulks, Ralls, Bacuna, Ng; Murphy; Moore
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Samba; Christie, Figueiredo, Worrall, Bong; Cafu, Garner; Knockaert, Krovinovic, Freeman; Murray
We say: Cardiff City 1-0 Nottingham Forest
Forest have done well to take points off promotion-chasing sides in recent games, but they have a poor overall record against Cardiff.
Only Norwich and Barnsley (30) have taken more points than City since McCarthy was appointed in January, and we can see them adding three more points to the board on Friday.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Cardiff City win with a probability of 44.61%. A win for Nottingham Forest had a probability of 27.96% and a draw had a probability of 27.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Cardiff City win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.76%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.69%) and 2-0 (8.62%). The likeliest Nottingham Forest win was 0-1 (9.53%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.87%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 9.5% likelihood.
