On Saturday evening Gianfranco Zola's Watford FC take on Malky Mackay's Cardiff City FC in this crucial tie in the Npower Championship which is also live on Sky Sports. This is building up to be a massive game for both teams as if Watford win they will further strengthen their promotion ambitions as a draw would not be good enough whereas if Cardiff win they are as good as up. Cardiff can afford to lose though as they will still have a five point cushion over second place Hull (if Hull beat Middlesbrough that is) with a game in hand. Best case scenario for Cardiff is that they win on Saturday and Tuesday and be eleven points clear and virtually Champions, the worst case is that Hull and Watford both win whilst Cardiff lose to Barnsley on Tuesday. High flying Cardiff come into the game as runaway favourites for promotion to the Premier League after topping the table for several months. Malky Mackay has built up a solid Championship team who have been grinding out consistent results and look as good as up already. But as we know of Cardiff they have been serial bottlers in the past, they surely can't muck up now cant they? For years Cardiff were known as the Bluebirds up until very recently when they were taken over by Vincent Tan, a Malaysian billionaire who made his money from buying McDonald's franchise rights for Malaysia and hasn't looked back since. Tan had the bright idea of changing the clubs colours from blue to the luckier colour red as well as incorporating a red dragon onto the clubs crest. The stoic Cardiff fans are still rejecting such a drastic change to their club but as long as Tan is paying the bills and buying multi-million pound players they tolerate the change. If they don't at least they get a free scarf for their troubles. Ex Hornet player and manager Malky Mackay took over Cardiff in June 2011 after being manager of Watford for a season and a half. His move to Wales did not go down to well with the Hornet's faithful with him pinching his backroom staff, Watford's transfer targets and lastly Don Cowie who was out of contract at Watford. In his first season in charge at Cardiff promotion looked almost a dead cert but again they bottled it and lost out to West Ham being beaten 5-0 on aggregate in the Play Off Semi Finals. It looks as though this will be Cardiff's year for promotion with them in the best position to go up they have ever had. Cardiff Team News: Striker Frazier Campbell faces a late fitness test after limping off Cardiff's 3-0 win against Blackburn on Easter Monday. Defender Mark Hudson remains out injured. More news to follow. Cardiff are in indifferent form on the road with them winning two, losing two and drawing one of their last five away games with the most recent being a 2-1 loss at Peterborough with a poor defensive display from the visitors. Watford at home have been inconsistent of late with two wins, two draws and a loss with the most recent result being a 3-3 draw with Burnley. Who knows what the result will be. Players to look out for will be Bellamy, Gunnarrson and Kim, if we keep these players quiet we will stand a good chance of winning. Opposition Fans Forums: http://www.ccmb.co.uk/fudforum/index.php?t=thread&frm_id=1&rid=0 http://www.cardiffcityforum.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=5862e9840d717ce24d19ca650831c239 Watford Team News: Gianfranco Zola faces a defensive crisis with only three centre backs available for the game against Cardiff. Fitz Hall limped off 25 minutes into Watford's victory over Hull with an unknown injury and looks set to miss this tie. The Hornet's didn't miss him though as Lloyd Doyley came on to replace him and help solidify a good defence. They kept a clean sheet for the first time since 19th of February with a lot of help from rookie goal keeper Johnathon Bond who by most accounts was Man of the Match. Matthew Briggs was also replaced on the night by Daniel Pudil who will be looking to push for a starting place against Cardiff. Matej Vydra had another quiet night as he was man marked out of the game by Hull's defence and thanks to this poor run it might be a good idea to play Fernando Forestieri who has scored four goals in the last three appearances at Vicarage Road. It is vital we keep the midfield the same and that we mark Cardiff's widemen who will be constantly whipping balls into the box. Troy Deeney will probably Captain the side after putting in a mighty performance against Hull which saw him score the winning goal with a lovely curling shot into the top left corner. Hopefully he continues the way he left off against the Red Dragons. Predicted Line Ups: Watford: Bond Anya Doyley Ekstrand Cassetti Pudil Chalobah Battochio Abdi Deeney Forestieri Subs: Bonham, Briggs, Vydra, Geijo, Buaben, Yeates, Thompson. Cardiff: Marshall Taylor Turner Connolly Barnett Conway Kim Bo-Kyung Gunnarrson Mutch Mason Bellamy Subs: Lewis, Whittingham, Cowie, Noone, Lappin, Gestede, Helguson. Officials: TBA Score Prediction: Sorry to say Nath but I think it'll be a 2-1 win to the Hornet's. Come On You 'Orns!
should be a good atmosphere, off the back of Hull I think we can win it. Vydra sounded ineffective again so Nando back in the starting 11 I reckon. Any news on Fitz Hall injury?
If you're wondering the likely line up for us it would be: Marshall Connolly Barnett Turner Talyor Conway Mutch / Whittingham Gunnarsson Kimbo Bellamy Fraizer Campbell I think it will be a really good game, and I feel we will come out 1-3 winners.
I think we need to stick with Vydra, he will score again, believe me! Now not the time to leave him out - watch out Malky, we're coming to get you!
Hull will beat Boro with ease so we desperately need at least a draw here I feel like the momentum is in our favour, but Malky's hoofball may expose us without Hall or Nos
That's cheating playing with 12 players. I know it was 11 v 9 last time, but to start 12 v 11 is just not on....you'll never get away with it.
Not being bitter or anything but i honestly don't see that Cardiff side lasting more than 5 minutes in the premiership, it has Championship written all over it.
I'm sure Cardiff's owners would agree. None of the challenging teams would have a chance without considerable reshaping, including Watford.
I can never understand posts like #11 They are top , by a street , they must be doing something right , and if your them , you probably look at US and think the same!
Take Qpr & Swansea for an example, Qpr finished 8 points ahead yet since then they've been through hell whilst Swansea have adapted to the Premier League and won a cup.
I'll be honest I don't really care what happens to Cardiff in the PL where I'm sure they are heading no matter what happens Saturday. They are top because consistently they've been the best team this season and really don't think they will blow it this time. Not sure about Fraziers Right boot's prediction though! It's just another game that hopefully will help us catch Hull City which has to be the aim at the moment. The team for Saturday. I thought Briggs did ok last week but many others didn't and it appears he wasn't great last week so I hope Pudil comes back in. I presume Hall is out and I would stick with Vydra but would not complain if FF started as he probably deserves to. As well as Bond played Tuesday if Almunia is fit I would have him back in for experience alone Almunia/Bond Doyley Ekstrand Casetti Anya Pudil Battochio Abdi Chalobah Deeney Vydra or possibly FF or both as Frazier seems to want to play 12! 1-1 or us to possibly nick it 2-1. would be surprised if there is more than a goal in it. COYGB
I don't think the result here matters so much as the performance. As long as we put on a good show and give it our all, I'll be happy.
Heart says 3-0 Watford, Don Cowie broken leg, Malky broken heart. Head says 10-0 Cardiff, long evening for the Hornets.
Oh, so this would mean 11 players! Not TWELVE!!!! (Unless of course one Mr Referee decided to give you "helping hand" of course!! :naughty
What does your gall bladder say??? :naughty: My head says Vydra will come back into form, score a brace in 10 minutes, with a final score of 2-1 (I don't know who will score their goal though, hope it's not an 'OG'). We have enough to do this!!!! You know what they say, "It's not over till the fat lady sings". So lets all bring the wives LOL!!!!!!!!!!
The Football League need to look into how many players and staff they have from one other club, it's not right. Helguson, Cowie, Smith, Taylor, Mutch. Also Mackay along with his backroom staff. Surely that's too many?
Just make sure your team leaves on a high and smashes Hull please. Oh and don't even try abusing our Welsh keeper.
That defeat for Hull last night will be a massive dent in their confidence. We'll be 2nd by Saturday night mark my words!
I've got a sneaky feeling Fraizer Campbell will score the goal to deny them the 2nd auto spot as he helped them to promotion a few years back. That keeper of yours is *****ing amazing. I watched you v Wolves on the TV a few weeks back and him and Almen Abdi were outstanding to be fair.
Hi Frazier - I'm afraid the Jury is still out on Bond, our young 'keeper. It still remains to be seen if he can weather a barrage of vitriolic twitter abuse and venomous chants from his own fans.
wen i was decide in wot uni 2 go 2 i went to visit cardif n it look nice but i was wait in at v bus stop 2 go bak n vis giurl cum up n said give her a 50p coz she aint got enuff mony (like baz:rant i said no coz i need mony 4 maccy d but she keep sayin give me a 50p so i say show me ur fat boob n i will n she did:sign15:so i just stare at it 4 bouyt 10 mins then i give her 1 n she put her fat boob awy :dismay: so i just read my karl marks book must win vis 1 i wud setle 4 a draw
We haven't sold our identity at Watford and part of our tradition is to berate young goalkeepers with abuse and hatred.
http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Watford/Watford.htm I think you've changed your identity (or kit colour) a few more than most.
I know. What were we thinking? We all call the late 1800s until about 1914 the dark, dark days. We thought we were settled on blue and white but then some mad man comes gallivanting in with his mad ideas... We are only yellow because some bloke likes cus**** you know? And we ditched the plain blue because we had a lonely shipbuilder in goal. I wish we still played in red & olive stripes, and I doubt you'll find anyone on these boards who doesn't agree with me.
