Bristol City v Cardiff City. Match preview

Last updated : 04 July 2020 By Michael Morris

Bristol City face Cardiff in the Sky Bet Championship today at 3:00pm, live on Sky Sports Football.

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Recent form

Bristol City have slipped from play-off contention since the restart, with three successive defeats to Blackburn, Sheffield Wednesday and most recently Nottingham Forest, who earned a 1-0 win at the City Ground on Wednesday.

Cardiff, meanwhile, have won two and drawn one so far. They started with a surprise 2-0 win over Leeds, before beating Preston 3-1 at Deepdale and then being held to a stalemate by Charlton in midweek.

Neil Harris:

"It will be a derby with a difference. For me, the fanbase make derby games.

"Of course, there's rivalry between football clubs and wanting to be bigger and better than your neighbour down the road and across the water.

"The rivalry on the terraces and, these days, on social media makes these games though.

"Do the players understand the importance of it? Of course they do. It will be echoed to them again, as it already has been by me.

"I know the importance of the game, not just for the fans, but also for the league table.

"I'm really pleased with where we are and the three performances.

"I always want more; I think we should have had nine points and beaten Charlton. But I'm really pleased with where we are at the moment.

"Now we've got ourselves in this position, we want to finish in the top six. That's the bottom line.

"To do that, we've got a tough run of games against teams at the top and bottom, but every club is the same.

"We're hungry for success – it's our job to stay in there now."

Opta stats

Bristol City are looking to complete a league double over Cardiff for the first time since the 2002-03 season.

Cardiff have lost two of their last three league games against Bristol City (W1), as many as they had lost in their previous 15 league games against the Robins (W10 D3 L2).

Cardiff have lost only twice in their last 14 Championship matches (W6 D6), going unbeaten in their last five (W3 D2).

Bristol City are winless in their last eight league games (D2 L6), their longest run without a victory since January 2017 (9 games).

Bristol City striker Nahki Wells has been directly involved in six goals in his last three league starts against Cardiff (4 goals, 2 assists), netting a hat-trick earlier this season for QPR against the Bluebirds.

Match Officials:

Referee: TIM ROBINSON
Assistants: Ian Cooper and Sam Lewis
Fourth Official: John Busby