Ipswich Town v Cardiff City. Match preview

Last updated : 09 December 2016 By Michael Morris

The 28-year-old has been sidelined since the end of September with an ankle injury but came through an Under-23 match against Huddersfield on Monday.

Defender Christophe Berra is expected to have overcome the knock he suffered in last weekend's defeat by Bristol City.

Tommy Smith (back), Luke Hyam and Giles Coke (both knee) all remain sidelined.

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Rickie Lambert may not be risked after missing last week's goalless draw with Brighton through injury.

Lambert is back in training but Bluebirds boss Neil Warnock might prefer to wait with home games against Wolves and Barnsley to come in the next week.

Jazz Richards remains out, with calf and knee injuries compounding an earlier foot problem as Warnock considers the effects of a sickness bug in camp this week.

But Lee Peltier is available after serving a one-match ban and seems set to replace Matthew Connolly at right-back.

Neil Warnock:

"We’ve had one or two this week which we’re monitoring. We’ve had another sickness and diarrhoea bug that’s put four out of training this week. It’s like emergency ward ten this morning! Unless we get someone going down today we should be OK.

"I’d planned completely, everything I was going to do against Ipswich only to be told, first of all we were going to work on an area but they said you can’t because he’s missing and he’s missing.

"Then we were going to work on another area but they said he’s missing and he’s missing! In the end I might as well have gone for a sauna and a massage! It was a waste of time but you’ve just got to accept it." 

Rickie Lambert remains a doubt, too, after missing the Brighton draw.

Warnock said: "Rickie Lambert is training, we’ll know more today, he hasn’t done anything other than straight forward running so we need to test that more, especially with three games in a week. "

Mick McCarthy:

“It’s an age old habit of managers and coaches to try and focus on one game, " he said.

"I get asked about what we’re going to do in the future. Well, the future is Saturday for me because then we can carry on and keep going on, keep going on and keep going on, if we win, if we play well. That’s the most important thing for me on Saturday.”

He added: “At this moment in time I’m interested in beating Cardiff and that will give us whatever springboard we need to move forward and that’s all we have to keep doing - moving forward."

 

Match facts

  • Ipswich failed to score in both league meetings with Cardiff last season (D1 L1), after failing to score in just two of their 24 against them previously.
  • After winning both of their first two league visits to Portman Road (in 1938 and 1946), Cardiff have won just two of their subsequent 20 trips to face Ipswich in league competition (D7 L11).
  • The Tractor Boys have failed to score in eight of their last 12 league matches (W3 D4 L5).
  • Cardiff have won just twice on the road in 14 league matches (D4 L8).
  • Ipswich have lost two of their last 12 Championship matches at Portman Road (W5 D5).
  • The clean sheet Cardiff kept in their 0-0 draw with Brighton was their first shutout in 18 league matches.

 

Officials:

Referee: JAMES ADCOCK 
Assistants: Nick Hopton and Nigel Lugg 
Fourth Official: Charles Breakspear 

 

Saturday December 10th, 3:00pm.