The EFL Championship returns to St Andrew’s with the visit of Cardiff City today. Gary Rowett will be looking for a solid start from his squad against a team who will be hoping to end the season at least in the playoff mix.

Cardiff City

Cardiff City come into the new season with a new head coach – former Blues first team coach Paul Trollope – and the hope that they can push on a little bit further this year into the top six. They’ve brought in Jazz Richards from Fulham in a swap deal for Scott Malone, along with Danish forward Kenneth Zohore and Beninese forward Frederic Gounongbe to strengthen a decent squad.

Bluebirds fans are most excited by the permanent addition of Lex Immers after the Feyenoord man spent the second half of last season on loan in the Welsh capital.

Match head to head graphics provided by Kickoff.co.uk

Blues

Rowett has almost a full squad to choose from with only Nicolai Brock-Madsen confirmed to be missing the game. Maikel Kieftenbeld has recovered from a hip injury but the game might be too soon for him to slot into midfield.

There have been hints that some players who might assume to be in the team could be in for a surprise. I think the main person who will be worried is Paul Caddis, with Rowett looking to Jon Spector often in pre-season in the right-back slot. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Jack Storer and Reece Brown on the bench while Josh Cogley is also potentially in contention for a place in the matchday squad.

Ref

Tim Robinson is in the middle for this one. Last season he showed 149 yellow cards and nine reds in 43 games. His last Blues game was the 3-0 away win over Derby County in January, in which he booked three players including Stephen Gleeson.

Tags: Cardiff City, Jack Storer, Jonathan Spector, Paul Caddis