Its an important game on Saturday at Selhurst Park, Palace are a place and four points in front of Cardiff and sit in the final play off place. A win for the Bluebirds would increase the pressure on the Eagles and maybe open the door to let Cardiff nip in.
Vital Quotes:
Dave Jones:
‘This season was about consolidation, but we’ve gone beyond that,’ Jones told the Echo. ‘We talk about promotion within the club, within the squad.
‘We live it. We must embrace the dream. We do that because promotion is what we are aiming for. It’s no good hiding from that. When I came to Cardiff City I was sold a dream. That dream is starting to come true with the news of Asda’s involvement on the stadium retail development.
‘It’s what we had been waiting for and there is no reason the stadium should not happen now. Now we are hopefully going to get a brand new stadium with a very good team to play in it.
‘We would all love to be in the Premiership by the time the stadium opens in 2008. But why wait until then. If it’s possible why not now. There is still a long way to go and plenty of points to play for.’
Iain Dowie
‘They have Thompson and Jerome up front who are a handful so they will be a tough proposition.
‘I thought for a time that they would lose Jerome but they managed to stave off interest and that’s probably right because he needs a full season with Cardiff in order to develop.’
Crystal Palace Team News:
Palace boss Iain Dowie is likely to make several changes to the first eleven that lost to Preston in the midweek fixture.
Ben Watson is expected to start in midfield while sub Marco Reich who went in as during the second half at Deepdale should be fit to start after recovering from his foot injury.
Both Dougie Freedman and Jon Macken will be vying to replace striker Clinton Morrison as the former Birmingham striker will warm the bench ahead of this match.
Player to watch: Andy Johnson
I think it?s obvious why.
Cardiff City Team News:
Cardiff boss Dave Jones may well keep the same line-up that drew 1-1 with Millwall earlier in the week.
Defender Glenn Loovens is set to return to the starting eleven after Dave Jones decided to rest Rhys Weston.
That will be the only major change in Cardiff’s first eleven on Saturday as Jones are very pleased with the rest of his players.
Player to watch: Cameron Jerome
The boss wants more goals from him and he is keen to oblige.
Match Facts & Stats
Palace sit in sixth place just four points and one place ahead of the Bluebirds. They have 49 points from their 30 games so far.
The Eagles have won five, drawn two and lost once in their last eight home matches while Cardiff have only won three and lost five in their last eight away matches.
Palace have won three straight home games while Cardiff have lost their last three games away from home.
When the two clubs met in September at Ninian Park, Cardiff ran out 1-0 winners with a goal from Michael Ricketts separating the two sides.
Ref Watch:
Anthony Bates
This is the first time he has been in charge of a Cardiff or Palace side this season.
His record so far this term is Reffed 24, Yellow Cards 77, Red cards 6
Match Prediction:
Think we may go down 2-1 in this one.
Next Fixtures:
League Championship Cardiff vs Stoke 11-02-2006
League Championship Luton vs Cardiff 14-02-2006
I like dowie, and think he made a mistake in staying.