If you believe the ‘experts’ manager Neil Warnock and his Cardiff City players might as well lock their front doors and stay at home when Manchester City visit South Wales.
One BBC commentator predicted a ‘goals fest’ for Pep’s boys, while Goal.Com predict, in big, bold print: “Bluebirds to struggle.”
That tag-line is followed by the words: “Cardiff have conceded 10 goals in their last two matches.”
Wrong. So wrong. Warnock’s Warriors conceded seven goals against Chelsea and Arsenal, scoring three of their own.
Bet365 make Manchester City 6-1 on to win at Cardiff City Stadium, while the home team are 14-1 against repeating their 3-2 win five years ago.
That is the only previous time Cardiff have played the Sky Blues at home in the Premier League – and that means they have a 100 per cent record against their visitors in that competition.
Manchester City are unbeaten in 21 matches against newly-promoted teams, but they drew 1-1 against Wolves this season and lost 2-1 at home in their Champions League group match against Lyon in midweek.
I just hope Guardiola’s players believe all the hype around this fixture suggesting they simply have to turn up and collect all three points.
The guarantee, of course, is that Cardiff will scrap and fight every step of the way over the 90 minutes.
https://twitter.com/CardiffCityTV/status/1042820336448942080
Manchester City have the World class players, while the Bluebirds have World class fans plus a team of men with huge hearts and a hunger for the battle.
That may, against a team of their quality, not quite be enough, but Warnock’s men will give it one hell of a go.
Warnock is clear on Manchester City’s Champions League loss against Lyon, saying: “It was a blip, nothing more. That shows the standard of the opposition.
“Thank goodness we only play them twice! That midweek result might give them a kick up the backside. I don’t think it helps us.”
Guardiola sat in the stands for the tie against Lyon, serving a touchline ban held over from last season and Warnock says: “It does make a difference. No disrespect to Mikel Arteta, but Pep is such an important part and a figure. He brings the best out of them.
“When a manager is in the stands he has no say in it really. I don’t think he could even make contact. It’s difficult but you have to get on with it.”
Warnock will hope Bluebirds supporters respond to the commitment and drive of his team by firing up the atmosphere and he says: “Our fans have been unbelievable. Chelsea staff afterwards commented on the noise they made, even at 4-1 down, and we have another full house at home.
“What the fans are doing is unbelievable. They’re almost treating it like going to the theatre. Like watching the Eagles in concert, you want to join in. They sucked the ball into the net against Arsenal for the second one.
“If Pep’s worried about Cardiff City then that’s fantastic, but I don’t think he will be. With the fans behind us and the type of team we are, he knows they’ll be in for a game.
“Our players are trying their hardest. We’ve made individual errors, but they are really doing their best.”
“You just have to keep going. Games against Manchester City and Chelsea won’t define your season. Our lads are looking forward to it.
“All season I look at the games, we could have earned a result at Bournemouth with Mozza’s (Sean Morrison) chance, while Newcastle and Huddersfield we could have won.
“Against Arsenal, I thought the goals were down to bad mistakes we made.”
Cardiff will again be without Aaron Gunnarsson and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, while Josh Murphy and Harry Arter expected to be available after recovering from injuries.
Gunnarsson suffered a minor injury in training and Warnock says: “We want Gunnar’s type of leadership on the pitch, but in all fairness the midfield area is doing really well considering we don’t have too much competition in there.
“There are two or three lads we’ll have to make decisions on. They have to be 100 per cent to be considered tomorrow.
“If one or two do play we’ll probably have to think about changing things after an hour anyway but circumstances will decide that.”
Manchester City defeated Cardiff 2-0 in the Emirates FA Cup last season, but this is a vastly different team to the line-up for that clash.
“Our squad is better by a long way,” says Warnock. “Look at the bench then and where we are now, it’s a tremendous plus.”
Cardiff City, possible: Neil Etheridge, Bruno Manga, Sean Morrison, Sol Bamba, Joe Bennett, Joe Ralls, Harry Arter, Victor Camarasa, Josh Murphy or Junior Hoilett, Bobby Decordova-Reid, Danny Ward.