By James Davies
Neil Harris has warned that it could take four or five matches for teams to get back to their normal match intensity when the season resumes next week.
The Cardiff City manager has prepared his team for their first game after the shutdown with two training match sessions against Swansea City at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday.
The Championship rivals played out two 80-minute games behind closed doors that ended 0-0 and 1-1, but Harris believes it will take a handful of games after their clash at home to leaders Leeds United next Sunday for his side to hit their normal levels.
“The tempo of the games probably won’t be quite the tempo of what they were in March,” said Harris.
“But we’ve seen in Germany that after four of five games the standard and pace returns.
“This is a really exciting period now. We want to be in the play-offs and force our way in there; that’s been the plan since I’ve come in.
“Even with a tough run in, we’re going to really make the most of this; we’ve got the opportunity to lay down a marker against Leeds and then make a statement – and take some points – off some of the teams around us. We’re looking forward to this.”
Harris – whose team have also played Cheltenham in a warm-up fixture – insisted the Swansea exercise was useful, both for him and opposite number Steve Cooper.
“It was vital. Me and Steve spoke before the game,” said Harris.
“We know the intense rivalry, the importance of the rivalry and we know what it means to both clubs and both sets of supporters. But logistically we could only play Cheltenham, Swansea and Bristol City in friendlies.
“We have Bristol City coming up in a few weeks [in the Championship], it left us with Cheltenham and Swansea.
“You want to make the games as realistic as you possibly can. We have had such a short space of time to prepare.
“There were no referees and no linesmen, but the lads were brilliant and played in the right manner.
“As you can imagine they were two well-matched sides in very even contests. It was a really good exercise for me and Steve.
“Scorelines were not what either manager was interested in, but they were really competitive and we are just pleased to get the fitness in the legs.
“We just hope both sets of players will only have picked up absolutely minor knocks and niggles and everyone can train on Monday.”
The Bluebirds’ fixture against the leaders will be screened live on Sky Sports on Sunday June 21 at 12.00 as the season starts again behind closed doors.
Swansea City’s first match since the season was halted in March will be the day before Cardiff’s – a match not televised live at Middlesbrough on Saturday June 20 at 3.00pm.
Two individuals at two Premier League clubs have tested positive for coronavirus in the latest round of testing.
The tests came back positive after the eighth round of testing from the Premier League which saw them collect 1,200 test samples.
Norwich City were one of the clubs to confirm a member of their squad, who has not been named, has tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of the Premier League restart on June 17.
“Norwich City can confirm that one of its players has returned a positive test result following the recent round of COVID-19 testing,” a statement via their official Twitter account read.
“In line with the Premier League’s protocols, the player will now self-isolate for a period of seven days before being tested again at a later date.”