Cardiff City will look to avoid a sixth consecutive defeat in all competitions when they host 20th placed Queens Park Rangers on Wednesday night.

The Bluebirds last picked up a win just over a month ago when they beat Birmingham City 3-2 at the Cardiff City Stadium.

However, since then they have lost four league games and have further suffered a defeat in the third round of the FA Cup, a loss against the Hoops would be the first time since October 2018 that Cardiff have lost five league games in a row.

Neil Harris' side currently sit in 15th position in the Championship table with their chances of making a late surge into the play-off positions now looking slim after undergoing a poor run of form.

Their opponents tomorrow, QPR, are positioned five points behind Cardiff and only five points adrift of the drop zone.

Similar to Cardiff, Mark Warburton's outfit are not in a great vein of form themselves, as their win last time out on the road to Luton Town was their first in the last 11 games, in that time period they only managed to muster four points.

Team news

For the hosts, new signing Max Watters, who joined the club from Crawley Town, may come straight into the starting XI despite the club's top goalscorer this season, Kieffer Moore, returning from injury last time out in the defeat to Norwich City.

Cardiff will be without midfielder Marlon Pack who received his marching orders at the weekend while captain Sean Morrison, Jordi Osei-Tutu and Lee Tomlin will all be unavailable for selection through injury.

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For the away side, despite Bright Osayi-Samuel being made available to play after signing a pre-contract agreement with Fenerbache, Warburton has revealed that the winger will not feature for the club again.

It is very likely that West Bromwich Albion loanee Charlie Austin will start once again for the Hoops after netting in his second debut last time out which in fact was his 30th goal in only 51 games for the club. 

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With it being a week since QPR last played, it is likely that they will field a similar team to the one that won at Kenilworth Road even though the likes of Albert Adomah will be pushing for a starting spot.

Predicted lineups

Cardiff City:

Smithies; Bacuna, Bennett, Nelson, Bagan; Wilson, Vaulks, Ralls, Ojo; Watters, Moore.

QPR:

Dieng; Kane, Barbet, Dickie, Hamalainen; Cameron, Ball; Osayi-Samuel, Chair, Adomah; Austin.

Ones to watch

Kieffer Moore - Cardiff

The Bluebirds will be delighted that Moore has returned to the frame following his injury, before coming on as a substitute against Norwich his last game was against Swansea City on the 12th December.

The 28-year-old has certainly been a big miss for the club during his absence, Cardiff only having picked up one victory.

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Therefore, his return will come as good news to Harris as his eight goals in the league clearly makes him the Bluebirds' most threatening player when going forward. 

He is certainly someone that QPR will have to be wary of, especially if he is given room inside the area as his deadly finishing will no doubt provide Warburton with cause for concern.

Rob Dickie - QPR

The centre back joined the club from Oxford United where he was named their player of the season in the 2019/20 campaign and so far the 24-year-old has impressed in an R’s shirt.

The defender has played 20 games in the league for the club and he has been a consistent member of QPR’s backline especially since he obtains an impressive record of being dribbled past only an average of 0.3 times per game.

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He is also composed when in possession of the ball as he has a passing success percentage of 77.1% showing that he can be trusted when the ball is played into his feet.

With these impressive stats, it is clear that Cardiff will have to be very sharp, fluent and clever going forward if they hope to find a way past the solid and sturdy centre half.

Previous meetings

The last time the two sides met back in October, a stoppage-time strike by Dominic Ball guided QPR to a 3-2 win despite a Joe Ralls brace bringing his side from two goals to 2-2 in the second period.

QPR have won their last two games against tomorrow’s opponents, with Harris’ outfit smashing the Bluebirds 6-1 at the start of January 2020 with Nakhi Wells particularly impressing after he bagged a hat-trick on that day.

The Hoops have actually only lost once against Cardiff in their last four games against them which came in October 2019, when strikes by Morrison, Pack and Callum Paterson helped the hosts on that occasion to a 3-0 victory.

Where to watch on TV

Tomorrow's Championship encounter kicks off at 7pm at The Cardiff City Stadium and is being played behind closed doors. However, the game is being streamed live on iFollow.

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