Cardiff City welcome Tottenham Hotspur to the Cardiff City Stadium in the final Premier League match taking place on New Year’s Day.
Both sides experienced contrasting fortunes at the weekend but can Spurs get their title bid back on track here with victory?
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesCardiff City have no fresh injury worries ahead of this game although Jazz Richards is close to a return from a hamstring strain.
Kenneth Zohore is also back in training after a thigh injury but won’t be risked here or in the FA Cup this coming weekend. Danny Williams however is their only long term absentee with a knee injury.
Tottenham could hand Serge Aurier a role after the right-back recovered from a groin issue.
Mousa Dembele (ankle), Jan Vertonghen (thigh) and Eric Dier (appendix) won’t be risked here but will return to the first team squad in coming weeks.
Victor Wanyama (knee), Erik Lamela (calf) and Vincent Janssen (foot) are all still ruled out for foreseeable future.
Form
Cardiff have avoided defeat in three of last five with two wins and a draw, whilst winning three of their last four home games.
The Bluebirds have also netted in six of their last seven, only failing to do so in a Boxing Day goalless draw at Crystal Palace.
Tottenham saw their five match winning league run ended at weekend by Wolves, as they slipped nine points behind league leaders – Liverpool.
Spurs however are unbeaten in seven of their last eight away games and have scored in every league match apart from a 1-0 home defeat by Manchester City at end of October.
Stat Attack
- In only three Premier League meetings between these sides, Tottenham have won all three by 1-0 results (W3).
- Across those three matches, two of Spurs’ three goals have come before half-time.
- Four of Cardiff’s last five goals have come in second half.
- Cardiff’s Neil Etheridge has made the most saves after 20 games, producing 78 saves.
- Sol Bamba has made 137 clearances so far this season, more than any other player in Premier League this season.
- 10 of Tottenham’s 43 league goals have come from headers., which is a league high so far this season.
- Tottenham have made just one more headed clearance than Cardiff, making 243 clearances via head compared to the Bluebirds’ 242.
Prediction
This should be a great game because Cardiff are very solid when defending which was Tottenham’s downfall at weekend.
Realistically, Spurs need to score as soon as they can otherwise Cardiff will fancy their chances the longer it stays 0-0.
On that note, I can see both sides scoring here given their recent goal scoring form but Spurs should just pull through with a late winner.
Prediction: Cardiff City 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Jake predicts: Cardiff City 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Result: Cardiff City 0-3 Tottenham Hotspur