Cardiff City will be looking to revive their Championship promotion aspirations when they make the trip to Coventry City on Wednesday evening.
The Bluebirds have won just one of their last seven matches and are down in 15th place, while Coventry are a point above the dropzone after a run of one win in 10.
Match preview
© Reuters
Cardiff played out their fifth draw of the campaign on Saturday as they battled back from a goal down to earn a point away to boss Neil Harris's former club Millwall.
Kieffer Moore struck 11 minutes from time for his fourth goal since joining in the summer, cancelling out Matt Smith's first-half header at The Den.
Harris criticised his players for their performance in South London, the draw leaving City eight points adrift of the playoff spots with a quarter of the season now played.
In terms of positives, Cardiff have lost only four of their 19 away matches in all competitions since New Year's Day, albeit with three of the last five ending in draws.
This could be just the fixture the Welsh outfit need to kickstart their campaign given that they are unbeaten in nine league meetings with Coventry.
© Reuters
Coventry have been in even worse form than Cardiff, picking up a solitary point from the last nine on offer.
That came in a goalless draw with Birmingham City last Friday - a drab affair between tenants and landlords at St Andrew's.
It was a game of few chances, Lukas Jutkiewicz coming closest to winning the game for Birmingham as he hit the crossbar with a header.
The Sky Blues have won only two of their 12 matches all season - at home to Queens Park Rangers in September and Reading in October - and are one place above the dropzone.
With a trip to league leaders Norwich City up next, Mark Robins will know the importance of adding some points to the board in this midweek clash.
Coventry City Championship form: LLWLLD
Cardiff City Championship form: DDLWLD
Team News
© Reuters
Coventry striker Matt Godden has been out with a foot injury and will play no part against Cardiff, so it is left to Tyler Walker to lead the line again.
Jodi Jones and Julien Da Costa are the hosts' two other confirmed absentees for this match.
With the games coming thick and fast, Robins may be tempted to rotate his side by bringing in Ryan Giles and Jamie Allen.
As for Cardiff, they are without playmaker Lee Tomlin until February and right-back Jordi Osei-Tutu is also out for at least another fortnight.
Harris opted to go with two strikers against Millwall, with Robert Glatzel partnering Moore, but he is expected to alter formation at St Andrew's.
Josh Murphy and Sheyi Ojo will be raring to go, with Glatzel and Junior Hoilett's places most at threat.
Coventry City possible starting lineup:
Marosi; Giles, Hyam, McFadzean, McCallum; Sheaf, Kelly; Hamer, Allen, O'Hare; Walker
Cardiff City possible starting lineup:
Smithies; Bacuna, Morrison, Nelson, Bennett; Ralls, Pack; Murphy, Wilson, Ojo; Moore
We say: Coventry City 1-2 Cardiff City
Both teams are in need of a morale-boosting victory - Cardiff in order to close the gap on the playoffs, Coventry to simply stay above the bottom three.
The Bluebirds are unbeaten in their last five matches on a Wednesday in all competitions (W3 D2) and we can see them taking all three points on Wednesday night.
Top betting tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Cardiff City win with a probability of 39.75%. A win for Coventry City had a probability of 32.56% and a draw had a probability of 27.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Cardiff City win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.68%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.26%) and 0-2 (7.39%). The likeliest Coventry City win was 1-0 (10.31%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.05%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 10.3% likelihood.
