Huddersfield v Cardiff predictions: Back the Bluebirds on the road

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Huddersfield Town v Cardiff City in the Championship on Friday.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Main Event & Sky Sports Football, 7.45pm Friday

Best bet

Cardiff
1pt 23-20 general

Team news

Huddersfield
Harry Toffolo, Jonathan Hogg, Danny Ward , Alex Pritchard, Carel Eiting, Christopher Schindler, Josh Koroma, Danny Grant and Ronaldo Aarons were absent against Birmingham on Tuesday.

Cardiff
Joe Bennett faces a spell on the sidelines.

Match preview

Possession-based football is all the rage in the modern game but there is still room for different methods and the no-frills approach of Cardiff manager Mick McCarthy could yield another three points when his team tackle struggling Huddersfield.

Cardiff have had less of the ball than their opponents in eight of their ten matches under McCarthy but they have won seven of them to lift themselves into promotion contention.

The Bluebirds' 4-0 success at home to Derby on Tuesday was a classic McCarthy performance with a combination of counter-attacks and intelligent set-pieces, including Will Vaulks's substantial long throws, causing all sorts of problems for the Rams.

Some of the gloss was taken away from the victory by a first-half injury to left wing-back Joe Bennett, but Cardiff continued to carve out the better chances and turned a 1-0 half-time lead into a dominant victory.

It was Cardiff's second successive 4-0 home win, following last month's battering of Preston, but they have also excelled on their travels, picking up 13 points from their last five road trips.

McCarthy freshened up his attack in midweek, bringing in Leandro Bacuna and Sheyi Ojo for Harry Wilson and Josh Murphy, and it worked a treat with Bacuna contributing two goals and Ojo providing an assist.

It leaves the Cardiff gaffer with the best possible selection headache and his wealth of attacking options, including 16-goal top scorer Kieffer Moore, contrasts sharply with Huddersfield head coach Carlos Corberan, who is trying to get the best out of an injury-ravaged squad.

The Terriers have lacked a regular goalscorer since selling Karlan Grant to West Brom and their lack of firepower has been exacerbated by the lengthy absence of six-goal attacker Josh Koroma, who has missed out since December with a hamstring injury.

Corberan wants his team to play at a high tempo, similar to the approach he was familiar with as assistant to Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds.

But his team have often been found wanting in key areas and their league results in 2021 (one win, three draws and eight defeats) have dragged them into a relegation battle.

The swagger has disappeared from Huddersfield's performances and they looked a nervy bunch when hanging on to secure a 1-1 draw at home to relegation rivals Birmingham on Tuesday.

From now on it is all about getting results with Huddersfield needing 13 points from 12 games to get up to the often-quoted 50-point survival benchmark.

However, the Terriers are from certain to be successful and their clash with Cardiff looks as tough as anything left on their schedule.

Key stat

Cardiff have won seven of their last eight matches.

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