Eng. Championship
2011-09-25 - Cardiff City vs Leicester City
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : English Championship
Sunday 25 September 2011 - Kickoff 1:15pm
This game is live on TV
Cardiff City
After coming close to promotion for the 2nd season in succession, Cardiff were hoping the arrival of Malky Malpay would have be enough of a boost to push them over the bump and emulate Swansea as being a Welsh club in the top tier of English football.
They have made a decent start to the new season in the Championship, picking up 12 points from their opening 7 games and only losing 1 game so far. They have a 2-0-1 record at the Cardiff City Stadium, scoring 6 goals in those games and conceding 4.
Cardiff are now unbeaten in their last 6 games, but have only won 1 of those games in normal time, with the other 2 coming through extra time and a penalty shoot out in the Carling Cup. They have now won just 1 of their last 4 games at home in normal time and, going back to last season, they have won just 2 of their last 8 in front of their own fans.
Andrew Taylor is a doubt after coming off injured in the midweek Carling Cup win over Leicester. Stephen McPhail should be available even though he has a slight groin injury.
Leicester City
Sven Goran-Eriksson may have been feeling the pressure at Leicester that had been built up by a Summer of expensive signings that were supposed to put the Foxes in pole position for promotion to the Premier League. After a tough beginning, there are definite signs that things are looking better and better at the King Power Stadium.
Leicester are 9th in the Championship having improved to 11 points from the first 21 available courtesy of a win over previously unbeaten Brighton last week. They are 1-2-0 away from home where they have scored 4 goals and conceded 3.
The team have drawn their last 3 away games in all competitions in the normal period of time since winning back to back games on their travels to start the season. Leicester may feel a little unfortunate to not have won more away games considering they have lost losing positions in the last 5 minutes of 2 of their last 3 away games.
Matt Mills was taken off at half time in the Carling Cup game at Cardiff, but that was a precautionary decision rather than an injury and he should start on Sunday. The likes of Jermaine Beckford and Darious Vassell should return to the side having been rested during the week.
Head to Head
Cardiff and Leicester drew 2-2 here on Wednesday night in the Carling Cup in a tie that was eventually won by the home side on a penalty shoot out.
Cardiff won the corresponding fixture 2-0 in February and have won the last 2 League games at home against Leicester.
However, the Foxes did beat Cardiff in a Play Off match here in May 2010 before eventually losing that game on penalties.
Prediction
Cardiff may not have been beaten for a few games, but they have not been pushing on and getting wins either and this is going to be a tough game for them.
Leicester are playing very well of late and beginning to improve up the League table and show sides why they are one of the favourites for promotion.
Even though they have won just 1 of their 3 League games away from home, I think the side enjoy playing on their travels as it gives them more space to play their football and create chances when the opposition are almost obliged to attack them.
With the quality of Beckford and Vassell up front, I think Leicester have a real chance of grabbing a big win here, especially considering they were unfortunate not to win the Carling Cup game on Wednesday night.
This should be a lively game to watch on TV on Sunday afternoon, but I am going to take the outsiders to grab the win.
The Pick :
Cardiff City 1-2 Leicester City
