Cardiff City v Palace

Ninian Park, Tuesday 7.45pm

Story so far

Since winning promotion to the Championship, Cardiff City have had comfortable mid-table finishes in each of their four seasons in the second tier. However, this season looks set to be a different story.

Since Dave Jones arrived as Cardiff manager, he cleared out the dead-wood and looked set to invest City's academy and youngsters from other clubs.

However, since Peter Risdale has taken over, Cardiff have spent little money on transfer fees but brought in Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink, Robbie Fowler and Trevor Sinclair. With all three being big name players on free transfers, it's inconceivable to think that they'll be on low wages.

The Bluebirds' form has been somewhat inconsistant - neither scoring goals or conceding goals has been a problem for them, but it is almost impossible to predict which of the two will happen on a week-by-week basis.

Team news

Tom Soares is set to go right back in the Crystal Palace squad after serving a three-match suspension forhis red card at Blackpool last month.

Carl Fletcher is a doubt after getting a dead leg in Saturday's 0-0 draw at Scunthorpe. Mark Kennedy made a long-awaited return in that game after a calf injury and should retain his place in midfield.

Young left-back Lee Hills hurt his back before kick-off but hopes to be fit to start his second Eagles match.

Striker PAUL DICKOV and winger PAUL Ifill (both hamstring) plus defender Danny Butterfield (buttock) are still sidelined.

Cardiff winger Trevor Sinclair has recovered from a knee injury and on-loan goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel is back after being cup tied in the Carling Cup tie with Liverpool last week.

Ricardo Scimeca is still out with a groin injury and is likely to be out for another two weeks.

Quotes

David Jones: "They look quite solid and they will try to shut up shop. But we've got to get our season cracking on. We are at home and we have got to have a go at them."

"You've got to stay strong mentally and physically and the last home game (a 1-1 draw with Scunthorpe), one or two players felt the pressure.

"Cardiff are not meeting my expectations and that's the important one at the moment.

Neil Warnock: "We're defending better and we have been doing a lot of work with Jose Fonte, Mark Hudson and I think the game at Scunthorpe was the best I've seen Matt Lawrence play.

"But we've got to have more of an option in midfield and more pace at the forward line and that's what I'll be working on."

Singled out for particular praise was Fonte, who was at the heart of a backline that earned its first clean sheet of the season at Scunthorpe.

Warnock said: "I said to him before the game, 'this is your second game on the trot'. He has responded and listened to me.

"A couple of times on Saturday he tried to dribble out but I want a centre half to be a centre half. I spoke to him on the bus home and he has a good understanding with Mark Hudson. I thought they complimented each other well."

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Cardiff City - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
19th	13	3	5	5	14

Full league table

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Cardiff City - current form

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
5	1	1	3	6	8

Full form table

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Our away record v Cardiff City

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
25	9	10	6	31	26

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Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
30/12/2006	League	Cardiff City	0 - 0	Crystal Palace
14/10/2006	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 2	Cardiff City
04/02/2006	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 0	Cardiff City
17/09/2005	League	Cardiff City	1 - 0	Crystal Palace
10/04/2004	League	Cardiff City	0 - 2	Crystal Palace

All time results

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One to watch

Robbie Fowler

Not much really needs to be said about Robbie Fowler. He has a glorious finish, can find himself in the ideal goalscoring opportunities but has lost that touch of pace that gave him such a cutting edge at Anfield.

He's already hit an average of a goal every two starts and will always pose a threat.

Ref watch

L Mason

Last meeting

Cardiff City 0-0 Palace

Saturday December 30 2006

Cardiff City: Alexander, Gilbert, McNaughton (Cooper, 77), Purse, Loovens, McPhail, Flood (Blake, 89), Ledley, Scimeca, Thompson (Campbell, 89), Chopra

Subs not used: Johnson, Wright

Yellow Cards: Gilbert, McNaughton, Thompson

Palace: Flinders, Lawrence, Ward, Hudson, Butterfield, McAnuff, Watson (Reich, 75), Kennedy, Fletcher, Scowcroft, Morrison (Kuqi, 84)

Subs not used: Wilkinson, Freedman, Cort

Yellow Cards: Morrison

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