Can Cardiff defend well?

In Cardiff's last four matches they have had three clean sheets. They have also beaten Watford away in the run of fixtures and are only six points off the Cherries in ninth place. It is no wonder that Eddie Howe will see this as another tough examination of Bournemouth's top six credentials as Cardiff City have looked more at ease in the Championship since the arrival of Russell Slade.

The draw against Rotherham at home in their last match was perhaps a bit disappointing for them as they did not really control the game and Rotherham could easily have come away with more points. AFCB's challenge will be to break down a former Premier League side that is still packed with quality in just about every sector of the field. David Marshall is well known for his shot stopping capabilities and in the last game he had Brayford, Connolly, Turner and Morrison in front of him when the team got a clean sheet. Russel Slade always builds teams that are strong at the back and he knows very well about how AFCB play having had many battles with Eddie Howe when he was at Leyton Orient.

In midfield too you can see the Premier league quality of their side in Peter Whittingham and Craig Noone. They are also have one of the strongest forward lines with Kenwyne Jones, Adam Le Fondre and Frederico Macheda. Russell Slade has got the Bluebirds playing for him pretty well considering that they were 15th in the league when he joined them. He has said that he wants to be in the top six by January and to do that Cardiff need to start taking points off of sides that are higher than them in the league so I don't expect them to come and play for a draw.

While Cardiff City lost to AFCB in the Capital One Cup this season it will have hurt them and their players have a point to prove, although I think both team's line ups will be very different to the teams in the cup match. The pressure is on AFCB to break Cardiff down being the home side and that will probably suit a Cardiff team that have some quality players who can play on the break.

Cardiff Away Form
LLLDW

AFCB Home Form
WWWDD