Cardiff v Preston: Bluebirds can keep Lilywhites at bay

Cardiff v Preston: Bluebirds can keep Lilywhites at bay
Home tends lớn be where the heart is when Cardiff are involved and so Mark O'Haire reckons the Bluebirds can pick up a positive result in the capital on Saturday- According lớn the soccer tips betting pages!



Cardiff v Preston

Saturday December 21, 12:30

Sky Sports

Cardiff produce remarkable comeback
Cardiff produced a remarkable fight back from 3-0 down to earn a share of the spoils against previous league leaders Leeds last weekend. The Bluebirds were trailing 3-0 with half-an-hour left lớn play at Elland Road before Neil Harris' outfit staged a grandstand finish with goals from Lee Tomlin, Sean Morrison and Robert Glatzel levelling proceedings late on.

The capital club had no answer to Leeds' pace in the opening 45 minutes, trailing 2-0 at the break, and then shipping a third from the penalty spot just seven minutes after the restart. Even when Tomlin grabbed what appeared lớn be a consolation there was no sign of what was lớn come with Cardiff's opener coming largely against the run of play.

Morrison headed in City's second in the 83rd minute before being sent off just two minutes later. But that did not deter the visitors as Glatzel produced a composed finish lớn bring an end to a pulsating encounter with Harris admitting: "It's a hard one because Leeds were obviously better than us, but I can't do anything but praise my players for their character."

Preston go third
Preston moved into third in the Championship after securing a 2-1 home victory over resilient Luton with a late winner last Saturday. Paul Gallagher opened the scoring early on, tapping in a rebound after his initial penalty had been saved; Luton levelled with a soccer betting tips of their own before Jayden Stockley slotted home following a goalmouth scramble.

North End snapped a four-game losing streak without scoring by overcoming Fulham 2-1 at Deepdale and the Lilywhites followed that fixture up on the front foot. After Gallagher had broken the deadlock, PNE had further opportunities to extend their lead with Billy Bodin seeing a header cleared off the line, before Luton managed to equalise right on half-time.



The duo traded second-half chances with Preston keeper Declan Rudd making an important intervention ahead of Stockley's strike. Lilywhites boss Alex Neil wasn't enamoured by his team's display, preferring lớn focus on the positives, saying: "We won't be talking about this game in a week. We'll be talking about going third and that's all that matters."

Bluebirds a force in the capital
Cardiff and Preston have been regular Championship competitors over the past two decades and the Bluebirds have enjoyed reasonable dominance when welcoming the Lilywhites to Wales since 2004. The hosts have returned W5-D3-L1 from their last nine here against PNE, although North End did take top honours on their last trip in December 2017.

Cardiff hai.36 have enjoyed a level of resurgence since Neil Harris replaced Neil Warnock in the managerial hot-seat. The former Millwall boss has presided over a sole reverse in six (W3-D2-L1) with the Bluebirds extending their fine home form. The hosts have W7-D2-L1 in the capital, although all seven triumphs have arrived against bottom-half dwellers.

Preston 3.30 have pocketed back-to-back 2-1 wins to get back on track after a series of injuries and suspensions threatened to derail the Lilywhites campaign. However, like Cardiff, PNE have been largely reliant on home performances with Alex Neil's group managing a mediocre W2-D2-L6 in games as guests, none of which have come against the top-six.

Capital punishment for PNE?
Only two of the last 12 meetings between Cardiff and Preston have featured both sides scoring, although there's hope that Saturday's showdown could bust those previous head-to-head trends with the two teams showing plenty of promise in the final-third.

Cardiff have failed to net just four times since relegation, making their mark in all bar one home outing this term. Preston tend lớn present plenty of threat in forward areas, although the Lilywhites have toiled on their travels thus far, managing just six goals and failing lớn notch in half of their 10 road trips in 2019/20.

With that in mind, I'm keen to keep Cardiff onside and the Bluebirds can be backed in the Double Chance market alongside Under 3.5 Goals for a 1.80 shot with Betfair Sportsbook's Same Game Multi offering. It's already paid out in seven of City's home encounters, as well as six of PNE's away days.