Cardiff City vs Middlesbrough Prediction: Bluebirds are sitting at bottom

Cardiff City will welcome Middlesbrough at Cardiff City Stadium in Game Week 4 of the English Championship. The bluebirds are sitting at the end of the Championship table. Who will come out on top after 90 minutes?

Cardiff City have had a horrific start to the 2024-25 season, sitting dead last in the table with just one point. That solitary point came in the form of a fighting Welsh derby draw against Swansea City when a Callum Robinson late goal earned a share of spoils at 1-1.

Manager Erol Bulut will still take some positives from their spirited EFL Cup performance against Southampton despite the league struggles. Determined Bluebirds managed to draw level on three occasions before being pegged back by two late goals in a 5-3 defeat to their opponents from the Premier League.

However, it's Cardiff's defensive fragility that sets off the most alarms: with the exception of a clean sheet against Bristol Rovers, they have leaked 15 goals in the remaining four outings from all competitions, and it's pretty evident something needs to be done quickly at the back.

Horvath; Ng, Chambers, Daland, O'Dowda; Siopis, Robertson; Meite, Ramsey, Willock; Kanga

Middlesbrough had started the new season with some promise when they registered a 1-0 league win over Swansea City and a 3-0 win in the EFL Cup against Leeds United. That, however, was the only time things seemed okay, with form quickly tapering off starting with the late 1-0 loss to Derby County and a heavy 5-0 home defeat to Stoke City in the second round of the EFL Cup.

Sandwiched between those defeats, they did record a 2-2 home draw against Portsmouth at the Riverside Stadium, one in which they conceded a last-minute equalizer to further underline their defensive frailties.

Manager Michael Carrick will be acutely aware that a slow start last season cost Middlesbrough a potential playoff spot, and another defeat could see them drop into the bottom half of the table before the international break. On the plus side of that statistic, they can perhaps take encouragement from how they fared in this corresponding fixture last season, beating Cardiff 4-1, a scoreline they will hope to repeat.

Dieng; Dijksteel, Ayling, Clarke, Engel; Morris, Hackney; Jones, Azaz, Burgzorg; Latte Lath

It would be expected that Cardiff City manager Erol Bulut goes into the game with a very similar lineup to the one which started against Swansea in the derby, considering he made many changes for the EFL Cup game against Southampton. Alex Robertson may keep his place despite Rubin Colwill's competition, scoring in that defeat against Southampton. New signing Will Fish may make a first outing in the squad since signing from Manchester United.

Middlesbrough will likely revert to their league lineup under Michael Carrick after a heavily rotated side fell to a convincing defeat at the hands of Stoke City in the EFL Cup. Carrick reported that Luke Ayling's half-time withdrawal against Stoke was pre-planned and not an injury, while Daniel Barlaser may be the only player from the midweek match to feature in the starting lineup for this one.

On the back of an excellent performance against Southampton, Cardiff will try to carry that into the match with Middlesbrough. The latter, though, will hope to bounce back from the midweek setback and are favourite to seal an emphatic victory on Saturday.