Cardiff City vs Stoke City Prediction: Stokes are three points away from safety

Cardiff City will welcome Stoke City at Cardiff City Stadium in Game Week 34 of the English Championship. Stokes are just three points away from safety and three points can have huge imapct on their season. Who will come out on top after 90 minutes?

Cardiff's winless streak in the Championship was extended to four matches with a goalless draw against John Eustace's Blackburn on Tuesday night at the Cardiff City Stadium. However, the share of points halted a three-game losing streak for the Welsh side. After conceding eight goals in three previous defeats, the Bluebirds will be happy with their defensive performance against Rovers, as new goalkeeper Ethan Horvath kept a clean sheet.

Erol Bulut's team has only won once in their last seven Championship matches and currently sits in 14th place in the standings, 13 points behind sixth-placed Hull City and just nine points above 22nd-placed Queens Park Rangers. The team is still integrating winter signings like David Turnbull and Famara Diedhiou, who has been a backup option after failing to sign Kieffer Moore.

Cardiff's struggle to convert possession into goals has been a major issue this season, with defenders Perry Ng and Dimitrios Goutas leading the club's goal-scoring charts with five and four goals respectively.

Horvath; Romeo, Phillips, Goutas, Collins; Siopis, Wintle, Bowler, Colwill, Grant; Etete

After defeating QPR in the Championship on Valentine's Day, Stoke was unable to secure back-to-back wins for the first time since October when they suffered a narrow loss to Coventry last Saturday. Despite having more chances, Stoke could not score against Coventry's goalkeeper Ben Wilson, and Ellis Simms secured the victory for Coventry. Since sacking manager Alex Neil in 2023, Steven Schumacher has not been able to lift Stoke from the bottom of the table, with the team currently in 19th place, just three points ahead of QPR. Stoke has recently suffered 3-1 defeats against Sunderland and Blackburn, and their upcoming match against Cardiff City does not inspire much optimism, as Stoke has not won in their last five visits to the Cardiff City Stadium. The team has players like Andre Vidigal who can create moments of brilliance, as shown by his five goals in 23 appearances since joining Stoke in July 2023 from the Primeira Liga.

Iversen; Hoever, Wilmot, Rose, Thompson; Baker, Pearson, Gooch, Cundle, Vidigal; Lowe

Cardiff's season has started to plateau after a concerning series of results, and we do not foresee a turnaround in the Bluebirds' luck on Saturday. Stoke, under Schumacher, have shown increased competitiveness in recent games, and we anticipate that the Potters will have the quality to leave with at least a point when they return to Staffordshire.