Do not uncork bubbly yet, Neil
CARDIFF will look to take another stride towards promotion when they travel to Sheffield United today.
The Bluebirds have won their last eight Championship games and could move 10 points clear of thirdplaced Fulham with another victory.
Beating the Blades would also put them back within three points of leaders Wolves, who are in action at home to Hull tomorrow.
But Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce believes Cardiff boss Neil Warnock should not crack open the bubbly yet, despite Villa taking one point from three games after Saturday’s goalless draw at Hull.
“Cardiff have been on an amazing run but they have some tough games on the horizon and they have still to come to ours,” said Bruce.
Preston host Derby today and the Rams will be anxious to get back to winning ways after their recent poor run continued with a shock 4-1 loss to Sunderland.
Derby defender Curtis Davies said: “It’s getting a bit boring, having these same talks. It’s about time we put a win on the board and started concentrating on this play-off place.”
At the other end of the table, Birmingham midfielder Jacques Maghoma believes Jota can fire their side to safety. The Spanish playmaker made it three goals in two games in a 1-0 win over Ipswich on Saturday, lifting them out of the drop zone.
“He’s a special talent,” said Maghoma. “He’s hitting form at the right time and hopefully we’ll start looking up rather than over our shoulder.” 1 Man City 2 Man Utd 3 Liverpool 4 Tottenham 5 Chelsea 6 Arsenal 7 Burnley 8 Leicester 9 Everton 10 Bournemouth 11 Watford 12 Newcastle 13 Brighton 14 West Ham 15 Swansea 16 Huddersfield 17 Crystal Palace 18 Southampton 19 Stoke 20 West Brom
P W
31 14 31 13 32 10 31 10 31 10 31 12 31 6 31 6 32 9 32 6 32 6 31 6 31 6 31 6 31 6 32 5 32 4 31 3 32 5 32 2
D L F A
1 0 51 10 2 1 35 7 6 0 38 10 4 1 31 9 2 4 27 14 2 2 42 17 4 5 12 12 5 4 21 17 2 5 26 21 4 6 23 26 5 5 24 28 4 6 16 15 6 4 21 23 4 5 19 20 2 7 15 19 5 6 15 22 5 7 19 25 7 6 16 21 4 7 17 25 7 7 17 26
W D
13 8 9 9 7 3 6 5 2 3 4 3 2 2 2 3 3 2 1 1 2 3 3 3 3 4 6 5 5 6 2 4 4 5 5 2 4 6 5 4
L F
1 37 4 25 4 37 4 31 5 26 8 16 4 17 6 26 9 12 7 16 10 17 8 15 9 7 9 20 9 10 11 10 9 12 7 13 10 12 11 8
A
11 16 25 17 16 24 15 26 32 25 29 25 19 37 25 31 25 26 36 25
Pts
84 68 66 64 56 51 46 43 40 37 37 35 34 33 31 31 30 28 27 20