Derby day three!

CARDIFF City and Swansea City will meet for the third time this season ahead of the restart of the 2019/20 Championship campaign.

Neil Harris’ Bluebirds will lock horns with Steve Cooper’s Swans in a behind-closed-doors friendly fixture this weekend.

The game will take place on Saturday and has been arranged to enable the two sides get ready for the restart of the Championship, which has been on hold since March owing to the coronavirus outbreak.

It will also give Cardiff and Swansea, who are each still firmly in the mix for promotion, the opportunity to become accustomed to a proper game with no fans ahead of the real business beginning the following weekend.

The Bluebirds and Swans are not disclosing the venue of the game, or the kick-off time, due to legitimate concerns from the police and authorities.

Harris’ men are ninth in the table, two points behind sixth-placed Preston while Cooper’s side are 11th, three points adrift of the play-off spots.

It has been confirmed that the Championship will resume on June 20, with Swansea’s first postlockdown match coming against Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium while Cardiff face league leaders Leeds in the Welsh capital the following day.

The Welsh rivals faced off for the first time in more than five years in October, with Swansea emerging victorious at the Liberty Stadium thanks to Ben Wilmot’s first half header.

But the spoils were shared in the reverse fixture at Cardiff City Stadium in January as the Bluebirds avoided being the victims of a first league double in the fixture.

Saturday’s game is only a friendly, of course, but Cardiff and Swansea will each be keen to come out on top as they seek to head back into their Championship openers with momentum.