TOUGH TIMES AHEAD

BLUEBIRDS MANAGER WARNOCK ON WHY THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS WILL BE THE HARDEST WEEK OF CITY’S SEASON SO FAR

PLUS

HOW KADEEM HARRIS TALKS LED TO MOVE TO WEDNESDAY

NEIL Warnock believes he is preparing his Cardiff City side for what will be the “toughest week of their season”.

The Bluebirds welcome Sheffield Wednesday to Cardiff City Stadium tonight, before facing Millwall and south Wales rivals Swansea City next week.

That 10-day period could have a big bearing on how the team moves forward for the rest of the season and Warnock believes his side will face few more difficult spells over the course of the season.

“You’ve got to say, with all the travelling involved up to London as well, it will probably be the toughest week we will have this season,” the Bluebirds boss said.

“I will have to look at using the squad. Usually I just work on one game at a time, but this is a big week and I think we will have to use the squad over the next three games.”

Warnock might well be forced into a couple of rotations, with the manager revealing a couple of key stars are yet to return from the international break.

Ahead of the international break, the Bluebirds boss was furious at the TV schedulers for once again allocating them the Friday night slot, but held his hands up to say he had the option to play the game on Sunday and afford his returning stars two extra days of rest.

But he thought the players would be back from international break on Wednesday, having played on Monday and Tuesday, but said that had not been possible, which could well factor into his selections for the clash against Wednesday.

“They’re not all back, there’s a couple missing at the minute,” he said yesterday morning.

“Neil Etheridge and Junior Hoilett are not back yet. Hopefully we can get them back, we will have a look today, we are training a little later to see if we can get them back for training today.”

Warnock revealed that Joe Ralls’ thigh injury appears to have subsided, meaning he will be available for selection against the Owls, but Sol Bamba is likely not to be considered.

The manager is cautious of throwing Bamba straight back into the first team given his age, 34, and the severity of the knee injury he sustained in March.

He will likely have to play in an under-23s game, which they are trying to arrange, before he is in contention for first-team selection.

Sheffield Wednesday could go top tonight, but manager Garry

Monk is not reading too much into league tables at this stage of the season.

“I don’t think league placings are really important right now. It doesn’t mean a thing. Forget league placings; that is for everybody else to talk about,” said the former Swansea boss, who is expecting a ‘warm’ welcome from home fans on his return to Wales.

“It is great to be in a healthy position and, of course, you are aware of it (the table) but it means nothing at this moment. Every team understand that but it is good to be collecting points and trying to gain points regularly.”

Monk is aware of the task facing his side , saying: “They have come down but managed to keep the nucleus of that squad together. They have got the experience of Premier League football behind them and the experience of getting out of this league.

“They are a strong outfit. We know how they approach it and it will be a tough, physical game for us but they have also got quality in their ranks.

“They have that extra experience and quality in the sense that they know what it takes to win games in this league and so does the manager.”