Six years to the day that Cardiff City Stadium first hosted a league match, a 4 - 0 home win for City over Scunthorpe, the Bluebirds welcome Fulham to the capital for the start of the 2015 / 16 season.
Early team news:
Cardiff are without central defenders Bruno Manga and Ben Turner for their Sky Bet Championship opener against Fulham on Saturday.
Gabon international Manga, Cardiff's player of the season last year, and Turner miss the lunchtime kick-off with respective knee and ankle injuries and they will be joined on the sidelines by striker Kenwyne Jones who has what manager Russell Slade has described as a minor muscle injury.
Matt Connolly and Sean Morrison seem likely to form a central defensive partnership with Simon Moore in goal as Scotland international David Marshall, a target for West Brom, is suspended for three games following his red card at Nottingham Forest on the final day of last season.
Aron Gunnarsson should overcome a hip injury to feature and Sammy Ameobi, signed on a season-long loan deal from Newcastle, and Alex Revell will compete to start alongside Joe Mason in attack.
Mason has been impressive in pre-season scoring four goals since returning from a successful loan spell at Bolton.
Fulham will travel to south Wales without summer signing Luke Garbutt.
The left-back, on loan from Everton, suffered an ankle injury during the pre-season friendly against Crystal Palace last weekend and is expected to be out for between four and six weeks.
Scott Parker and George Williams will also miss the big kick-off as they continue their recoveries from injury, while Fernando Amorebieta is absent having undergone surgery.
Adam Taggart has a hamstring problem and a late check will be made on the Australian striker.
The managers:
Russell Slade
'We are really pleased with the way pre-season has gone. There`s been a lot of detail, a lot of preparation work went into it. We are in a good place. Pre-season is about fitness levels and getting to a certain level. It`s about an acceptable level because you can`t get that elsewhere once you lose those six weeks. The games have come on top of that too. We think we made progress in the pre-season games and that really what it is about. We are ready to go.'
Kit Symons
The officials:
Referee: DARREN BOND
Assistants: Ronald Ganfield and Danny Gratton
Fourth Official: Kevin Johnson
MATCH FACTS
- Cardiff have only lost one of their last nine games at home on the opening day (W5 D3).
- Fulham have not beaten Cardiff in their last five attempts (D1 L4).
- Since 1993, this match has occurred in each of the top four divisions of English football.
- Cardiff have scored in each of their last 12 league encounters with Fulham, netting 27 in the process.
- Ross McCormack provided the joint-second most assists for a striker last season (9), after Bournemouth's Yann Kermorgant (10).
- Only relegated Blackpool (91) shipped more goals in the 2014-15 Championship than Fulham (83).