Any result for Cardiff today against free scoring and title contenders Liverpool will be seen as a shock.
The Bluebirds are going to need to pull results from somewhere though as we have just eight games of the season remaining with Cardiff in the bottom three.
City were cruelly denied a point at Everton last weekend. Can they take something from the red side of Liverpool this weekend?
They will have to keep the SAS (Suarez and Sturridge) strike partnership quiet and also Cardiff need to score goals. While Liverpool find the net at will, Cardiff struggle to create the chances that will give them a hope of winning games.
This is one of the most anticipated games of the season at CCS with lots of 'local' Liverpool supporters likely to finaly see their heros (sic) playing in South Wales.
Early team news
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has no new injury concerns ahead of the trip to struggling Cardiff.
He will select from the same squad which defeated Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford last weekend and there are likely to be few changes to the starting line-up.
Midfielder Lucas Leiva and Mamadou Sakho both returned to the bench for that game after long lay-offs and will be included again in south Wales.
Cardiff will continue their fight against relegation from the Barclays Premier League when they host title-chasing Liverpool on Saturday.
Bluebirds manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has pretty much a fully-fit squad to choose from, with Cardiff encouraged by last weekend's performance at Everton, when they succumbed to an injury-time goal.
Match Appointments
Referee: Neil Swarbrick. Assistants: R West, J Flynn. Fourth Official: L Collins.
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
- Liverpool have not won at Cardiff City since a 2-1 victory on 1 April 1929.
- Cardiff have won 18 of the previous 31 encounters, Liverpool 10 and there have been three draws.
- The Reds beat the Bluebirds 3-1 on 21 December to move top of the league.
- Before this season the sides last met in the league in 1959-60, when Cardiff completed the double over Liverpool. One of those matches, a 4-0 win at Anfield, was Bill Shankly's first match in charge of the Reds.
Cardiff City
- Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has won just two of his 10 league games since taking over at Cardiff (W2, D1, L7).
- They have lost eight top-flight away matches in a row for the first time since December 1928 to March 1929, but have been defeated in just one of their last four home matches.
- Cardiff have only scored six first-half goals in the league this season, the fewest in the top flight.
- They have kept just one clean sheet in their last 14 league matches.
- After their match with Liverpool, their next five fixtures are against West Brom, Crystal Palace, Southampton, Stoke and Sunderland.
Liverpool
- The last time they failed to score in a league match was against Arsenal on 2 November, 19 matches ago.
- They have only failed to score in two league matches all season (Arsenal and Southampton).
- The Reds have scored 48 first-half goals in the league this season, two more than Manchester United have in total.
- Only one team (Arsenal) have kept a clean sheet against Liverpool in their last 17 Premier League away trips.
- Liverpool have been awarded more penalties than any other top-flight side this season (10) and they have now won 126 penalties in Premier League history, more than any other club.
- Luis Suarez is only the second player to score 25 Premier League goals for Liverpool in a single season after Robbie Fowler managed it twice.
Teams
Cardiff (from): Marshall, Lewis, Turner, Theophile-Catherine, Fabio, John, Caulker, Campbell, Daehli, Medel, Eikrem, Mutch, Noone, Kim, Jones, Cala, Bellamy, Zaha, Taylor, Whittingham, Gunnarsson, Cowie, McNaughton.
Liverpool (from): Mignolet, Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Flanagan, Gerrard, Allen, Henderson, Sterling, Sturridge, Suarez, Jones, Sakho, Cissokho, Toure, Lucas, Alberto, Coutinho, Aspas, Teixeira, Moses.