Tom Lawrence will make his Cardiff debut at home to MK Dons.
The Wales striker has joined from Leicester for the rest of the season after spending five months on loan at Cardiff's Sky Bet Championship rivals Blackburn.
Denmark Under-21 striker Kenneth Zohore, another transfer deadline day loan signing from Bluebirds owner Vincent Tan's Belgian club KV Kortrijk, is set to start his Cardiff career on the bench.
Defender Lee Peltier is available after serving his one-match ban in last weekend's 3-2 victory at Huddersfield.
New signing Alex Revell will have to wait for his Dons debut.
Revell swapped Cardiff for Milton Keynes this week on a free transfer but part of the deal was that he would not feature against his old club.
Another deadline-day arrival Jay Emmanuel-Thomas is in contention to make his first appearance after joining on loan from QPR. He will provide competition for the fit-again Nicky Maynard, who got 15 minutes under his belt in the FA Cup defeat against Chelsea on Sunday.
Carl Baker (ankle), Ben Reeves (thigh) and Matt Upson are continuing their recoveries from injury and remain unavailable to Dons boss Karl Robinson.
MATCH FACTS
- In four previous meetings each side has two victories, with both of Cardiff's wins coming in the League Cup in 2004/05 and 2008/09.
- MK Dons have already beaten Cardiff twice this season, once in the league and once in the League Cup and both by a 2-1 scoreline.
- Cardiff are unbeaten in 10 home league games (W6 D4) - only Sheffield Wednesday are on a current longer undefeated run (12).
- Only Bolton (4) have picked up fewer points away from home than MK Dons this season (7).
- After scoring just once in his previous 26 league appearances for Cardiff, Peter Whittingham scored a brace against Huddersfield last time out.
- Three of Josh Murphy's four goals this season have come in MK Dons' last seven Championship games.