Last Saturday City were joined atop the Championship by Middlesbrough. City's defeat at Bolton couple with Middlesbrough's 4 - 1 win at Charlton see City lead the division on goal difference.
Can the Bluebirds inflcit a fourth straight home defeat on the Addicks and come away from South East London with a victory?
City will continue to be without injured players Smith, Bellamy, Mutch and Maynard. Charlton meanwhile also have a lengthy injury list.
Lawrie Wilson has become the latest addition to Charlton's casualty list.
Wilson suffered a thigh injury during the first half of Saturday's 4-1 home defeat by Middlesbrough.
He is the third full-back currently crocked for the Addicks with Rhoys Wiggins still sidelined by a foot problem and Cedric Evina injuring his knee in training late last week.
Strikers Ricardo Fuller and Yann Kermorgant also remain in the treatment room.
Fuller has yet to recover from a hamstring injury and Kermorgant is out until the new year with a broken ankle.
Against a struggling team Cardiff really need to show their promotion pedigree and come away from The Valley with three points.
“Bolton was frustrating" says City winger Craig Noone, "and all the lads are frustrated, but you can’t dwell on it you can only hope decisions will go for you in the future,” added Noone, who has two goals in his last two games.
“You don’t sit down and dwell on the negatives because that is going to get you nowhere.
“I think some of the frustration will be out of us because we will be focusing on Charlton.
“You can’t write them off.
“They would not be in the Championship if they weren’t a good team.
“But we fancy ourselves going there. We want the three points to keep us at the top of the league.”
Charlton v Cardiff City.
Tuesday 7:45pm.