Preview: Cardiff City vs. Huddersfield Town - prediction, team news, lineups

Relegation-threatened Cardiff City are in desperate need of a win as they prepare to take on promotion-chasing Huddersfield Town in South Wales on Saturday afternoon.

The Bluebirds are now just one point clear of the bottom three, while Huddersfield enter the midweek round of fixtures level on points with the top six.

Match preview

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Cardiff appeared to turn a corner when scoring three times in the space of five minutes to rescue a 3-3 comeback draw at Stoke City last weekend.

That incredible comeback in caretaker boss Steve Morison's first game in charge halted a run of eight successive losses for the Bluebirds, seven of those without scoring.

However, Morison's men could not build on that point on Wednesday as they fell 1-0 at home to Queens Park Rangers - Andre Gray scoring the only goal in that midweek contest.

Cardiff started the game positively enough, but there could be few complaints about the scoreline come full time, and they are now only a point above 22nd-place Barnsley.

City's defeat was bad news for Huddersfield, as it meant QPR leapfrogged them in the battle for a top-six finish.

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The Terriers had climbed up to fifth on Tuesday with a 1-1 draw at Peterborough United, though that was considered a disappointing result for Carlos Corberan.

Danny Ward gave Town the lead with 74 minutes played, only for Jonson Clarke-Harris to hit back for Peterborough late on.

Huddersfield have now alternated between a defeat and a draw in their last four away games and have won only two of their last 10 league games on their travels.

This is the perfect opportunity to put that right, though, as Cardiff have lost six in a row at home and have failed to score in the last five of those.

The good news for the Bluebirds is that they are unbeaten in their last 15 games against Huddersfield in all competitions since a 1-0 defeat in January 2003.

Team News

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After making plenty of changes for his first game in charge, Morison made just a slight tweak for the QPR match by bringing in Marlon Pack for Leandro Bacuna.

Joe Ralls made a return from injury as a late substitute in that midweek defeat and will be pushing for a start here, possibly at the expense of Will Vaulks.

Kieron Evans did not make much of an impact against QPR, so fellow academy product Mark Harris is a candidate to slot into the attack.

As for Huddersfield, Corberan named an unchanged lineup between the weekend win over Millwall and midweek draw with Peterborough.

Town remain without a handful of injured players, but Corberan still has the option to rotate in certain areas should he wish.

Fraizer Campbell has started three games this season in the league and has an outside chance of a recall here against his former club.

Cardiff City possible starting lineup:
Smithies; McGuiness, Morrison, Nelson; Ng, Ralls, Pack, Giles; Colwill, Harris; Moore

Huddersfield Town possible starting lineup:
Nicholls; Pearson, Lees, Colwill; Thomas, Hogg, O'Brien, Toffolo; Sinani, Campbell, Koroma

We say: Cardiff City 1-1 Huddersfield Town

Huddersfield have been in far better form than Cardiff this season and will be looking to inflict a seventh successive home defeat on their opponents.

However, the Terriers do not have the best of records against City, especially at the Cardiff City Stadium where they are winless in seven attempts, so we are backing a draw here.

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