Looking to bounce back from their opening day defeat in the EFL Championship, Cardiff City will host Bristol Rovers at the Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday in the first round of the EFL Cup.
While the hosts lost their first league match of 2024-25, the visitors secured a last-gasp victory against Northampton Town in their League One opener.
Match preview
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After narrowly avoiding an unthinkable relegation into League One in 2022-23, surviving only thanks to other teams being deducted points, Erol Bulut took charge ahead of the 2023-24 campaign.
Under the guidance of the Turkish manager, Cardiff saw significant improvements, finishing 12th with 62 points from 46 games, just 11 points behind the playoffs and 12 points clear of the drop zone.
Bulut's task throughout his second season at the Cardiff City Stadium will be to bridge the gap between the middle of the table and the top six, particularly through establishing greater consistency in their performances and results compared to the last campaign.
However, despite dominating possession with 65% of the ball in their opening Championship game, Cardiff were unable to capitalise and fell to a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Sunderland at their home ground.
Bulut will be hoping for a more clinical performance from his side when they face lower-league opposition, Bristol Rovers, in the first round of the EFL Cup on Tuesday.
Their opponents picked up a deserved victory from their opening match of the 2024-25 League One season, defeating Northampton Town 1-0 thanks to a 92nd-minute winner from Bryant Akono Bilongo on his debut for the club.
Remarkably, that was Bristol Rovers' first win on the opening day of a league season since 2011, ending a long unwanted streak in a campaign where they aim to build on last year's 15th-place finish.
Matt Taylor's first pre-season in charge of the club, having taken over the managerial position in December 2023, was a largely successful one, winning five of their seven friendlies.
However, their pre-season ended on a sour note with a 2-0 defeat to Tuesday's opponents at the Memorial Stadium, a result unlikely to boost the Pirates' confidence ahead of this one.
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Team News
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The hosts will remain without Isaak Davies, Jamilu Collins, Kion Etete and Ryotaro Tsunoda for this match, with all four still recovering from injury issues.
Bulut could opt to name a strong side for this match as he seeks Cardiff's first win of the season, meaning Aaron Ramsey and Callum Robinson could be amongst the starters again.
As for Bristol Rovers, summer signing Jake Garrett could get his first competitive minutes for the club since joining from Blackburn Rovers alongside Kamil Conte in the midfield.
Scott Sinclair and Promise Omochere could also continue their partnership in attack, playing just ahead of attacking midfielder Isaac Hutchinson.
Cardiff City possible starting lineup:
Horvath; Ng, Chambers, Goutas, O'Dowda; Siopis, Ralls; Tanner, Ramsey, Willock; Robinson
Bristol Rovers possible starting lineup:
Griffiths; Moore, Wilson, Mola; Thomas, Conteh, Garrett, Bilongo; Hutchinson; Sinclair, Omochere
We say: Cardiff City 2-0 Bristol Rovers
Despite losing their opening game of the season, and Bristol Rovers winning theirs, Cardiff boast a much stronger side, owing to the fact they play a division higher, and the hosts should comfortably win this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ellis Stevens
