Saturday, November 15, 2008

Cardiff City vs Crystal Palace preview

There has been a gap in the blog this week as it was a slow news week without anything much to report.

It changes today however as City are home to Crystal Place but, unfortunately, I won't be there due to a family wedding. I've missed less than 20 home games of all types (friendly, testimonial, league, cup, Europe) in over 40 years since first going as 6 year old. The last game I missed, 3 years ago, was also due to a family occasion (a Golden Wedding anniversary that time).

Why do people get married on Saturday afternoons during the football season? They clearly have their priorities wrong.

Back to the game and it's billed as Michael Chopra's homecoming. There is a real buzz about it but, sadly, it appears that he won't be partnering up with Ross McCormack. The dynamic Scotsman was pulled from training on Thursday with a small pull on his hamstring and looks set to miss this encounter plus Scotland's prestige friendly with Argentina next week. So it appears the only change from QPR will be the return of Mark Kennedy post-injury which is timely with Miguel Comminges serving a 1 match ban following his red card.

There may be a big story though as skipper Darren Purse won his red appeal, earned ion the same QPR game, so can play but boss Dave Jones is considering Gabor Gypes who has impressed in a couple of recent sub outings and who, to many City fans, on the limited evidence so far looks at least as good as Purse without Purse's lack of pace and reckless lunges.

Regardless of personnel, it's a must win after 2 defeats and City hanging onto 6th spot with their recent gap over the chasing pack now closed.

A quick word on Neil Warnock's Crystal Palace who visit NP Towers in a disappointing 16th place, 5 points behind City. They have some good players but have, so far, been frustratingly inconsistent as shown by the last 3 result - home defeat to bottom of the table Nottingham Forest, home draw with Sheffield Wednesday but good 2-0 win at Coventry last weekend.

*Due to the wedding, I won't be updating this blog until Sunday night/Monday morning but I hope to be reporting a good City win. Here's hoping!

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