Match Preview: Brighton v Cardiff City
How has it come down to this? Four months ago, Brighton were 12 points clear of the relegation zone and we were all looking up the table, eyes fixed firmly on the top 10.
Now, Cardiff City come to the Amex and it is probably a case of whoever wins this game, stays in the Premier League. A victory for the Albion will move us eight points clear of the Bluebirds, a gap that should be insurmountable when you consider two of their final four games are against Liverpool and Manchester United.
Defeat though doesn’t bear thinking about. Not only would it mean that Cardiff are within two points of Brighton, but it would also completely destroy the fragile confidence that Chris Hughton’s squad have left. They looked like they’d given up during Saturday’s 5-0 humiliation at the hands of Bournemouth.
Losing to one of only three sides left below us in the table would be a severe psychological blow. The Hughton out voices would get louder and a club that already seems to be teetering on the edge of crisis would be plunged into a full-blown one.
Put simply, it doesn’t get any bigger than this.
Who are Cardiff City?
Cardiff were formed in 1899 as Riverside AFC, an original name dreamt up because they played next to the River Taff. They became Cardiff City in 1908 and joined the Football League in 1920, winning the FA Cup in 1927. In rather a nice twist, the final took place on St George’s Day which meant King George V handing over the English FA Cup on the patron saint of England’s national day to a Welsh team. Being Welsh has had it’s advantages for City down the years as winning the Welsh Cup – a competition akin to the sort of thing you find on the back of a pack of cornflakes – earned them qualification for the European Cup Winner’s Cup and as a result, Ninian Park enjoyed some famous nights through the 1960s and 70s as the likes of Hamburg and Real Madrid came to visit. The 1990s were a more difficult time for City as they bounced between the bottom two divisions but the development of the originally-named Cardiff City Stadium and the chairmanship of former Bond villain Vincent Tan has seen them become a top-end Championship / bottom end Premier League club.
What are they like now?
Mr Tan has made some very strange decisions during his time at the helm such as changing the clubs colours from blue to red. He’s also made some very shrewd decisions, none more so than appointing Neil Warnock as manager in late 2016. Warnock guided the Bluebirds away from relegation in the second half of the 2016-17 season and then led them to the most unfancied of promotions last season. Many people tipped them to go straight back down, possibly even eclipsing Derby’s lowest ever points total, but Warnock has again worked miracles and they could yet survive. We have to hope they don’t, as chances are it will be at Brighton’s expense.
Which players should we be worried about?
Victor Camarasa has been a revelation with five goals from midfield and Cardiff will do well to hold onto him come the end of the season no matter what division they are in. Sol Bamba was a dominating force when we lost 2-1 away at Cardiff in November and on his day, Junior Hoilett can be a devastating winger. Fingers crossed he doesn’t have one of those.
What’s the Albion’s record like against Cardiff City?
Be grateful this game isn’t in the Welsh capital is all we can say. Brighton have a terrible record away in Cardiff, with just nine wins in 39 visits. We can very much sympathise with Uncle Bryn and his “There’s no way you’re getting me out in Cardiff” attitude given that form. It’s a different story though when it comes to the Bluebirds crossing the Severn Bridge and heading for Sussex, with the Albion having triumphed on 19 out of 37 home occasions. You have to go all the way back to 2005 to find the last time a City side left Brighton with all three points, a 2-1 win at Withdean in which Paul McShane scored for Brighton and Jason Koumas and Alan Lee Lee Lee Won’t You Score a Goal for netted for the visitors.
What’s the best WeAreBrighton.com memory of Cardiff City at home?
Cardiff’s notoriety for hooliganism during the early 00’s meant that, rather than risk letting a load of pissed up Welshmen loose in leafy Westdene on a Saturday afternoon, Sussex Police requested that Cardiff’s visit to Withdean in 2001 took place on a Thursday night. In the days before we ever featured on television, a stupid kick off time on a stupid day was all rather exciting. This was also around the time at which Cardiff chairman Sam Hammam would religiously submit a seven figure bid for Bobby Zamora in the run up to every Brighton v Cardiff game, only for Zamora to be completely nonplussed by the furore Hammam was trying to create to the point where he’d always manage to score against them. Cue a 1-0 win with Zamora on target.
What’s the worst WeAreBrighton.com memory of Cardiff City at home?
Being chased around Hove Park as a nine-year-old after one game against Cardiff in the 1990s wasn’t particularly enjoyable.
Who’s played for both sides?
City actually have an ex-Brighton player in their current squad in Joe Mattock, a man best remembered for a loan spell in which he had to miss a game after cutting his bollocks while attempting to shave them. Mark Walton and Alan Cork both left Withdean in 2000 to move to Ninian Park, Richard Carpenter came the other way and Charlie Oatway did time in jail while on the Bluebirds books several years before he rocked up at Withdean.
Other than football, what is Cardiff famous for?
As the capital of Wales, it is home to the Welsh Assembly and the Wales Millennium Centre. Cardiff Castle is slap bang in the middle of the city and just down the road you have Barry Island, a paradise that should be arguably Britain’s biggest tourist hot spot yet somehow isn’t.
Where’s the betting value for Brighton v Cardiff City?
The only thing you can say with any certainty surrounding Brighton at the minute is that we’re pretty terrible. That makes this an absolute nightmare game to try and bet on. Neither side is going to want to lose which makes both the draw at 23/10 and under 2.5 goals at 13/20 appealing. Given that Florin Andone didn’t manage a shot on target on Saturday and there is more chance of Prince Charles giving birth to a reincarnated Michael Jackson than there is of Chris Hughton playing two up front, Glenn Murray will surely return to the starting line up which makes him to score anytime at 29/20 a decent investment too.
Prediction?
It’s going to be horrible. A cagey 1-1 draw which in reality is a much better result for us than it is them.
