National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's Birmingham City or Cardiff City that keep their silverware dream alive.
It's no vacation for neither Birmingham nor Cardiff City as both were in action only a few days ago. Expect some tired legs on the pitch and/or possibly some changes to the lineups.
Birmingham City form and stats
Action has already taken place for Birmingham City in Carabao Cup as they have defeated Cheltenham Town to reach the 2nd Round. Last season, Birmingham's Carabao Cup journey ended in the 1st round.As mentioned below, Birmingham City are feasting on a winning streak here so far with maximum points from their first 2 Championship games.
A nice win for Birmingham City last time playing, versus Plymouth Argyle. That was also a home game and the match ended 2-1 with Hogan and Stansfield scoring for the victors. Birmingham City goalkeeper Ruddy did an outstanding job against Plymouth Argyle with six saves, so vital to securing the victory.
A strong away win before that one, visiting Bristol City and winning 2-0.The bookmakers consider this a fairly even contest. One could say only the home advantage separates the teams. It could be relevant to look at how Birmingham City have performed in matches similar to this (as small favourites). Our database has found 11 matches with the results: Won 4, drawn 2 and lost 5.
Another home game is coming up fairly shortly for the hosts, as Millwall are coming to town in four days.
Birmingham City has scored {3 goals} so far and conceded {1 goals} from 2 home games. These are numbers from the league only.
Cardiff City form and stats
The traveling awayteam has defeated Colchester United in order to reach 2nd round of Carabao Cup. Cardiff's mission in Carabao Cup last season failed in the 1st round.The Championship season is young and Cardiff City have only just started going through their travel schedule, with 2 away games done and still no victory. 1 draw and 1 defeat so far.
The regulars enjoyed Cardiff City's previous fixture versus Sheffield Wednesday, a 2-1 win played at home. Wintle came off the bench to score the winning goal in the match against Sheffield Wednesday last time out, making the manager Bulut feel like a tactical genius. Midfield player Ralls was the top player of the team with a match rating of 7.41/10. Ralls hit two key passes and dribled past the opponent 1 of 1 times.
Preceding that game, the 1-2 loss visiting Leicester City's place.So, this is expected to be a close game, an even contest. Looking at earlier matches with Cardiff City playing away and similar expectations, we found 13 relevant matches. Results were 5 Cardiff City wins, 0 draws and 8 defeats.
There might be some complaints about the fixture list from the Cardiff City manager Bulut as the team has another away game coming up in only four days, this time against Ipswich Town.
Cardiff City have the goal stats of 3-4 (for/against) from 2 business trips in the league at this early stage of the season.
Head 2 Head
Cardiff City have pulled off a sequence of 9 consecutive matches without defeat (6-3-0) when playing Birmingham.Top Goalscorers
  I. Ugbo 3 goals |   Lukas Jutkiewicz 2 goals |  S. Hogan 1 goals |
Birmingham City missing players
Cardiff City missing players
| Birmingham City | Cardiff City | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 9 | Played | P | 12 | 25 | ||
| 11 | 4 | Won | W | 3 | 8 | ||
| 4 | 1 | Drew | D | 2 | 6 | ||
| 10 | 4 | Lost | L | 7 | 11 | ||
| 27 | 7 | Scored | S | 12 | 31 | ||
| 28 | 7 | Conceded | C | 23 | 38 | ||
| 96% | 89% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 92% | 96% | ||
| 68% | 44% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 83% | 84% | ||
| 36% | 22% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 67% | 56% | ||
| 12% | 0% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 42% | 32% | ||
| 8% | 0% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 8% | 8% | ||
| 44% | 22% | BTTS | BTTS | 50% | 60% | ||
| 36% | 44% | Clean Sheets | C S | 8% | 16% | ||
| 24% | 44% | Failed to Score | F T | 50% | 28% | ||
| 4 | 5.2 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 3.9 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 5.6 | 5 | ||
| 1.6 | 1.6 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1.6 | 1.4 | ||
| 0 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 2 | 3 | ||
| 10.9 | 10.2 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 10.4 | 10.6 | ||
| 4.1 | 3.1 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 3.8 | 3.6 | ||
| 26% | 25% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 27% | 34% | ||
| 11.2 | 12.9 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 13.3 | 10.7 | ||
| 3.7 | 3.9 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 5.2 | 3.7 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Leicester City | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 12 |
| 2 | Norwich City | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 10 |
| 3 | Birmingham City | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 10 |
| 4 | Southampton | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
| 5 | Preston North End | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
| 6 | Ipswich Town | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| 7 | West Bromwich Albion | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| 8 | Hull City | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| 9 | Blackburn Rovers | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 10 | Stoke City | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 11 | Millwall | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 6 |
| 12 | Coventry City | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 13 | Leeds United | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| 14 | Bristol City | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -1 | 5 |
| 15 | Watford | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 16 | Plymouth Argyle | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 17 | Cardiff City | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 4 |
| 18 | Sunderland | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 4 |
| 19 | Queens Park Rangers | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 7 | -5 | 3 |
| 20 | Swansea City | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 2 |
| 21 | Rotherham United | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | -5 | 1 |
| 22 | Middlesbrough | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | -6 | 1 |
| 23 | Huddersfield Town | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | -7 | 1 |
| 24 | Sheffield Wednesday | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | -5 | 0 |
- Birmingham City
- Birmingham Mail - (local newspaper)
- Cardiff City
- Wales Online - (local newspaper)
