Cardiff City return to Championship action this evening as they face another tricky home task in Derby County, a side that will be desperate to win all three points in a bid to escape the drop.

After recent defeats, the Bluebirds themselves aren't exactly safe yet, but they are in a much better position now than they were in the earlier stages of Steve Morison's tenure and this will help to minimise the pressure on their shoulders going into this tie.

However, you feel a victory would all but seal their second-tier status for next term, so the importance of this match for the home side cannot be underestimated as they approach a winnable game from their perspective.

 

 

It's certainly a more winnable game compared to last Saturday, with the Bluebirds coming up against a formidable opponent in league leaders Fulham whilst also having to deal with a sickness bug outbreak at the same time.

Morison kept his cards close to his chest in terms of naming individuals when asked for an injury update yesterday, so it remains to be seen who's available in time for this clash and who will end up missing out.

Ahead of tonight's game though, we have selected the starting lineup we think he may go for.

In goal, Alex Smithies has done nothing wrong to be dropped, putting in an assured performance against the Cottagers and with that, surely keeping Dillon Phillips at bay for now. He will have been glad to only see one effort fly past him at the weekend.

Another man currently fending off competition for his spot is Alfie Doughty, who was reasonably sharp both defensively and offensively so Joel Bagan remains out for now, with Cody Drameh also proving to be an attacking threat on the right-hand side.

This leaves Perry Ng in the middle, who has been superb since adapting to a more central role. At this stage, Morison would surely benefit by having the Liverpudlian at centre-back for the long term considering how assured his displays have been.

He lines up alongside Mark McGuinness and Aden Flint, both of whom did reasonably well against the second tier's top goalscorer Aleksandar Mitrovic, even if there were one or two tricky moments for both.

The midfield remains the same with all three of Tommy Doyle, Joe Ralls and Will Vaulks doing a sufficient job in the middle of the park to retain their places.

Ralls starts as the further man forward in the middle of the park, having been so positive against Marco Silva's side on Saturday, though it was a tricky decision to pick between him and Rubin Colwill in terms of the advanced midfield spot.

Up top, Colwill still retains his place and could end up causing problems against the likes of Curtis Davies and Eiran Cashin, even with how impressive the latter has been for the Rams since stepping up to the first team.

However, the one change comes alongside Colwill with Jordan Hugill replacing James Collins. The latter didn't do too much wrong at the weekend - but did miss a glorious one-on-one opportunity to open the scoring.