Cardiff City will be the first visitors to Bloomfield Road of the 2021/22 Championship season on Saturday as they travel to face Blackpool. 

Both clubs started their campaign with 1-1 draws, though the Tangerines grabbed a late equaliser while Cardiff let a one-goal lead slip.

Mick McCarthy will likely see a trip to newly-promoted Blackpool as the perfect chance for the Bluebirds to claim their first win of the season but the Championship is never quite as easy as that.

Neil Critchley's side are going to be up for it in front of their home support and high in confidence after beating Middlesbrough 3-0 in the EFL Cup in midweek.

McCarthy will know his side will need to be at the races to claim all three points and with that in mind, we've outlined the starting XI we expect him to select...

Dillon Phillips looks set to reprise his role in goal after an impressive display against Barnsley but McCarthy will have to make a change to his backline.

The injury to Mark McGuinness means that Sean Morrison could return after featuring against Sutton United in midweek, joining Curtis Nelson and Aden Flint at centre-back.

It would be a surprise to see Cardiff move away from the midfield four that started against Barnsley, with Marlon Pack partnering Joe Ralls in the centre, 19-year-old Joel Bagan on the left, and Perry Ng on the right.

Wolves loanee Ryan Giles looked devastating at times against the Tykes and is a player that Blackpool will likely be paying a fair bit of attention to, while on the back of scoring a brace in his Bluebirds debut Marley Watkins could get the nod instead of Leandro Bacuna.

Bacuna looks to be something of a dilemma for the Cardiff boss having got himself in dangerous positions against the Tykes but failed to make the most of his opportunities.

McCarthy revealed in the pre-match press conference that Kieffer Moore is still working his way back to full fitness after starting in midweek, meaning that James Collins looks set to lead the line once again in tomorrow's game.