Dear Santa, can I have six wins this Christmas... will Slade’s seasonal wish come true?
With fixtures coming thick and fast, the festive period could be decisive for City
back into the top-six at a very opportune moment. As Santa packs his sleigh, the Bluebirds suddenly find themselves with their play-off destiny in their own hands. If Slade has called for consistency from his men then right now would be the perfect time for his side to finally heed that call.
Six festive fixtures lie ahead, four of them at home, and in the next three games in particular there is the chance not only to enhance their own ambitions, but the opportunity too to deal a bow to those around them as well.
This weekend’s home clash with Sheffield Wednesday already stacks up as the proverbial ‘six-pointer.’ The Bluebirds are in sixth just on goal difference from the Owls and how they would love to open a gap on them. A trip to Birmingham and the arrival of Brentford next presents a similar scenario with both sides currently just a point behind the Bluebirds. A Boxing Day trip to Milton Keynes, a home tie with Nottingham Forest and the visit of Blackburn early in the new year round off the vital half dozen. All the games are winnable, the chance is there and if the Bluebirds can seize it, their position when the FA Cup third round comes a calling could be extremely healthy indeed.
Let’s take a look at those next six fixtures in more detail. Carlos Carvalhal’s Wednesday remain for many a surprise package this term although at a club the size of the Owls, expectations have always remained high. Wednesday arrive in the Welsh capital hardly in scintillating form. They have one win in the last five although a battling 0-0 draw with high-flying Derby last time out shows what a tough nut they will be to crack. Just two wins on the road this season too (the same record as Cardiff ) illustrates the Yorkshireclub are not the best travellers. December 15 - Brentford (h) The Londoners over-achieved last season in many people’s opinion and they are at it again despite managerial upheaval with Dean Smith recently put in charge and seeing a good 2-0 win over MK Dons in his first full game in charge. In form terms actually The Bees are buzzing, that latest victory was their sixth in a nine game run that has seen them lose just once. December 18 - Birmingham (a) The Blues maybe just a point behind Cardiff right now, but they have hit and slump and how. Indeed their misfortune has handed Cardiff the keys to the play-offs. After a fantastic start to the season, Gary Rowett’s men are suffering. They have just one win their last seven games, a sequence which has actually seen them lose five times. Only Huddersfield