- Team form: Cardiff City FC have won four, drawn one and lost one of their six home games in all competitions this season.
- Away form: Norwich City have won two and drawn one of their three away games in all competitions this term, conceding an average of 1.00 per game.
- Form players: Yousef Salech has scored three goals in his last five appearances as Cardiff have netted eight in the same period.
Bluebirds vs Canaries likely to be a tight match
Cardiff City FC come into this game as favorites at 2.32 but that looks a bit short as Norwich, who are 2.94, are also very capable of winning this one with the draw available at 3.35. Norwich have won two of the last three head-to-head encounters and Cardiff have won the other, so this has the feel of a real cup battle that could go either way.
Norwich hit four goals past Championship strugglers Milton Keynes Dons on Saturday, but were then brought down to earth by West Bromwich in the Championship. Norwich City have a mixed all-competitions form of four wins, three draws and three defeats across their last 10 matches and that suggests this will be a little more volatile than Cardiff's recent outings.
Cardiff beat AS Roma 4-1, saw off Swindon Town 3-2 and held Wrexham to a 1-1 draw in their last three games in league and cup and that puts Brian Barry-Murphy's men in great shape to win this game. Cardiff City FC are playing a smart possession-based game where they try to control the ball in the best positions and then press high when they lose it.
Canaries can still catch Cardiff out
Tactical outlook
Philippe Clement's Norwich are a bit more flexible in terms of shape, but they are just as compact when they need to be and have more direct forward thrusts. Where the Canaries can hurt Cardiff is on their selective vertical runs, but Cardiff can control Norwich by restricting space in the half with their first approach to the game.
Stats and betting
- Norwich have conceded an average of just 1.00 goals per game on the road so far this season and that is a good omen for this clash as Cardiff have scored and conceded an average of 2.0 goals per home game against the Canaries in the last five head-to-heads.
- Under 2.5 goals is our main bet at 1.85 with both teams not to score also of interest at 2.1.
