Cardiff vs Burnley (preview)

Burnley travel to Ninian Park for a top-of-the-table clash with Cardiff City in excellent form. Neither team was expected to be doing so well in November but both clubs have excellent managers truly getting the best out of the two smallest squads in the Championship. Cardiff are so far unbeaten at home and only Derby and West Brom have taken a point away.

The Clarets are unbeaten in 7 games and have won their most recent three, including a win over fierce local rivals Preston North End, currently in 2nd place. Their talented manager Steve Cotterill has been linked with numerous vacant managerial posts and has won the Manager of the Month award for last month. They have a prolific scorer in Andy Gray up front, with 9 league goals already to his name and the re-vitalised Gifton Noel-Williams with 4 goals. One familiar face in the Burnley ranks is that of former loan player Alan Mahon, Mahon is a left-sided midfield player who played at Cardiff under Lennie Lawrence during the 2002-03 season scoring 2 goals for the Bluebirds on loan from Blackburn Rovers. Mahon moved to Burnley on loan last season and joined on a permanent deal during the summer, Mahon is expected to start tomorrow`s game on the bench.

Cardiff City will have cultured midfielder Stephen McPhail available after his ban was overturned but Kerrea Gilbert (Shoulder) and Steve Thompson (Achilles) will miss out. James Chambers and Kevin Campbell respectively will deputise. With some of the squad looking slightly jaded in the past couple of games, some changes could be made to freshen up the starting XI with Malvin Kamara and Willo Flood patiently waiting for their chances but Jones is likely to stick with his preferred side and keep Paul Parry on the right.

New section in the VitalCardiff forum for score predictions, VitalCardiff predicting a score draw between two good quality and hard working sides.

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