Cardiff City at a glance:
Premier League titles: Zero
FA Cups: 1 (1927), Runners up: twice (1925, 2008)
League Cups: 0 (best finish: finalists in 2012)
FA Community Shield: (1927)
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The Bluebirds haven’t spent in the manner of which their promotion counterparts Wolverhampton and Fulham have this summer, and maybe that is for the best.
Cardiff enters its first top-flight season since 2013/14, when the club exited immediately with a last-place finish in the PL.
Neil Warnock and his side will aim to complete a longer stay this time around, and with a squad that features many of last season’s key contributors from their Championship performance as runners up, Cardiff may be able to fly under the radar and make some noise in the process.
That said, Cardiff may have to be more active in the January transfer window if things don’t start off smoothly at Cardiff City Stadium.
Cardiff will contend because… Warnock’s ability to get his players to buy in to his style has already shone through since he took over the club prior to rising to the top flight.
Cardiff will end up fighting relegation because…. the club has always struggled in its bouts in the PL. Last time out, the Bluebirds finished dead last in the PL back in 2013/14, after having won the Championship the year prior to earn promotion.
Best possible XI:
Smithies
Peltier — Cunningham — Morrison — Bamba
Ralls — Reid — Gunnarsson — Mendez-Laing
Zohore — Hoilett
Transfers In: Greg Cunningham (Preston North End), Josh Murphy (Norwich City), Bobby Reid (Bristol City), Alex Smithies (Queens Park Rangers)
Transfers Out: Ogo Obi, Rhys Abbruzzee, Frédéric Gounongbe, Greg Halford, Matthew Kennedy (St Johnstone), Ben Wilson (Bradford City), Connor Young
Ranking their offseason: C
Smithies provides the club with an underrated goalkeeper to step in at the Cardiff City Stadium, and the Bluebirds stocked up in a few other key positions as well. Murphy and Cunningham provide the squad with depth on the left side of the pitch, particularly, the former, who shone through with Norwich City as a winger.
Star player: Junior Hoilett enters his third season with Cardiff as the club’s go-to goalscorer, and for the Canada international it will be an opportunity for redemption in the PL. Hoilett’s last go around in the top flight wasn’t everything he had anticipated while he was playing with Queens Park Rangers, so 2018 presents a new challenge for the 28-year-old.
Coach’s Corner: Neil Warnock has been around the block in just about every imaginable situation for a manager in England, so if anyone can keep the Bluebirds up it’ll be the Sheffield native. With Cardiff, Warnock has done his best managerial job in his tenured career, winning over 50.6 percent of his matches in charge, which includes guiding the club up to the PL.
PST Predicts: It’ll be a struggle for sure, as is the case for any club entering its first season in the PL, but Cardiff was wise with some of its underrated moves. We’ll have a real gauge of how good this team is after the first month-plus of the season, which includes a three-game stretch against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City.
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