Burton Albion vs Cardiff City. Sky Bet Championship.
Pirelli StadiumAttendance5,050.
Friday 4 August 2017 13:51, UK
Burton begin their second season in the Sky Bet Championship at home to Cardiff but they will be without Liam Boyce and Ben Turner.
Striker Boyce, who joined the club from Ross County this summer in a club-record deal, will miss the entire 2017-18 campaign after suffering anterior cruciate ligament damage in last weekend's pre-season game against Shrewsbury.
Former Bluebirds defender Turner begins a five-game suspension after being found guilty of racially abusing Brentford midfielder Nico Yennaris in December last year.
Summer signings Matty Lund, Jake Buxton, Luke Murphy, Stephen Warnock and Hope Akpan are in contention for starting places.
Cardiff have been rocked by the news that Kadeem Harris faces up to three months on the sidelines. The 24-year-old winger impressed under Neil Warnock last season but he will undergo an ankle operation on Monday.
Summer signing Callum Paterson misses out with the knee injury the full-back suffered while at Hearts last December. Goalkeeper Lee Camp (knee) and defender Matt Connolly (ankle) are also absent, but Neil Etheridge, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Lee Tomlin are available to make their competitive Cardiff debuts.
After failing to win their first five opening day matches in the Football League, the Brewers have won two of the last three (L1).
Cardiff City have won four and drawn four of their last nine matches on the opening weekend of the season (L1).
Kenneth Zohore was directly involved in more goals than any other Cardiff player in 2016-17 (12 goals, 5 assists). Zohore failed to score or assist in both meetings with Burton last term.
Veteran manager Neil Warnock has lost just once in his last 10 opening day matches (W4 D5), losing 0-4 to Bolton while in charge of QPR in the Premier League.
This will be the fourth competitive meeting between Burton and Cardiff, with the home side winning all three previous clashes (Cardiff twice and Burton once)
Jackson Irvine was the only Burton player to reach double figures for goals in the Championship last season (10), but didn't provide a single assist.
