Cardiff City vs Everton. Premier League.
Cardiff City StadiumAttendance31,849.
Cardiff vs Everton preview: Bluebirds without Oumar Niasse
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Tuesday 26 February 2019 18:56, UK
Oumar Niasse will not feature for Cardiff as they host Everton in the Premier League on Tuesday as he is ineligible.
Niasse is currently on loan with the Welsh club from Everton and cannot play against his parent club, although he is yet to score for Cardiff since his January move.
Neil Warnock's side are looking to bounce back from their 5-1 defeat to Watford on Friday against an Everton side who have not played for over two weeks.
"They've had a long time without a game so I would imagine they'll be very organised," Warnock said. "The manager (Marco Silva) works very hard on the training ground with the structure and, with the players they've got, it will be difficult.
"We saw them against Watford, who beat us five, and they weren't far behind and could have won on the day. So I class these teams in the same sort of bracket."
Marco Silva and Everton have struggled to live up to expectations this season - losing five of their last six games in all competitions - and are seven points behind Watford in seventh spot.
"We don't have to change nothing, I'm not happy with last results or position but everything is open for us and we don't have to change what was our goal at the start of the season," Silva said. "We have to look at each match as a final for us, playing with confidence is main thing for us now."
Team news
Kenneth Zohore is challenging for a first start since the end of September in Niasse's absence, although the versatile Callum Paterson could be switched from a wide to a central role.
Aron Gunnarsson is expected to return after being rested for the 5-1 home defeat to Watford, while Lee Peltier and Bobby Reid will be checked after illness and Cardiff await an update on Victor Camarasa's calf injury.
Defenders Phil Jagielka (knee) and Leighton Baines (rib) are fit to return to Everton's squad and have both benefited from the Toffees' long lay-off over the last fortnight to get themselves back into contention.
It could mean Jagielka makes his first start since the opening day of the season as fellow centre-back Yerry Mina, sidelined for a month with a foot problem, remains a doubt while Kurt Zouma serves a one-match suspension.
Opta stats
Cardiff have won just one of their last 11 meetings with Everton in all competitions (D4 L6), winning 1-0 in a League Cup match in September 1979.
Everton have won just one of their last 12 top-flight away games against Cardiff (D4 L7), and are winless in their last six. Their last such victory there was in March 1929 (2-0).
Everton are looking to do the league double over Cardiff for the first time since 1928-29.
Cardiff have never won a midweek Premier League game (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday), drawing three and losing six. They've scored just two goals in those nine games and have conceded at least twice in each defeat.
Cardiff have conceded more home Premier League goals than any other side this season (28), conceding five times on three separate occasions (0-5 v Man City, 1-5 v Man Utd, 1-5 v Watford).
Everton have lost their last three Premier League games. They've not lost four in a row since January 2015 under Roberto Martinez.
Cardiff defender Sol Bamba has scored in each of his last two Premier League games, scoring twice. He has four goals this season, a joint-league-high for the Bluebirds along with Bobby Reid and Callum Paterson.
Marco Silva has won an average of 1.22 Premier League points per game as Everton manager, the worst ratio of any Toffees manager since Walter Smith, who departed the club in March 2002 with a 1.15 ratio.
Neil Warnock has never lost a home match against Everton in all competitions (P3 W1 D2 L0), avoiding defeat with Notts County in March 1992 (0-0), Sheffield United in March 2007 (1-1) and Leeds United in September 2012 (2-1).
Merson's prediction
Big game for Cardiff. You looked at the two home games against Watford and Everton, and perhaps thought that if they win both they've got a chance, then they get rinsed 5-1 by Watford.
This is a still a big football match, but I think that defeat has knocked Cardiff sideways and to bounce back from that would take some doing.
I think Cardiff will have a big eye on Southampton's game against Fulham, because if Southampton don't win, they're in major trouble again.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-2 (8/1 with Sky Bet)
