Cardiff City v Swansea City: Bluebirds chase points as Swans eye more history
- Published
Swansea's Joel Latibeaudiere clashes with Cardiff's Joe Ralls during the most recent south Wales derby
The south Wales derby history books have been updated twice in 12 months thanks to the unprecedented success of Swansea City.
The challenge facing Cardiff City is to ensure the neighbours do not trigger another rewrite on Saturday.
Manage that and the Bluebirds will in the process have edged closer to securing their Championship status for next season.
It could be win-win, therefore, for Cardiff - but only if they find a way to stop a Swansea side who have gone win-win-win against their oldest rivals.
Welsh football's two grandest clubs have been slugging it out since 1912.
Before last season, neither side had ever registered two league wins over the other in the same campaign.
Swansea changed all that last April, when an extraordinary 4-0 victory at the Cardiff City Stadium saw them secure the fixture's first derby double, following a 3-0 home success in October 2021.
There was more misery for Cardiff earlier this season, when goals from Ollie Cooper and Michael Obafemi made Swansea the first club to register three successive league triumphs in Welsh club football's biggest game.
Now Russell Martin's team have the chance to break new ground once more by making it four wins in succession.
For Cardiff's fans, the idea of the double double, the quadruple as some have called it, does not bear thinking about.
Having managed only one victory and one goal in the last eight derbies, the capital-city club will surely feel they are due a change of fortune.
Another new man in the dugout
Sabri Lamouchi has won three of his nine games as Cardiff manager
Martin, Swansea's head coach since August 2021, is hoping to make it four south Wales derby wins from four attempts this weekend.
Remarkably, he is about to come up against his fourth different Cardiff manager, having already got the better of Mick McCarthy, Steve Morison and Mark Hudson.
Sabri Lamouchi now gets a shot at Martin's Swansea, having breathed life into Cardiff's survival push since taking charge in January.
"They're in a tough place in the league at the moment but they've shown some real positive signs under the new management team," Martin said.
"They have some really positive players, some really capable players that we know quite a bit about.
"They're at home. The expectancy on them from their crowd to approach it in a certain way I'm sure will influence things. We have to be ready for that."
Martin may be expecting Cardiff to come at his team, at least in the opening stages, but former Nottingham Forest boss Lamouchi says Swansea must be respected.
"We need to be smart, clever, be united, be compact," he said.
"When you play this kind of team they play very good football - very offensive, very open, taking many risks. They give you something all game.
"But sometimes they find the solution and they kill you, so we have to be absolutely focused, and we will try to disturb them the best we can."
'Fire inside but ice outside'
Callum Robinson (right) trudges off after being sent off at Swansea earlier this season
Swansea's squad looked thin prior to the international break, but they are boosted by the return to fitness of Joe Allen - who is set for a first derby appearance in 12 years - while Jay Fulton and Joel Latibeaudiere are back from suspension.
Lamouchi says Callum O'Dowda - a player Swansea tried to sign last summer - should be fit but Callum Robinson is not yet available after a hamstring problem.
Cardiff's top scorer will be missed on a day when both sets of players will be mindful of his desperate contribution to the two clubs' last meeting.
Robinson was sent off after only seven minutes of October's 2-0 defeat at Swansea, for throwing the ball at Ben Cabango.
Lamouchi says Cardiff are only too aware of the need to avoid anything similar in the return fixture.
"A lot of people are waiting for this game with passion," he said.
"In our situation we must think before we do because the consequence can be absolutely disastrous for all of us.
"We must be on fire outside but icemen inside."
When asked to explain Swansea's spectacular derby record under his guidance - three wins, nine goals, none conceded - Martin said players' courage has been key.
"The guys have managed the occasions brilliantly in the three derbies we've had," he said.
"We have to do the same again."
More pressure on Cardiff?
Russell Martin celebrates Swansea's win over Cardiff last October, which lifted his team to fourth in the Championship
Swansea's victory over Bristol City 12 days ago - their first in seven matches - means they are 10 points clear of the relegation zone with eight games remaining in 2022-23.
If Swansea's place in the Championship next season is all but secure, Cardiff very definitely have work to do heading into the 116th south Wales derby.
Despite claiming three victories in their last six games, Lamouchi's team are only three points above the bottom three following the frustrating abandonment of their pre-international break game at Rotherham.
For both sets of supporters, the two derbies are the biggest fixtures of the season.
The fact that Cardiff are desperate for points only adds to the pressure on Lamouchi's players.
"For many reasons all Cardiff fans want to win this game, because we want to be safe as soon as possible and because we play against our biggest rival," the Frenchman said.
"My captain and many players play a lot of derby games, so they know more than me about how important this game is for our fans."
Martin, however, has rejected the suggestion that Cardiff's greater need for points could be a factor.
"Derbies tend to take context out of the picture a little bit because of the emotion and the intensity," he said.
"There's no point pretending it's just another game when it's not."
The Swansea boss will get no arguments there, even in Cardiff.