Cardiff City

Image source, Huw Evans Agency

Cardiff City return to Championship action this weekend - with the battle for safety back in full focus.

The Bluebirds gave their bid to stay in the second tier a much-needed boost with the win at Blackburn Rovers before the international window.

It has appeared to ease pressure on manager Omer Riza, but the threat of relegation still looms.

With Derby County also winning last week, Cardiff, on 39 points, remain just a point and a place ahead of the bottom three Rams in 22nd, and four points above Luton in 23rd.

The visit of Sheffield Wednesday to Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday marks the first of the final eight games of the season.

Back-to-back away games follow - including QPR and a midweek trip to Preston - before Stoke head to south Wales, the Potters currently level on points with Cardiff.

Then it's a Good Friday game at promotion-chasing Sheffield United before Oxford United at home, with Gary Rowett's side not certain they will be out of the battle.

The season finishes with West Brom at home on 26 April and Norwich at Carrow Road on Saturday, 3 May.

Traditionally, 50 points has been seen as enough to secure safety - although it wasn't enough to save Birmingham City who went down on that tally.

So what total will be enough for the Bluebirds? How many wins do you think it will take to stay in the Championship.

And where do you think Riza's side will pick up the points to survive?

Cardiff fans, you can have your say here., external

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

The kick-off time of Cardiff City's Good Friday match at Sheffield United has been moved after the Championship fixture was chosen for television coverage.

The game will now start at 17:30 BST on 18 April to be shown on Sky Sports.

United are in a strong position to make an instant return to the Premier League as they are second in the Championship, only trailing leaders Leeds United on goal difference.

Cardiff, meanwhile, are battling to survive as they sit 21st in the table, just one point above the relegation zone.

Although the Bluebirds lost the reverse league fixture 2-0 in December, they beat the Blades 1-0 at Bramall Lane in the FA Cup less than a month later.

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Cardiff City will assess Joe Ralls during the international break after he felt a recurrence of a calf problem during his side's 2-1 win at Blackburn Rovers.

The captain did not feature in six successive Championship matches after boss Omer Riza revealed he had sustained a groin problem in a 2-1 loss at Portsmouth on 11 February.

Ralls started against Rovers on Saturday but had to be replaced by Rubin Colwill in the 37th minute at Ewood Park.

"Rallsy's come back from a calf strain and he's felt it again after about 20 minutes," Riza told BBC Radio Wales.

"Bless him, he carried on and pushed through another 15 minutes and we had to get him off because he was feeling it.

"We'll look at what the damage is with that."

The win in Lancashire also saw the return of midfielder Andy Rinomhota who missed the defeats against Sunderland and Burnley with a hamstring injury.

But Riza admitted he was pleased to see the 27-year-old play for an hour as the Bluebirds returned to winning ways against Blackburn.

"Same with Andy Rinomhota, he's come back from a hamstring injury," added Riza.

"To get 60 minutes out of him was pleasing. We couldn't push it much more than that."

Cardiff sit a point above the Championship's relegation zone and return to action against Sheffield Wednesday in the Welsh capital on Saturday, 29 March (15:00 GMT).

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Cardiff City's Callum O'Dowda has withdrawn from this week's international action after pulling out of the Republic of Ireland squad.

But the injury is not said to be serious to give hopes one of the Bluebirds' key men will be fit to return to Championship action next weekend.

Republic of Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson had selected the Bluebirds wing-back for the Nations League play-off ties with Bulgaria.

But it was announced the 29-year-old was ruled out through injury, which is thought to have been a minor knock.

O'Dowda has been a consistent performer for Cardiff and featured as Omer Riza's side picked up a vital win at Blackburn Rovers in their bid to avoid relegation from the Championship.

The 38-cap Callum Robinson, Cardiff's top scorer this season with 12 goals, was not selected by Ireland.

The Bluebirds will seek to follow up their victory at Ewood Park when they welcome Sheffield Wednesday to Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday, 29 March.

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Iwan Roberts hailed Yakou Meite's matchwinner at Blackburn Rovers as the most important goal of the forward's Cardiff City career.

Meite, 29, scored with his first touch of the match after replacing Callum Robinson in the 72nd minute of the Championship contest at Ewood Park.

It was only the fourth goal the Ivory Coast international has scored for the Bluebirds since joining from Reading in the summer of 2023.

And former Wales striker Roberts felt Cardiff had to win against Rovers to ensure Omer Riza kept his position as manager.

"I thought if Omer Riza lost the game he would have lost his job," Roberts told BBC Radio Cymru's Dros Frecwast programme.

"Yakou Meite, he'd only been on the pitch for a minute and he scores the goal that wins it.

"He's only scored four goals for the club in 66 games, but that's certainly the most important."

Despite victory, Cardiff sit just one point above the Championship's relegation zone with eight matches remaining this season.

And Roberts feels the Bluebirds must continue to pick up wins to stay ahead of the likes of Derby County and Luton Town who have improved of late.

"It's only their second away win this season and they went into the game having lost four in a row, including against Aston Villa in the FA Cup," he added.

"They're still only one point ahead of Derby who are third from bottom and they've got great momentum, they've won their last three.

"Luton, they've taken seven points from their last four games, those two teams are starting to pick up points."

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Manager Omer Riza says Cardiff City will approach their last eight games of the Championship season like cup finals as they fight to avoid relegation.

Saturday's 2-1 win at Blackburn Rovers was only the Bluebirds' second away win of the season and ended a three-match losing run.

Cardiff remain deep in trouble in 21st place and just one point above the bottom three, but victory at Ewood Park eased the pressure that was mounting on Riza.

"It was a much-needed win. The mentality and approach now is about getting the job done," Riza told BBC Sport Wales.

"To a man, the boys did that and we got the result we deserved.

"Coming off the back of the Luton defeat [last Tuesday], we said we had nine finals. One down, eight to go."

The Championship now takes a break for the international window, with Cardiff returning to league action on Saturday, 29 March with a home game against Sheffield Wednesday.

Cardiff City will look to avoid dropping into the relegation zone as they visit play off chasers Blackburn Rovers on Saturday (15:00 GMT).

The Bluebirds are only one point above 22nd placed Derby County and within three points of basement dwellers Plymouth Argyle.

The Welsh side will need to put an end to a three-game losing run if they are to take all three points against Blackburn and ensure safety, though the Lancashire side's form hasn't been all that bright lately either.

Rovers have not won any of their past four matches to drift four points shy of the top six.

• Blackburn Rovers have only lost one of their last 12 league games against Cardiff City (W6 D5) and have beaten them in three of their last four meetings (D1).

• Cardiff are winless in their last eight league visits to Blackburn (D5 L3) and have lost each of their last three at Ewood Park. Their last win at this venue came in December 2012 under Malky Mackay.

• Blackburn Rovers have won three of their last five home league games (D1 L1), with two of those wins coming under John Eustace and one under caretaker manager David Lowe.

• Cardiff City have won only one of their last 20 away league matches (D9 L10), beating Watford 2-1 in December.

• Blackburn forward Andreas Weimann has scored seven Championship goals against Cardiff City, more than he has against any other team.

Cardiff City host Luton Town in the Championship on Tuesday night (19:45 GMT) with both sides desperately in need of points in their battle to avoid relegation.

The Welshmen are four points clear of the drop zone and five ahead of their opponents but have won just one of their past seven league games.

Luton are second from bottom and have lost 10 of their past 14 Championship matches with just one victory.

• Cardiff City have lost each of their past two home league games against Luton Town and will be looking to avoid losing three in succession to the Hatters for the first time.

• Luton Town have won each of their past four league games against Cardiff City, three of which have come via a 1-0 score line.

• Cardiff City suffered their first home league loss of 2025 against Burnley in their last such match, but have scored in each of their previous seven league games on home soil.

• Luton have won four of their past five league trips to Wales (L1), though their only defeat in that time did come at Swansea earlier this season, suffering a 2-1 defeat in December.

• Cardiff's Callum Robinson has been involved in five goals in his past four home league starts for the Bluebirds (4 goals, 1 assist).

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Matt Bloomfield leads Luton Town in a potentially pivotal trip to Cardiff City on Tuesday (19:45 GMT) having walked away from a promotion chase to focus on a relegation scrap.

Bloomfield's Wycombe Wanderers side were second in League One when he left Adams Park to succeed Rob Edwards at Luton in mid-January.

There are some on the outside who may be questioning the wisdom of that decision, with Wycombe continuing to occupy the second automatic promotion spot in the third tier and Luton in danger of a second successive relegation.

The Hatters were two places and two points clear of the Championship drop zone when Bloomfield was appointed.

Ten league games and just one win later, Luton are second from bottom and five points adrift of Cardiff in 21st.

Bloomfield's maiden Luton win came at the ninth attempt, at home to Portsmouth earlier this month, but they were well beaten last Saturday at Burnley.

The best news of the weekend for Luton was that Cardiff and Stoke – who are level on points with the Bluebirds - lost too.

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Yet Bloomfield has insisted past results will have no bearing on their game at the Cardiff City Stadium.

"It's about what we do between now and the end of the season," he told BBC Three Counties Radio.

"It's about us. We have to keep focused and not letting anything else affect our work. That's simple. That's how I conduct myself and that's not going to change."

Luton's poor run began long before Bloomfield's arrival.

They have won just once in 14 league games, while they have banked only one point from their past 15 away fixtures in the second tier.

"Every game we play now is huge," experienced defender Amari'i Bell said after the 4-0 reverse at Burnley.

"We need to dust ourselves down, reflect and be in the right mind frame to go again."