Pick of the stats - Cardiff v Watfordpublished at 13:50 6 December
Omer Riza's 'permanent' reign as Cardiff boss begins here, with the Bluebirds now on a five-match winless streak and casting nervous glances at the relegation zone just two points below them.
Riza, whose appointment until the end of the season was confirmed on Thursday, guided Cardiff to four wins from six games after taking temporary charge in the wake of Erol Bulut's dismissal - and they need to regain that kind of form to avoid sinking into the bottom three.
Opponents Watford have climbed to sixth place with a run of four wins from seven games - but their only defeat during that sequence was sustained in South Wales, a 1-0 reverse to Swansea last month.
● Cardiff City are unbeaten across their last three league games against Watford (W2 D1), their longest such streak since a run of six matches between 2011 and 2014.
● Watford are unbeaten across their last five away league games against Cardiff City (W4 D1), since a 2-1 defeat in October 2012. Overall, each of the Hornets' last 12 such matches since August 2005 have seen both sides score.
● Cardiff have lost more home Championship games in 2024 than any other side (10), losing six of their last 10 such games (W4), including each of the previous two.
● Watford are unbeaten in their last four league games (W2 D2) and could record three successive clean sheets in the league for the first time since August 2023.
● Only Portsmouth (9) have conceded more goals from outside the box in the Championship this season than Cardiff (6), while only Rubin Colwill (9) has recorded more shots on target from outside the box in the competition this term than Watford's Giorgi Chakvetadze (8).