Pick of the stats: Cardiff City v West Bromwich Albion
Having both sacked their managers over Easter Weekend, Cardiff City and West Bromwich Albion will meet on Saturday (15:00 BST) with ambitions of staying alive on either side of the table.The Bluebirds will be under the charge of Wales captain Aaron Ramsey after sacking Omar Riza following their defeat to Sheffield United on Friday.The Welshman's first game at the helm culminated in a 1-1 draw with Oxford, keeping them afloat in the relegation fight with three points between them and safety.While former Albion midfielder James Morrison replaces Tony Mowbray, who lost his position after a 3-1 loss to Derby County on Monday, for the first time as the Baggies look to keep their fleeting hopes of the play-offs alive.Cardiff are winless in their last seven league games against West Brom (D4 L3), failing to score in five of these matches.West Brom have won two of their last three away league games against Cardiff (D1), as many as in their previous 11 visits (D6 L3).Cardiff have won just one of their last 10 league games (D4 L5), and are winless in six since beating Blackburn 2-1 in March.West Brom have lost five of their last six league games (W1), as many as they had in their previous 30 (W8 D17).West Brom are winless in their last 14 away league games (D7 L7). It's their longest run since a run of 15 between September 2017 and March 2018, while they've never gone 15 without a win on the road outside the top-flight.
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The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Belgium will be ‘shaking in boots' ahead of Wales game in Cardiff
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The Herald Scotland
3 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
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BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
Belgium will be 'shaking in their boots when they come to Cardiff'
Wales winger Sorba Thomas says Belgium will not relish a visit to Cardiff for the return World Cup qualifier after Monday's dramatic and pulsating game in were leading 3-0 inside 27 minutes at the King Baudouin Stadium but Craig Bellamy's side staged a tremendous comeback to level the De Bruyne's late winner broke Welsh hearts to secure a 4-3 victory for Belgium and inflict a first defeat under Bellamy, who was "beyond proud" of his players for their efforts."That's a team that's top 10 in the rankings and people were saying 'little old Wales' - we took the game to them," Thomas said."They are going to be shaking in their boots when they come to Cardiff to play us, because we're not the same Wales they played all them many years."We're hungry, we're a young group and I thought when it went to 3-3 it was in our hands."Football's a horrible sport sometimes and in the changing room a lot of the boys are down – and that's against Belgium, top 10 in the world, and we thought we should have walked away with a win." Belgium, who have played two games less than Wales, will travel to Cardiff for the return on 13 said Belgium did not show Wales "that much respect" after going 3-0 in front and the home side thought "that the game was done".But Thomas added: "To be honest, when they went 3-0 up we still had belief."If you look at the game, every time they scored we literally went down the other end and almost got a chance."I think going in at half-time 3-1 they probably thought the game was done. I think they relaxed and they underestimated us."The second half showed there was only one team in the game and that was us."It's a learning curve for us – it's a young team and we're going places. That's one loss in 10 and we're going to learn from this and get better." The result leaves Wales second in Group J, a point behind North Macedonia who won 1-0 in Kazakhstan – Belgium are third, three points further back but with those two games in first senior goal for Wales came only a few days after he completed a move from Huddersfield Town to Stoke City."For me personally it's been one heck of a week, secured my future and got my first Wales goal," said Thomas, Wales' player of the game in Brussels."I'm pleased but I wish the result would have gone our way."I hope my family watching at home were all proud."
