{"id":1401,"date":"2014-02-11T10:48:45","date_gmt":"2014-02-11T10:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/?p=1401"},"modified":"2014-02-11T10:48:45","modified_gmt":"2014-02-11T10:48:45","slug":"cardiff-v-aston-villa-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2014\/02\/11\/cardiff-v-aston-villa-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardiff v Aston Villa preview"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>OLE GUNNAR Solskjaer\u2019s Cardiff City face a must-win home tie against Aston Villa<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1403\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1403\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Ole_Gunnar_Solskjaer_Trondheim2011-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1403    \" alt=\"Picture: &lt;a href=&quot;http:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Ole_Gunnar_Solskjaer_Trondheim2011-1.jpg&lt;\/a&gt;&quot;&gt;Tor Atle Kleven\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Solskjaer-300x240.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1403\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1403    \" alt=\"Picture: &lt;a href=&quot;http:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Ole_Gunnar_Solskjaer_Trondheim2011-1.jpg&lt;\/a&gt;&quot;&gt;Tor Atle Kleven\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Solskjaer-300x240.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" \/><\/noscript><\/a> Picture: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer &#8211; courtesy of <a href=\"http:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Ole_Gunnar_Solskjaer_Trondheim2011-1.jpg\">Tor Atle Kleven<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\ntonight in their fight to stay in the Premier League.<br \/>\nBluebirds fans are demanding an immediate improvement in form following the excruciating 3-0 loss to local rivals Swansea on Saturday. A similar result would leave Cardiff with a near insurmountable task.<br \/>\nOver the past three seasons the lowest point tally to avoid relegation was 37, achieved by Queens Park rangers in the 2011-12 season. Cardiff are currently 16 points shy of this with 13 games remaining.<br \/>\n\u201cWe\u2019ll probably need either 17 or 18 points, but you never know in this league,\u201d Solskjaer said yesterday.<br \/>\nWith the Bluebirds suffering five defeats and conceding 15 goals in their last six league games, recent form has done little to suggest they will avoid the drop.<br \/>\nSolskjaer recognises the urgent need for improvement: \u201cThere are two massive home matches coming up against Villa and Hull. We need to start winning games, that\u2019s the demand for us.<br \/>\n\u201cOf course, we target to win these games. You\u2019ve gotta make sure that you\u2019re balanced, the team has got a foundation and not conceding too many goals.\u201d<br \/>\nCity will probably need to pick up around five wins in their remaining fixtures, the same number of victories they have managed in their opening 25 games.<br \/>\nThe improvement needs to begin now. Home fixtures will prove crucial, with games against Hull, Fulham, Crystal Palace and Stoke before the end of the season.<br \/>\nTonight\u2019s game presents a real opportunity for Cardiff to steal a march on their relegation rivals, with Fulham, West Brom and Sunderland all facing top four opposition.<br \/>\nOn top of this, Villa\u2019s Ryan Bertrand could miss the game after clashing with a post at the weekend. Ron Vlaar is also a doubt due to a hamstring problem.<br \/>\nTo try to capitalise on this, Solskjaer has indicated he will turn to his new signings to reinvigorate his side: \u201cYou may see one or two Norwegians involved. Juan [Cala] is also in my thoughts, he\u2019s been positive and bright,\u201d he said.<br \/>\nOnly seven points separate the bottom half of the table, but Cardiff are in danger of falling off the pace. Their poor goal difference means even a win tonight won\u2019t lift them out of the bottom three.<br \/>\nBluebirds captain Steven Caulker warned his teammates to step up: \u201cWe know we\u2019re in a dog fight now, but it\u2019s the games against teams like Aston Villa where we\u2019ll be looking to get three points,\u201d he said.<br \/>\nDefeat would set alarm bells ringing, and make Premier League survival extremely difficult for Solskjaer\u2019s men.<br \/>\n&lt;iframe width=&#8221;560&#8243; height=&#8221;315&#8243; src=&#8221;\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nvOJn4kCCyo&#8221; frameborder=&#8221;0&#8243; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;\/iframe&gt;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OLE GUNNAR Solskjaer\u2019s Cardiff City face a must-win home tie against Aston Villa tonight in their fight to stay in the Premier League. Bluebirds fans are demanding an immediate improvement in form following the excruciating 3-0 loss to local rivals Swansea on Saturday. A similar result would leave Cardiff with a near insurmountable task. Over the past three seasons the lowest point tally to avoid relegation was 37, achieved by Queens Park rangers in the 2011-12 season. Cardiff are currently [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,4],"tags":[1838,185,142,1839,1678],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football","category-sport","tag-aston-villa","tag-bluebirds","tag-cardiff-city","tag-caulker","tag-solskjaer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cardiff v Aston Villa preview - The Cardiffian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2014\/02\/11\/cardiff-v-aston-villa-preview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cardiff v Aston Villa preview - The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"OLE GUNNAR Solskjaer\u2019s Cardiff City face a must-win home tie against Aston Villa tonight in their fight to stay in the Premier League. Bluebirds fans are demanding an immediate improvement in form following the excruciating 3-0 loss to local rivals Swansea on Saturday. A similar result would leave Cardiff with a near insurmountable task. Over the past three seasons the lowest point tally to avoid relegation was 37, achieved by Queens Park rangers in the 2011-12 season. 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