THE journey from Cardiff to Merseyside took one week and it went via Barnsley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following a home win against Nottingham Forest on Sunday, Cardiff City secured their first clean sheet in 27 games with Wednesday\u2019s victory at Oakwell \u2013 and now they cast their eyes towards Anfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cardiff\u2019s FA Cup clash with Liverpool this Sunday is not quite a David-and-Goliath affair, but the Premier League giants will not be handing the Welsh side a win without a serious fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bluebirds got their second win on the bounce from Barnsley on Wednesday, with on-loan striker Uche Ikpeazu marking his debut for City by tucking away a 71st<\/sup> minute goal after only eight minutes on the pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Manager Steve Morison said: \u201cIt was a horrible game and it wasn’t our finest performance, but Ikpeazu had that one moment and he got to show how strong and powerful he is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe is hard to stop when he gets going and is a great kid who has come into the club with a smile on his face.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ikpeazu\u2019s smile won\u2019t be coming to Anfield, though, as cup ties mean that the Middlesbrough player, along with Leeds United\u2019s Cody Drameh, are unable to play on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other absences for Cardiff are likely to include captain Sean Morrison and winger Alfie Doughty, both of whom will need to recover from Wednesday\u2019s injuries if they want to resume their Championship charge against Peterborough next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Liverpool will also have missing men, with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane both busy playing in the Africa Cup of Nations, and Divock Origi sitting the match out due to a knee injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Manager Jurgen Klopp still has plenty of options for his starting 11 and, although the recently returned Thiago and new signing Luis Diaz are unlikely candidates, players such as Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jordan Henderson and Diogo Jota could be getting the nod. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Reds are well rested as Sunday will be their first game in two weeks \u2013 whereas it is Cardiff\u2019s third match in one week \u2013 and Klopp will be wanting to get his side back into the groove while also keeping key players rested ahead of Premier League fixtures next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bluebirds will be wanting to strike a similar balance, as fan Peter Mckenzie puts it: \u201cI don\u2019t think we can risk people likely to be important in the next few games. I would go with a very different line up as it\u2019s vital the first team stays fit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another fan, Gareth Andrews, said: \u201cWith the run of winnable games we have coming up, I would rather see this game as a learning lesson for some of the youngsters rather than risk a more important player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI can\u2019t see us winning regardless of what team we put out but Peterborough, like Barnsley, is huge so we should play the kids, enjoy the day, take the money but not forget our bread and butter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hopes for a “cupset” may be limited against a home Liverpool side, but 8,000 Cardiff City fans will be at Anfield on Sunday cheering on the Bluebirds in what is set to be a memorable experience for City players both old and young.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPlaying at one of, if not the most, iconic stadiums in football \u2013 as a football player it doesn’t get better than that,\u201d said Morison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSome will be scared, some will be nervous and they should be. It\u2019s about how well they control that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe’ll do everything we can in the next couple of days to get them as well prepared as possible and see what happens on the day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bluebirds to face Liverpool this Sunday in FA Cup fourth round<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":740,"featured_media":61090,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1291,142,412,2348,950],"coauthors":[7298],"class_list":["post-61088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-cardiff-2","tag-cardiff-city","tag-fa-cup","tag-liverpool","tag-steve-morison"],"yoast_head":"\n