West Ham United will be looking to bounce back from consecutive defeats when they head to South Wales for Wednesday's Championship clash against Cardiff City.

The Hammers head into the midweek round of fixtures in eighth position, while Cardiff are currently sitting in 17th spot in the Championship table.

Match preview

Cardiff, who won promotion from League One last term, are sitting five points above the drop zone after winning three, drawing five and losing five of their 13 league games this season. 

The Bluebirds recently enjoyed a three-game unbeaten run that saw them record home wins against Watford and Birmingham City, on either side of an away draw against Middlesbrough.

However, their encouraging run of form was brought to a disappointing end by Saturday's 3-0 loss against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux, extending their wait for their first away win of the season. 

Having mustered just two points from seven road trips, Brian Barry-Murphy's side will be looking forward to returning to the Cardiff City Stadium, especially as they are one of four teams yet to lose a Championship home game this term (W3, D3).

In fact, they have won each of their last three home games, scoring nine goals and conceding on just two occasions in that winning run.

They will be hoping to produce another strong performance in front of their supporters in their first meeting with West Ham since picking up a 2-0 victory in March 2019 - a result that ended a seven-game losing run in head-to-head encounters.

West Ham may be sitting inside the top eight, but pressure is growing on Nuno Espirito Santo after seeing his side win just two of their last six matches (D2, L2).

The Hammers are in need of a confidence boost after losing back-to-back league matches for the first time since being relegated from the Premier League. 

West Ham shipped three goals in the first half of the 3-2 loss against the Saints, before they fell to a 3-1 defeat to West Brom at the weekend, leaving them four points adrift of automatic promotion.

Espirito Santo can at least take comfort from the fact his team will head on their travels with the only unbeaten away record in the Championship after recording three wins and three draws from their six road trips.

In fact, they are looking to claim a third consecutive away win without conceding after beating Lincoln City 6-0 and Swansea City 1-0 in their last two away assignments. 

The visitors certainly possess the firepower to take three points from Wednesday's away, having racked up 33 goals in 13 league games this term - three more than any other side ahead of the midweek round of fixtures. 

Cardiff City Championship form:

West Ham United Championship form:

Team News

Cardiff are experiencing a defensive injury crisis, with Barry-Murphy unable to call upon the suspended Gabriel Osho and the injured trio Dylan Lawlor, Callum Chambers and Krystian Bielik.

Will Fish is a doubt after sustaining a hamstring problem against Wolves, while Perry Ng may have to battle through his own fitness issues to help his side in Wednesday's fixture.

Midfielder Alex Robertson is also an injury concern after being taken off in Saturday's defeat with an Achilles problem. 

As for the visitors, Konstantinos Mavropanos will miss a second straight game with a knee injury he sustained in the defeat to Southampton. 

Espirito Santo is also without Venezuela international Keiber Lamadrid, who has not featured in any of the last eight matchday squads due to a knee problem.

The West Ham boss could make several changes to his starting lineup, with Joel Veltman, Tomas Soucek, Manor Solomon and Taty Castellanos among those in contention to feature at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Cardiff City possible starting lineup:

Trott; Kpakio, Ng, Bagan, Scanlon; Colwill, Turnbull; Tanner, Moylan, Ashford; Salech

West Ham United possible starting lineup:

Hermansen; Walker-Peters, Veltman, Kilman, Morato; Bowen, Soucek, Engels, Solomon; Kante; Taty

We say: Cardiff City 1-3 West Ham United

West Ham may be reeling from back-to-back defeats, but they head into the midweek matchday as the league's highest scorers, and we think their attacking strength will be decisive, especially as Cardiff are experiencing a defensive injury crisis. 

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