Bristol City host Cardiff City at lunchtime on Saturday.
The Robins welcome Cardiff for the Severnside Derby, with the feisty encounter to be shown live on Sky Sports.
Bristol City come into the game on the back of an unbeaten run in the league that stretches back to before the New Year – lifting them to 13th in the table and away from the drop zone where Cardiff lurk perilously above. The Bluebirds sit in 21st place and only four points outside of the bottom three.
Nigel Pearson’s side have won three of their previous five league games but tasted defeat for the first time in 2023 against Manchester City in the FA Cup midweek.
Bristol City team news
Anis Mehmeti and Harry Cornick were forced to miss the cup defeat due to being cup tied, but will return to action on the weekend.
Kane Wilson returned to the bench against the Citizens for the first time since October, after being ruled out for the past months with a knee injury, and so he should be involved again.
Tommy Conway could also be an outside option to make the bench, with the 20-year-old returning to training in the week after being missing since January with a hamstring injury.
Rob Atkinson, Ayman Benarous, and Kal Naismith all remain out, although the latter could return before the international break.
Predicted XI
O’Leary (GK)
Tanner
Vyner
Kalas
Pring
James
Williams
Sykes
Scott
Mehmeti
Wells
With no fresh injury concerns following the midweek defeat, Pearson will in fact be able to strengthen his side with the returning Mehmeti, whilst Cornick will likely return to the bench.
With Mehmeti set to return on the left, there leaves Pearson a decision between Nahki Wells or Sam Bell to lead the line, although Wells has been used as a substitute in the three previous league games, he’s scored in his previous two and could be rewarded with a start.
Alex Scott received huge plaudits following his performance against Man City, and with the game set to be televised there will be a big focus on him.
This game kicks-off at 12:30pm on Saturday, shown live on Sky Sports.
