Watford have been trying to return to the Premier League since the season before last. Immediately after their relegation from the elite division, the club finished eleventh in the Championship. Now the Hornets, having a match in reserve, are located on the inner border of the top-6, which emphasizes the prospects for a serious fight for participation in the playoffs. Analysts don't have much faith in Tom Cleverley's team's prospects, predicting an eighth place finish, but the Hornets are quite capable of overturning their judgement, especially with their success at home. Cardiff City have spent the last few seasons unstable, but unpromising regarding promotion. The Welsh have been rescuing themselves from relegation, then finishing in the middle of the Championship table. Now the club from the capital of Wales is in the first of these positions, having with Plymouth the lowest number of points in the division. Bookmakers have identified the home team as favourites for the upcoming meeting, offering odds of 1.93 on their victory.

Watford started the new season with five consecutive victories in the Championship and English League Cup, but from the first match of September fell into such a crisis that it seemed that the Hornets will not see the playoffs. The real scourge of the club was the game away, where almost always Cleverley players lost. Since mid-November, this weakness of the Hornets has been eliminated, and defeats have been replaced by draws. Another thing is that competing with Watford at their stadiums during this period were rather weak Hull City and Plymouth. Overall, over the last month and a half, the Hornets lost only one match out of eight, failing to score only in the meeting with CRC.

Cardiff City were feeling quite comfortable until the beginning of November. After a nightmarish start to the season, the Welsh side produced an impressive series of wins and draws. "Seriality" of Cardiff City's performances at the moment has led it to a deplorable outcome. Now the capital team does not have a single victory at a distance of nine fights. During this period, the team gained three points, losing 24. Given that Cardiff City even in this sequence scores in almost every meeting, you should focus on the high performance of the match from its first half.