It’s been a bold, brave, brilliant, beautiful, battling run of success for Neil Warnock’s Bluebirds.
Cardiff City promotion hopes are blooming after they set a record, becoming the first team to win five consecutive league games against teams starting with the same letter – B.
Bristol City, Barnsley, Birmingham, Brentford and Burton have all fallen against Warnock’s boys and now they travel to play the Blades.
City have won eight successive Championship matches and are second in the table.
A win against Sheffield United, Yorkshireman Warnock’s boyhood idols, at Bramall Lane on Bank Holiday Monday (7.45pm) would send them into a home clash against leaders Wolves in confident mood.
The extent of Warnock’s work at Cardiff City Stadium is underlined by the fact that only four players in the starting line-up against Burton were with the club when he came to South Wales in 2016.
They are Bruno Manga, Sean Morrison, Joe Bennett and Kenneth Zohore. Warnock has brought out the best in all four, particularly the impressive and effective Zohore.
Cardiff are second in the Championship table, ahead of Aston Villa and Fulham, and working to chase down leaders Wolves.
Left-back Bennett says: “We can be proud of what we have achieved so far this season.
“The key is to focus on doing what we’re doing, grinding out results and hopefully we can get to that finish line.
“The pressure is on Villa and Fulham – we have points on board and they haven’t.
“When I was at Villa fans expected you to win every game and that’s no different now. They’ve got some really good players, big players, and they’re expected to get promoted in the top two. The pressure is more on them than us.”
Former Cardiff City goalkeeper Simon Moore looks certain to start for Sheffield United with first choice Jamal Blackman suspended after being sent off during a 1-1 draw at Brentford.
Iceland midfield player Aron Gunnarsson is pushing to start for Cardiff after a substitute appearance in the 3-1 win over Burton, but Joe Ralls (hamstring) and Jazz Richards (ankle) are out injured.
Welshman Ched Evans has been involved in four goals during the last three United matches, scoring three goals and adding one assist.
Cardiff, though, will focus on extending their winning run to nine matches and they have a good record in away games.
The Bluebirds have earned 31 points from 18 league games on the road this season – their best return from away games at this stage of the season since 2002-03 (32 pts), in which they were promoted from the third tier via the play-offs.
Lennie Lawrence was manager 15 years ago, Robert Earnshaw banged in 35 goals over the season and Cardiff were promoted after beating Queens Park Rangers 1-0 in the League One play-off final at the Millennium Stadium.
Now Warnock’s team are eyeing up another promotion – and winning their clash with Sheffield United would be a huge step.
Cardiff City, possible: Etheridge, Manga, Morrison, Bamba, Bennett, Bryson, Grujic, Paterson, Hoilett, Mendez-Laing, Zohore.
Championship
2017/18
Current table
| | HOME | | AWAY | |||||||||||||
| P | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Wolves | 39 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 41 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 30 | 18 | +37 | 85 |
| 2 | Cardiff | 38 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 38 | 14 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 23 | 18 | +29 | 79 |
| 3 | Fulham | 39 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 34 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 34 | 26 | +27 | 72 |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 39 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 36 | 18 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 25 | 19 | +24 | 70 |
| 5 | Derby | 38 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 30 | 18 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 26 | 20 | +18 | 62 |
| 6 | Middlesbro | 39 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 27 | 16 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 28 | 22 | +17 | 62 |
| 7 | Bristol C | 39 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 31 | 18 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 25 | 26 | +12 | 62 |
| 8 | Millwall | 39 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 30 | 18 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 18 | 19 | +11 | 61 |
| 9 | Sheff Utd | 39 | 11 | 3 | 5 | 29 | 16 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 23 | 28 | +8 | 61 |
| 10 | Preston | 39 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 22 | 19 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 27 | 22 | +8 | 60 |
| 11 | Brentford | 39 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 33 | 22 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 22 | 25 | +8 | 55 |
| 12 | Leeds | 39 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 27 | 25 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 25 | 29 | -2 | 53 |
| 13 | Ipswich | 39 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 24 | 19 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 23 | 30 | -2 | 52 |
| 14 | Norwich | 39 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 20 | 21 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 21 | 25 | -5 | 52 |
| 15 | QPR | 39 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 26 | 25 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 19 | 31 | -11 | 47 |
| 16 | Nottm Forest | 39 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 20 | 25 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 23 | 31 | -13 | 46 |
| 17 | Sheff Wed | 39 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 29 | 29 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 16 | 24 | -8 | 44 |
| 18 | Hull | 39 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 37 | 29 | 3 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 30 | -6 | 40 |
| 19 | Reading | 39 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 22 | 29 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 23 | 28 | -12 | 39 |
| 20 | Bolton | 39 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 22 | 24 | 1 | 8 | 11 | 12 | 34 | -24 | 39 |
| 21 | Birmingham | 39 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 15 | 21 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 14 | 36 | -28 | 36 |
| 22 | Barnsley | 39 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 18 | 28 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 21 | 30 | -19 | 34 |
| 23 | Sunderland | 39 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 17 | 33 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 25 | 36 | -27 | 31 |
| 24 | Burton | 39 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 13 | 36 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 34 | -42 | 30 |
