Cardiff v West Ham Odds : Mackay seeking first leg lead in Championship playoff in Wales
Cardiff City and West Ham go head to head on Thursday evening in the first-leg of their Championship play-off semi-final tie, as the Bluebirds look more than a touch of value at odds of 9/5 with Ladbrokes.
After a long season, these two teams are now three games away from the Premier League and there is no doubt that it is a massive time for both clubs. They cannot look beyond the first game for now though.
Looking at Cardiff City to begin with, they made it into the play-offs on the final day of the regular season thanks to their victory at Crystal Palace.
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This was a fantastic win under pressure and they will be after more of the same on Thursday evening.
Manager Malky Mackay has already said that his team are the underdogs in the play-offs and perhaps Cardiff will enjoy having less pressure than the East London outfit.
However, the fans will be expecting a home victory on Thursday to set the team up with an excellent chance to progress to Wembley. Therefore, regardless of what Mackay says, the pressure is on.
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As for West Ham, they have had to settle for the play-offs after battling for automatic promotion all season. In the end, they missed out on the final day of the Championship season.
Despite managing a 2-1 victory over Hull City, the Hammers were forced to settle for third position after Southampton comfortably defeated Coventry. It is now a case of Sam Allardyce’s men picking themselves up again for the play-off campaign.
The aim for West Ham in this first game will be to stay in contention. As long as they are still in the tie, they will be confident of completing the job at Upton Park.
When these two teams met earlier in the season at Cardiff, it ended in a 2-0 victory to West Ham. This game was only in March too, so it will be fresh in the minds of both teams.
This goes out of the window on Thursday though. It is now a level playing field and both Cardiff and West Ham will be determined to take an advantage into the second-leg.
This one gets underway at 7.45pm on Thursday evening.
