EFL Championship

Cardiff City v Swansea City: Back the 5/1 NTT20 Bet Builder in the South Wales derby

Cardiff City midfielder Aaron Ramsey
Aaron Ramsey has never played in a South Wales derby

George Elek from Not The Top 20 is here to preview the South Wales derby, and is eyeing up both cards and goals in what promises to be a fiery game under the light on Saturday night...

  • 14 cards were shown in their two meetings last season

  • Ramsey has committed two fouls in three of five games

  • BTTS has copped in 13 of their 14 combined games


Some say that if a game is allowed to kick-off at 3pm on a Saturday then in can't be a real derby, with these matches often moved to an earlier kick-off by the police to both limit possible time spent in pubs and to lower risk of trouble between fans.

We can put that theory in the bin though, with this fiery tie between two South Wales clubs absolutely falling under the derby category. There is no love lost between the two, and Cardiff will see this as an opportunity to fight back after a period dominated by their adversaries.

Swansea have won all of the last four meetings between the two and seven of the las nine, with Cardiff winning just once in that time dating back to a Premier League clash in 2013.

There is nothing to choose between the two in the betting, both 6/4 to win the game, but there will be more optimism than usual in the home end given Swansea's poor start under new manager Mike Duff. They've yet to win in five, squandering plenty of leads in their last two, and look to be missing departed talisman Joel Piroe.

Cardiff's start under their new boss Erol Bulut, or The Erolbulution, has hinted at some improvement without really delivering. They were seconds from beating Leeds on opening weekend, seconds from taking a point against Leicester and two goals up on Ipswich before eventually being beaten.

It's just as well that they say that the form book goes out of the window in derbies, otherwise we'd be facing up to a game where both sides squander leads and each conspire to come away empty handed.

Leg 1: Over 5.5 Cards

Samuel Barrott is the man on the whistle for this derby under the lights so the first look has to be cards. He's given three red cards in the last six games he has officiated, dishing out seven in total when he last took charge of a Swansea game for their trip to West Brom last month.

There were 14 cards shown in the two games between the two sides this season, including a red, and there seems very little reason why we won't see another game where plenty of players go into the book.

Leg 2: Ramsey to commit 2+ fouls

This game is likely to mean as much to Ramsey as it will to the home fans given it's the first time he'll have played in a South Wales derby. The two sides didn't meet in 2007/08, Ramsey's season in the Cardiff first-team before his move to Arsenal that summer.

Never a player to shirk a challenge, the boyhood Cardiff fan has committed two fouls in three of his five games so far and surely looks value to do so again at Evs given the nature of the game and what it will mean to him.

Leg 3: BTTS Yes

With neither team capable of holding onto a lead, Both Teams To Score looks the best way to finish off this bet-builder. BTTS has copped in 13 of the 14 games these sides have played combined, with the outlier being League One's Northampton unsurprisingly not scoring at Swansea in the first round of the Carabao Cup.

With both teams desperately in need of a win, it would be no surprise to see whoever goes ahead look to sit on their lead and with the likes of Ike Ugbo and Jerry Yates leading the line there is plenty of firepower on both sides.

Back NTT20's Bet Builder @ just over 5/16.00

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