Football Bet of the Day: Back Bluebirds striker to shine

• Cardiff won opening game of season

• Bluebirds' striker Salech shone with eight goals last term

• Backing him to hit the target twice could pay at 17/102.70

Port Vale v Cardiff City
Thursday 7 August, 20:00
Live on Sky Sports Football

As season openers go, it wasn't exactly a great one for Port Vale at the weekend. Having returned to League One by winning promotion last term as League Two runners-up, the Valiants went into this term with some momentum and optimism.

However, Vale went 2-0 down in the opening 29 minutes at Rotherham, and had Jaheim Headley sent off after 32 minutes. Coming away with a 2-1 reverse wasn't that bad in the circumstances.

Experienced manager Darren Moore is having to deal with a fair few absences. Skipper Ben Garrity, right-back Jordan Gabriel and keeper Ben Amos are all expected to miss this game with injury, while the errant Headley is now suspended.

Cardiff finished bottom of the Championship last term and had a rather miserable campaign. After a spell in Manchester City's academy, and then a stint in the background at Leicester City, Brian Barry-Murphy is the main man for the Bluebirds. The Irishman has been a head coach before at Rochdale, but he's dealing with plenty of expectation.

Cardiff are operating at this level for the first time in 22 years, and morale and confidence were low going into the summer. It does seem there's some positive news though, with the club digging in and hanging onto star striker Yousef Salech. The Dane scored eight goals in 20 Championship games last term for a poor side, and although he has naturally been linked with a move away, the former Sirius frontman seems happy where he is.

Cardiff started the season with a 2-1 comeback win over Peterborough, as goals from Rubin Colwill and Ronan Kpakio turned the game on its head. Salech had four shots in the game, and in the Championship last term he was averaging 1.34 shots on target per 90 according to fbRef.com.

Make Salech your selection

We can get odds of 17/102.70 on the Sportsbook just for Salech to have two shots on target, and that seems an attractive price. He managed that in three of his final four Championship games, and now Cardiff should be more dominant in a lower division. At the weekend Vale gave up four shots on target, and Salech should get opportunities here.

If you prefer, you could just back Salech to score at 23/103.30.

More Match Ups options for Salech to score 

You can also take advantage of Betfair's Match Ups product to back Salech to out-shoot a rival or a teammate - Salech is 11/102.11 to have more shots on target than Port Vale front man Jayden Stockley. With Match Ups you can back player to beat player across a wide range of metrics including goals, shots, shots on target and more. And now you can even double up on those bets so if you were convinced your selection was going to dominate a match then Match Ups is ideal for you!

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