A morale-boosting win be the best way to describe Cardiff’s win at Birmingham on Tuesday. It was Lamouchi’s first at the club and in all honesty the Cardiff goals came out of nowhere.

Despite this win, the concern about the Bluebirds’ ability to create chances remains undimmed, and should be considered when betting on this game.

Given the propensity for Cardiff to find ways of not winning their home games at the moment it feels prudent to cover the draw here too. The threat of a low-scoring encounter hangs over this match, so the draw is a lively runner.

As mentioned above Cardiff are a generally solid and well organised team. The usual 3-5-2 shape uses wing-backs that aren’t particularly productive in the final third and the central midfield usually comprises of a double pivot protecting the centre of the pitch.

This prevents their opponents from establishing a lot of control in that vital area in front of their defence. The three central defenders being used at the moment, Cedric Kipre, Mark McGuinness, and Perry Ng, are all decent in the air and alongside a physical front two of Sory Kaba and Kion Etete are never going to be overpowered at set pieces.

Reading are likely to sit deep and make it difficult for Cardiff to construct as well. A match in which both teams use a similar three-man defensive setup often develops into a battle in which the wing backs face off against each other. Everything around the pitch is tight and full of individual battles.

Given this tactical picture and the lack of goalscorers on the pitch we should add Under 2.5 goals to the bet.

Also looking at the match pattern it feels like it will be the home side that will be the ones to have the majority of the territory and control.

The next aspect of the bet relies upon Lamouchi’s team selection, but Sory Kaba has started the last two matches and is gradually increasing his minutes. The big Guinean has started well in South Wales and already fired off 7 shots, 2 in 35 minutes on debut, 2 in 69 minutes vs Boro and then 3 in 74 on Tuesday.

This makes Kaba to have two or more shots in this match, where Cardiff are near even money favourites, a must back.

Finally, the referee for this match is Darren Bond. The man formerly known for his questionable hair band use earlier in the season has been fairly profligate with his cards this season.

Bond averages over 4.5 yellows per Championship match so there is a good chance that there will be some action in his book in this match.

However, Cardiff have actually drawn 0 bookings in their last two matches. Whether this is as a result of something that has changed under the latest manager is impossible to tell in this sample size, but it is interesting in this market.

With Cardiff likely to have more of the ball as well the chances of Reading conceding fouls and, therefore, cautions are potentially increased. With Bond at the whistle cards are likely to be given out enough for there to be a decent chance for one team to be clear of another come the final tally, avoiding the dreaded tie in this market.