If last weekend's walloping at the hands of Fulham was among the season's darkest of lowlights, the scenes in the Welsh capital on August 28 were unquestionable one of the campaign's highest points.
Questions were being asked of Nigel Pearson's team as they arrived at Cardiff City Stadium, having won just one of their opening five games in all competitions, albeit with mostly good performances. But there was a feeling that defeat to their rivals heading into the international break could have a wider bearing on the season.
Andi Weimann's double - and that ode to Scott Murray celebration - ensured the opposite, and City bounded into September full of confidence and belief in what proved their most consistent run of form and performances before it all started to go a bit wrong in mid-October.
Today should tell us if what transpired last weekend was an aberration or points to a wider problem, particularly in defence, but certainly Cardiff are nowhere near the quality of the league leaders.
With a crowd in excess of 21,000 - the biggest of the season - and a need to put on a show, to an extent, three points would go a long away to revisiting those euphoric feelings of pride and confidence. Here's how we think City will line up...
Goalkeeper and defence
This is a tough one to start with because was Max O’Leary at fault for any of the goals last week? Probably not, plus he did make at least two very good saves to keep the scoreline from worryingly edging towards double figures.
However, there’s also been a slight feeling that Bentley’s time out of the team was always with a mind to bring him back in, and in that context, given his seniority in the squad, it’s hard to see Pearson accepting six goals being conceded and not think about changing his goalkeeper.
After all, if the boot (glove) was on the other foot (hand) and Bentley had shipped six, then O’Leary would surely be in the conversation to return. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see the first change of the day come in goal.
Into the defence and we can rightly assume that Tomas Kalas will start, and that Pearson is likely to persist with a 3-5-2 given performances prior to Fulham and also because that matches up with Cardiff’s favoured system.
Now, he doesn’t have an abundance of options as to who plays in front of his designated goalkeeper but exactly what configuration of three he settles on is difficult to determine.
Zak Vyner didn’t play well against Fulham. Actually, let’s correct that, on the ball he played okay, the issue was with his defending and having to deal with Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Does Pearson take that into greater consideration than his two performances before Craven Cottage? It’s a difficult question but his lack of options may mean he leans towards the latter and Vyner - who also started against Cardiff in Wales - takes his place in defence again, either at centre-back or right wing-back where the options again look rather slim.
It would be some surprise if Rob Atkinson misses out for another game given the extra height he brings to the team and the fact he’s looked in better touch in his back-to-back substitute appearances against Fulham.
Pearson is confident Cam Pring can be a Championship-level centre-back, you just think with Cardiff’s more industrial approach, it might be the right move to get a more natural defender in there which then enables him to play as a wing-back.
That more natural defender could even be Robbie Cundy who was curiously left out of the Under-23 squad on Monday to play Swansea and while the initial assumption was due to his long-standing knee problems, he was pictured later this week heavily involved in first-team training. That, of course, raises the question - was he being held back for this game?
Pearson hasn’t been shy of making some surprise selection calls in defence: not starting Kalas at the beginning of the season; Nathan Baker at left-back; Pring at centre-back; Ryley Towler instead of Atkinson against Millwall. Could Cundy make his long-awaited City debut in a Severnside Derby after precious few minutes this season?
In would be a big call but, then again, Cardiff are one of the Championship’s least threatening attacks and maybe this is precisely the right sort of game to explore if he’s ready to play a part this season.
What does account against him are those lack of minutes - just one and a half games for the U23s - and it may just be set for a bench role, assuming Atkinson then move into the starting XI.
Midfield
In the middle of the park the midfield looks pretty straightforward to forecast. This is at least one game too soon for Matty James, who could be back against Luton on Tuesday but, if not then, Preston North End away next Saturday.
Joe Williams should be in the squad but given the concern around his hamstrings, he surely will be eased back into first-team duties and his position will likely be on the bench.
Tyreeq Bakinson’s departure on Thursday leaves Andy King and Han-Noah Massengo as Pearson’s only genuine holding players and although they struggled against the speed and craft of Fulham’s central unit, Cardiff are a different beast altogether.
The identity of the third name in that area is between Alex Scott and Weimann, and is also dependent on who starts at right wing-back.
Jay Dasilva held the position against the Cottagers, as Pearson looked to counteract Neeskens Kebano’s desire to drive inside onto his right foot.
Again, Cardiff aren’t the same sort of team and the expectation is that although Dasilva can feel a little unfortunate to drop out, a more natural right-footer will return.
If Vyner starts at centre-back, as predicted above, that doesn’t leave Pearson with too many options and he’s down to Dasilva again, Scott or even experimenting with Weimann, who he may feel can do that job based on how little the Bluebirds will threaten in that area.
If he really wants Scott in the middle then maybe it will be the Austrian but City also need their top-scorer higher up the pitch and as close to goal as possible, plus there’s every chance Chris Martin returns up top (which will explain in a minute).
That means Scott slotting back into his secondary (or is it his primary) role in the team on the flank, accommodating Weimann in the middle of the field ahead of the King and Massengo axis.
That doesn’t consider Ayman Benarous and Kasey Palmer in the No10 role but they don’t appear close to a starting berth just yet and considerations elsewhere on the pitch probably count them out.
Over on the left, if Pring is freed from a centre-back role he may get the nod ahead of O’Dowda who didn’t quite deliver against Fulham but Pearson has previously remarked how much penetration they get with the Republic of Ireland international in the team.
Attack
Based on our hypothesis that Weimann will be in an advanced midfield role, that makes the striker positions pretty obvious.
Antoine Semenyo will start given his form on the ball and those two stunning goals against Fulham. He is maturing nicely into a central striker, combining power in static positions to real acceleration and athleticism on the turn, and his use of the ball is becoming increasingly more efficient. He can give the Cardiff defence a hugely uncomfortable afternoon.
Pearson’s frustration at how City defended set-pieces last Saturday could be a motivating factor to get Martin back in the time, considering how often Cardiff lean on the tactic to try and score.
Martin has been hailed as City’s best set-piece defender - reminiscent of Famara Diedhiou - but he also makes for a strong physical presence for Semenyo to then play off and drift into space.
Semenyo said he was looking forward to the physical battle and while there’s no doubting that enthusiasm, it maybe makes more sense for Martin to occupy Aden Flint and Curtis Nelson, allowing the 22-year-old to collect flick-ons, knock-downs and loose balls and then drive at the Bluebirds defence.
That then keeps Nahki Wells on the bench with Tommy Conway and Sam Bell also in reserve.
Bristol City (3-4-1-2): Bentley; Vyner, Kalas, Atkinson; Scott, Massengo, King, Pring; Weimann; Martin, Semenyo
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