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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Paul Abbandonato

Neil Warnock delivers verdict on Cardiff City relegation fight and says they'll soon be 'battering' Swansea City

Cardiff City legend Neil Warnock is banking on the Bluebirds avoiding the drop into League One - and then asserted they'll soon start to 'batter' arch rivals Swansea City.

The hugely popular former Cardiff boss spoke out after his Huddersfield team lost 1-0 to Russell Martin's Swans and with the Championship relegation dogfight set to go right down to the wire.

Warnock's game in Swansea came after Sabri Lamouchi's Bluebirds had crashed 4-1 to Sheffield United in a TV game shortly before.

It prompted Warnock to say, as quoted by YorkshireLive: "I heard one or two cheers in the Swansea dressing room before the game... but don't forget, in football what goes around comes around. It'll only be a matter of time before Cardiff get a good team together and batter them."

Charismatic Warnock's comments come after Swansea completed the double double over Cardiff at the beginning of the month to keep an iron grip on the South Wales derby fixture at the moment.

However, what matters most of course is Cardiff preserving their Championship status and Warnock is hugely optimistic that they will.

READ MORE: Relegation picture as it stands as Huddersfield halted, QPR in freefall and Cardiff City's collapse not as bad as first feared

Cardiff, Huddersfield, QPR, Reading and Rotherham are in the mix, with Wigan and Blackpool likely to go.

QPR lost 0-3 at home to Coventry on Saturday, Rotherham were beaten 2-0 by promotion chasing Luton, while Reading pulled off a 0-0 home draw with likely title winners Burnley.

Everything looks like hinging on Cardiff's final home game with Warnock's own Huddersfield. They also play Rotherham three days before that and wind up the season at Burnley.

Cardiff's two games prior to that finale sees them go to Watford on Wednesday and host Stoke in the Welsh capital on Saturday.

"I didn't think Cardiff played bad earlier," Warnock said of the Bluebirds' loss at Bramall Lane. "Reading got a point against Burnley. We obviously just played them at the wrong time didn't we?"

He continued post-Swansea: "Everyone is playing for something and that's the kind of challenge I thrive on.

"I was disappointed I didn't hear anything from their fans. I asked, have I done something wrong, they're not having a go at me?!

"I had one of the best times of my career at Cardiff with a great chairman. To get automatic promotion was something special.

"I hope Cardiff, ourselves and Rotherham survive, so you know who I want to go.

"I'm enjoying the challenge. I'm 74, so you don't get as het up do you? It's diplomacy isn't it, so you need to go by it."

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