Cardiff know importance of 'massive' Derby test

Omer Riza admits Cardiff City's Championship fixture with Derby County is "massive" given the Bluebirds' struggles against some of their relegation rivals this season.

Cardiff are unbeaten in six league matches going into their meeting with the Rams in south Wales on Saturday (15:00 GMT) but remain just two points and two places above the bottom three.

Paul Warne's side have lost five successive league outings ahead of the trip to the Welsh capital to sit one one and one position below Cardiff.

And Riza admits Cardiff are well aware of the need to pick up points against teams around them in the fight to avoid the drop into League One.

"[The games against the teams around you] are really important," Riza said.

"It's probably where we've not done too well. If you look at Oxford and you look at Preston, they've gone up slightly, QPR, so we have to make sure we get that right.

"The boys know how important it is, we know how important it is and I'm sure come Saturday, we'll be ready to go.

"It's a massive game again."

Goalkeeper Jak Alnwick admits Derby's recent run fully highlights the unpredictable nature of the Championship.

"Every game's massive, whether we play Derby or Leeds the week after, we're going in with the same mentality," said the goalkeeper.

"I was looking at Derby about eight or nine games ago like everyone else saying 'they're having a brilliant season'.

"But their form has dropped a little bit and they're down there with us at the minute.

"It's such a crazy league that anything can happen, but we'll focus on ourselves and bring what we bring and every game is massive between now and the end of the season."