PREM: Cardiff v Newcastle preview

Cardiff v Newcastle preview

Neil Warnock and Rafa Benitez renew their rivalry on Saturday as Cardiff face Newcastle in the Premier League.

Warnock was unhappy with Benitez in 2007 when he fielded a second-string Liverpool side in a 1-0 defeat to Fulham.

The result proved costly for Warnock's Sheffield United as they were relegated and Fulham stayed up on the final day of the season.

Warnock said at the time that he will "never forgive Benitez", but the relationship seems to have thawed since, with Warnock talking about the Newcastle manager in positive terms ahead of their meeting this weekend.

"You've only got to look at what the fans are saying and what all the pundits are saying, the one person Newcastle can't afford to lose is Rafa, they could get away with [losing] any player," said the Cardiff boss.

"His commitment to Newcastle has been fantastic and he's in his last year now so it'll be interesting to see how that develops because I think he'll be targeted worldwide really."

Both teams will be looking to get off the mark for the season on Saturday after losing their opening games.

Cardiff were beaten 2-0 at Bournemouth while Newcastle lost at home to Tottenham. Despite defeat, Warnock said his newly-promoted side have "nothing to be afraid of" in the Premier League.

"We had to improve the team from last week and we can do that with players to come in," he said. "The next couple of games will show us more, but we were in the game until the end at Bournemouth and despite the critics, I was quite pleased with it really. We had to gamble at the death.

"I think we're capable of getting results against anyone at home and then pinch one or two away."

New signing Harry Arter is expected to make his Cardiff bow after being ineligible for last weekend's opener against his parent club, Bournemouth.

Kenneth Zohore (groin) faces a late fitness test after missing the 2-0 defeat but Aron Gunnarsson (knee) is a definite absentee.

Newcastle could hand full debuts to a host of their summer signings in south Wales.

Forwards Salomon Rondon and Yoshinori Muto came off the bench in defeat to Tottenham, while fellow new recruits Fabian Schar, Ki Sung-yueng and Federico Fernandez are all yet to feature.

DeAndre Yedlin will miss out after suffering a minor knee injury against former club Spurs, with Florian Lejeune's knee surgery keeping him sidelined for much longer.