Cardiff City and QPR may face key decisions on Wednesday evening condition | OneFootball

Wednesday evening's clash between Cardiff City and QPR is a genuine six-pointer, with uncertainty hanging over both Omer Riza and Marti Cifuentes

It is difficult to downplay Wednesday evening's crunch Championship showdown between Cardiff City and QPR as anything less than a six-pointer, with both sides struggling at the wrong end of the table amid growing uncertainty surrounding the futures of Omer Riza and Marti Cifuentes.

Five points and just two places separate Cardiff and QPR, who both desperately require an uplift in fortunes and momentum and will be hoping to put all of that right on Wednesday night.

The match simply feels like one which neither side can afford to lose, and because of that, anything other than a draw could spell doom for either Riza or Cifuentes.

At the time of writing, Cardiff are placed 21st in the Championship table following Saturday afternoon's 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday, which halted the two-match losing streak which had been worked up prior to the international break through consecutive defeats to Luton Town and Blackburn Rovers. The R's, meanwhile, arrested their own consecutive run of losses by also sharing the spoils in a 1-1 draw to Stoke City.

Unlike Cardiff, though, they haven't won since August, with their sole league victory of the season coming against Luton Town, who were sorely struggling at the time and now find themselves in 16th place.

Omer Riza and Marti Cifuentes may share uncertainty at Cardiff City, QPR

The stakes are incredibly high heading into Wednesday's clash, and it's hard to escape the feeling that both sets of managers will be feeling the pressure more than most.

Frustratingly, the uncertainty which is surrounding Riza is both palpable and well-documented. The Bluebirds interim boss stepped up following the sacking of Erol Bulut more than two months ago and, despite not being appointed on a permanent basis, has been in situ ever since.

Riza sparked a drastic upturn in form for Cardiff, who have won four games under his tuition and now look considerably stronger value for survival in the second-tier this term.

That, accompanied by the seeming liberation in which many of Cardiff's most talented and important players have enjoyed through a more progressive, higher-tempo attacking style of play, had seen the ex-Watford and Leyton Orient first-team coach touted to land the job full-time, endearing himself to supporters following a six-match unbeaten run between the start of October and the start of November.

But, despite having met owner Vincent Tan over in Malaysia during the international break, it's still unclear whether Riza will be appointed permanently and, admittedly, his chances of earning that title now appear slimmer after a three-match winless run, which has included two defeats.

The recent drop-off in terms of both results and performances have prompted something of a turning of the tide with supporters, who are now, by and large of course, becoming increasingly against the prospect of Riza becoming Cardiff's 12th permanent manager in just 14 years.

Cardiff were second best for large spells of their trip to Hillsborough and there is a strong school of thought that the result has flattered them. While they fought hard to earn a draw at a ground which is seldom an easy place to go to at this level, the manner of performance could've easily placed them on the receiving end of a real rout on another day and will have hardly convinced the Bluebirds' decision makers, who may just be watching closely this week as a result.

A defeat at home to the Championship's bottom side would be disastrous for Cardiff and, crucially within this context of course, Riza's hopes of earning his first senior, full-time managerial role.

There may well be a mutual bond of precarious uncertainty between the two managers, who both realistically need to take all three points in order to alleviate growing pressure. Cifuentes, who guided QPR to Championship survival last term, did appear to have one of the division's safer jobs after penning a new long-term contract only at the end of September, but has sorely struggled.

Significant buy-in among the Loftus Road faithful remains in spite of an abject start to the season which leaves QPR still in search of their first home victory as they're rooted to the foot of the table, but one does have to wonder how much longer they can stay where they are before a decision is made.

It's a results-based business unfortunately, and while Cifuentes deserves credit for steadying the ship last time out before helping to build potentially sustainable and profitable long-term foundations through a youth-centred recruitment philosophy in the summer, QPR can ill-afford to succumb to relegation to English football's third-tier and that's exactly where they look to be heading at this moment in time.

Perhaps tellingly, Cifuentes spoke with a tone of cautious uncertainty following Saturday's draw against Stoke, where his side spurned a range of glorious opportunities as they failed in finally winning at Loftus Road for the first time in the 2024/25 term.

When asked if he felt he had the support of the QPR hierarchy, Cifuentes said via WestLondonSport: "I think that’s a question you should ask them, not me."

There will, you can imagine, be serious conversations undertaken at boardroom level if Cifuentes' QPR lose out again to a current relegation rival, while the same outcome would amplify the growing doubt surrounding Riza's future too.

Cardiff City are the favourites for huge QPR clash

Both sides will feel they have a chance at coming away with victory and are perfectly entitled to do so given their close proximity and just how much is riding on the affair, although you'd perhaps declare the home side as slight favourites.

Cardiff, of course, will be looking to utilise their home advantage. They've generally fared rather well on home soil under Riza, who has lost just once at the Cardiff City Stadium and has enjoyed crucial victories over Millwall and Norwich City while seeing off two likely relegation rivals in Plymouth Argyle and Portsmouth.

On the whole, it would be a fair assessment to say that Cardiff have looked much better than their league position suggests under Riza, even if the last three games undermine that theory. The zip, tempo and dynamism that Riza's modus operandi became synonymous with has just evaded the Bluebirds of late, although there's no better time to regain their spark.

Interestingly, Cardiff have actually lost more games than QPR, who have been defeated on seven occasions, but are not cut further adrift due to their ability to grind out draws. To their credit, they have taken points from three of the current top-four in Sunderland, Burnley and Sheffield United, and they've travelled back to west London empty-handed just three times, too.

QPR will fancy their chances of coming away with a point at the very least but must really be gunning for all three, while Cardiff simply can't afford to let the outcome resemble anything other than a home victory, either. That said, they do appear slight favourites right now and they must make that count.