Warnock – I’m the ‘best man’ for Cardiff - (2021)

Neil Warnock is adamant that he is the best man to save Cardiff City from relegation and has also denied talk of a dressing room rift at the Premier League strugglers (2/9 – Relegation).

The Bluebirds had looked on course for survival when they bounced back from the tragic death of striker Emiliano Sala and climbed out of the relegation places with back-to-back wins over Bournemouth and Southampton at the start of February.

However, successive home defeats to Watford and Everton, in which they lost 5-1 and 3-0 respectively, followed by last weekend’s 2-0 reverse at Wolves, has left them two points from safety with nine games remaining.

West Ham are up next at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday (Cardiff 13/5, West Ham 6/5, Draw 12/5 – Match Result), while they still have Chelsea and Liverpool to face at home and Manchester City and United away in their remaining fixtures.

And, while the run-in looks daunting, Warnock has responded to rumblings of discontent amongst a section of the fans to insist that he has the ability to save Cardiff from an instant return to the Championship.

He said: “If it was a majority, I’d be worried. You’re always going to get that (some criticism). Even last year when we were going for promotion, with three weeks to go, there was talk ‘is he good enough to take us up?’ when we had a couple of sticky results.

“It’s not something I worry too much about, and if I thought it’d be better to have somebody different in the place, I’d say ‘good luck to them’.

“If they thought that, it wouldn’t bother me one bit. I think I’m the best one to get us over the line this year.”

As for suggestions from outsiders that there appears to be a split in the dressing room, Warnock added: “When you lose three games like we have, you are flat.

“Your body language is flat and training is not the same. I don’t think there’s any rift whatsoever.”

Odds subject to change.