Cardiff City handed key fitness boost ahead of Watford clash

Cardiff City have been handed a huge fitness boost ahead of this weekend’s clash with Watford. The Bluebirds head to Vicarage Road after around two weeks off on Saturday, and they will hope to hit the ground running after disappointing form before their small break.

Erol Bulut will welcome a number of new signings to his squad for the clash, depending on registration processes, with five players snapped up at the back-end of the January window.

City will also welcome back star man Aaron Ramsey after more than three months, with the Wales international back fit and ready to play, although Callum O’Dowda will have to wait a little longer as he prepares to return from a lengthy layoff of his own.

“Aaron Ramsey will be with us against Watford,” Bulut said in his pre-match press conference. “He trained well and hasn’t had any problems up until now. It took a long time, we were expecting him back earlier, but with injuries, you never know. He’s healthy and he will be with the team on Saturday. 

“Of course, for an injured player, to train alone and make runnings, do fitness work, you have to train harder to come back and he did. You can see in his face how happy he is to be back with the team on the field. 

“When we had Ramsey and Callum O’Dowda, our game was a bit different in the offensive shape. After that, when two main attacking players are out of the team, it is difficult to replace them. Right now, Ramsey is back and we have made some new signings, I hope we will be back in the positive shape that we were in before. O’Dowda is also doing work with the ball, but I think he will be out until the end of February.”