At the quarter mark of the Championship season Wrexham are, well, fine. Sixteenth in the table, they have some degree of breathing room from a relegation zone where it seems likely that Sheffield Wednesday will occupy one of the three spots come the end of the season. Their expected goal difference (xGD) of -4.96 is a bit of a worry, placing them 20th among the division’s 24 teams, but that has been trending in the right direction after a tough start to life in the second tier. Over the last six games that xGD is even above zero.
Phil Parkinson’s side might not set the scene alight, but they don’t give up much to the opposition and are proving themselves capable of leaving with something from their meetings with big beasts like Leicester and Middlesbrough. Scoring 16 and conceding 17, Wrexham seem to be tracking towards absolutely fine. For most teams who have risen from non-league to the highest tier of the English Football League, one division below the Premier League, in the blink of an eye, this would be an ideal campaign.
For ill and predominantly for good, however, Wrexham are not most teams. They are a community institution and they are a vehicle for content. The former could go on forever. The latter needs fresh stories to tell, new adversaries to overcome and stakes that are forever raised. It is hard to find all that if you are holding firm in lower midtable in the Championship. Perhaps you can get a season five out of this whole new ball game, a world where Wrexham can’t just spend all the way to the promotion places. Best of luck though in ringing a few Emmys out of nine months of 1-1 draws.
That is where the EFL Cup comes in. Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac had long envisioned their custodianship of the third oldest professional club in the world taking them up to the Premier League. While they wait for the major aim to come into fruition, what could be better than a cup tie against one of the big boys? That hasn’t happened yet but it would be eminently plausible if they get the job done on Tuesday, when they face League One Cardiff City in the fourth round.
In and of itself, this is a match worthy of excitement. Not quite a derby, a 270-plus mile round trip will do that, but a first meeting in over 20 years between the men from the capital and those from Wales‘ footballing heartland promises a great deal. Certainly Cardiff manager Brian Barry-Murphy was left in no doubt as to the importance of this game when he brought it up at a fan forum last week. “I asked the question about whether it constitutes a derby, and I got a very clear response,” he told his pre-match press conference.
“They said ‘no messing around — bring our strongest squad’. If they see us taking this game lightly in any way, shape or form, there will be a problem for me!” For Cardiff, who top League One, this offers a chance to reassert the primacy of the south in the Welsh game and of course to further fizz their promotion campaign.
For Wrexham, the EFL Cup offers a fresh narrative arc. This Championship season may tell a fairly blah story of a club levelling out. If that is indeed the case then there is nothing to be lost and a whole lot to be gained from a deep cup run.
How to watch Wrexham vs. Cardiff City
- Date: Tuesday, Oct. 28 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: Racecourse Ground — Wrexham, United Kingdom
- Live stream: Paramount+
- Odds: Wrexham +125; Draw +225; Cardiff City +200
