Cardiff City v Stoke City: 'Kenwyne Jones can cause us problems,' says Marc Wilson
The Sentinel
MARC Wilson insists he will not take the challenge of marking his pal Kenwyne Jones lightly as the striker bids to line up against Stoke for Cardiff.
Jones is battling to prove his fitness to pit his wits against Wilson and Ryan Shawcross on Saturday for the first time since ending his four-year stay in the Potteries in January.
He has only scored one goal for Cardiff so far, but his old team-mates knows he has the attributes to cause problems for any Premier League defence.
"I've known Kenwyne for a good few years and he's a great lad too," said Wilson.
"We just have to treat him like anyone else, take it as the next game and hope to get maximum points.
"He was always a difficult striker to mark in training. He's a strong guy.
"On his day Kenwyne is a very difficult player to play against. We just want to keep doing what we have been doing recently and concentrate on our own game."
Jones will come up against a Stoke side which has won almost as many points (21) in the 12 games since he left as they did in the 22 when he was still at the club this term (22).
The Potters have lost one of their last seven and a win in South Wales this weekend would put them within one point of their highest tally since returning to the top flight in 2008.
Wilson said: "We lost 3-0 at Chelsea (earlier this month) and it was important to bounce back as quickly as possible from that with win, which we did last weekend.
"That's no disrespect to a good Newcastle side who gave us a tough match in tough windy conditions.
"Now we are edging closer to our best points total (47). That's what we've been saying all along. We want to try to push over that if possible.
"We want to finish as high as possible and pick up as many points as possible this season.
"We've got four games left and they will all be difficult. We're taking on teams who are fighting to stay in the division.
"We can't take our foot off the gas now. We won't be slacking up. We have to be on the top of our game every weekend."
Cardiff, on the other hand, are second-from-bottom, three points from safety and fighting for their lives in the top flight under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
"Cardiff had a brilliant win at Southampton last weekend and they will be desperate for another three points," said Wilson.
"But we can't let our own game slip. We've got to keep picking up points.
"We want to keep improving our away form too and win more games on the road and if we can do that we can take the confidence into next season."
Stoke had a late rush for season tickets before the deadline for early bird discounts passed yesterday afternoon. Sales figures are expected to be revealed next week.
