Omer Riza ‘frustrated’ to be resting Cardiff players for Aston Villa FA Cup tie

Omer Riza admits Cardiff’s lowly league position will force him to name a weakened FA Cup line-up at Aston Villa.

Cardiff are 19th in the Sky Bet Championship, six points above the relegation zone, with the fifth-round tie coming in the middle of a five-game two-week spell for the Bluebirds.

Around 6,000 Cardiff fans will make the trip to Villa on Friday night hoping for a cup upset, but Riza has even suggested losing in the third round was a preferable option to stretching their resources during the fight for Championship survival.

‘Injuries’

“I’m frustrated if I’m honest,” said Cardiff manager Riza. “We’ve got a lot of injuries and a lot of players who have played a lot of minutes.

“It should be a good moment for us on Friday, it’s a really big game, but there are a lot of things we are need to contend with at the moment.

“I’d like to put my strongest team out so you can have a real go at it – and if we were 12th in the league I’d have no issues with that.

“But we have just got too many far more important games coming up, which is about surviving and staying in the Championship.

“Sometimes I think it was best that we went out in the third round. But then you look at it and say, ‘Look what we’ve given the fans’ and they are so excited about this game.

“We’re definitely not rolling over and saying ‘take the game’, but it’s frustrating we can’t be at full-strength and have a real go at it.”

Relegation worries

Cardiff eased their relegation worries on Tuesday by beating fellow strugglers Hull, but their next two league games are against promotion-chasing pair Burnley and Sunderland.

Wales captain Aaron Ramsey, who has been nursed back into action over recent weeks after missing five months with hamstring trouble, could be among those omitted.

Goalkeeper Jak Alnwick, defender Jesper Daland, midfield pair David Turnbull and Joe Ralls and attackers Ollie Tanner and Will Alves form part of a lengthy injury list.

Villa boss Unai Emery could also rotate his squad ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League round of 16 tie against Belgian side Club Brugge.

But Riza said: “I think they’ll still have a full team of internationals on the pitch because that’s the depth they’ve got.

“They’ll still be very strong so we have to manage the game accordingly, and correctly.

“We have to approach it in a way we’re not easy to break down and use the ball diligently. We have to be as hard to beat as possible.”