The Sky Bet Championship run-in is beginning to warm up nicely and we have another entertaining looking clash to begin the fifth to last round of matches on Friday night when promotion chasers Middlesbrough and Norwich City meet at the Riverside Stadium.
Both teams have faded away from their aim with indifferent starts to April. Middlesbrough had a second chance to fall back on but the same can’t be said of Norwich so while both will be keen to arrest a dodgy spell, this might be bigger for the visitors.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football channels. The build-up to the contest begins at 7pm and the kick off comes at 8pm.
Middlesbrough
You couldn’t say this is a season of three thirds for Middlesbrough but there was certainly a terrible beginning to it before an incredible run which has just tailed off in recent weeks. I think that was to be expected because they went on a run of 14 wins from 17 matches from November to the last international break. That seemed to come at exactly the wrong time as they are without a win in three matches since then and have hit the buffers just as they looked set to reach and potentially overtake Sheffield United in the race for automatic promotion.
Middlesbrough have conceded eight goals in those three matches since the international break so they are not going to have to look too deep as to where they need to improve to get back on track. They begin the night eight points behind Sheffield United who have a game in hand so automatic promotion looks beyond them now but they won’t want to limp into the play-offs without any form. The positive for Boro is that their defeat to Burnley was their first home defeat in 12 and Norwich aren’t Burnley.
Norwich City
Given their record in the Sky Bet Championship, Norwich City began the season with huge expectations of getting promoted if not as champions then certainly automatically. They have never really been part of the automatic picture and that cost Dean Smith his job but they have gone no further up the table under David Wagner and indeed are out of the top six completely now. Failure to miss out on the play-offs will be unacceptable so there is plenty of pressure on the Canaries here.
The positive thing is that if they avoid defeat here they will move up to fifth ahead of the remainder of the matches this weekend, and with the exception of Preston North End, nobody is looking like they are going to barge their way into the top six. Norwich head to the Riverside off the back of a run of just one win in six matches and only have three goals in that time but they are unbeaten in five on the road and have only lost one match on their travels in eight in 2023.
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Team News
Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick was unsure whether he would have the services of Dael Fry to call upon for this match after he picked up a knock in training ahead of the trip to Bristol City on Monday. Cameron Archer and Riley McGree began that match on the bench and will be expecting to start here.
Norwich City are without a few senior players for this match. Grant Hanley and Ben Gibson are out with injury as is Kieran Dowell while the match comes too soon for Marcelino Nunez. Andrew Omobamidele will continue as skipper.
Betting
Norwich City have issues at both ends of the pitch and that isn’t a situation I like. They have key defenders missing against one of the most potent teams in the league and that certainly isn’t a combination I like but at the other end of the pitch the goals have really dried up and it is hard to get enthused about that too. The other problem I have with Norwich is injuries are really restricting David Wagner in terms of options and when you consider this is the third game in eight days that isn’t ideal.
Middlesbrough have none of those issues. They have conceded more goals than they would have wanted to in recent times but that is down to their opponents rather than a lack of personnel but at home especially they can be rampant in front of goal. Where Wagner can’t rotate too much without weakening his side, Michael Carrick had the luxury of having the likes of Cameron Archer, Riley McGree, Alex Mowatt and Dan Barlaser on the bench on Easter Monday so he can freshen up his ranks without weakening the team too much and still have big options to call upon during the game. That is a big thing at this time of the season and when you add in that Middlesbrough have won 10 of their last 12 home games, with the two they didn’t win being against a suddenly in form Stoke side and Burnley who are the best team in the league, I think the shade under evens on a home win is a solid bet.
Tips
Back Middlesbrough to beat Norwich City for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with Coral
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