The Sky Bet Championship weekend concludes with a belter of a match on Monday night when two rivals meet each other when Middlesbrough play host to Sunderland in a battle of promotion chasers at the Riverside Stadium.
This match pits seventh against fourth with Middlesbrough looking to move up to fifth with a win while Sunderland have the chance to go level on points with third placed Burnley if they can come out on top.
Where to watch
You have a choice of channels for this match with it being shown live and in full on Sky Sports Football where the build-up begins at 7pm or on ITV4 where the show starts at 7.30pm. Kick off is at 8pm.
Middlesbrough
When you look at their squad on paper and their attacking numbers statistically, Middlesbrough should be doing much better than they are this season but they just can’t seem to find any consistency to their results. As such, they go into this match with just two wins in their last eight and that run has allowed the chasing pack in the race for the play-offs to not just catch them but in a couple of cases overtake them so they will need a really strong final third of the campaign if they are to secure a crack at promotion.
That seems to have been recognised in the boardroom as a couple of signings have come into the Riverside in recent days, although the rumour mill would suggest that they are going to lose their top scorer which wouldn’t be ideal. Whether Emmanuel Latte Lath stays or goes remains to be seen but there are goals in this Middlesbrough side, so much so that only Leeds United and Norwich City have scored more than their 47 goals this term but Middlesbrough concede a little too regularly for my liking.
Sunderland
When you consider the age of their squad, for Sunderland to be pushing three big clubs at this level in the race for automatic promotion really should be rewarded and while they have spent a few quid on certain signings, they are largely doing this with one of the youngest starting XIs in the league if not squads. That will inevitably bring about the odd poor result but in the main their performances are good and a win here could be a statement three points.
The Black Cats go into this match off the back of a run of one defeat in their last 11 matches, although not beating Plymouth Argyle last time out might feel like a loss given their perilous situation. They probably feel they have left some points in the board in that run as well. Sunderland can be free flowing in attack but their goals conceded record is the fourth best in the league, which is a decent effort given the youthful nature of their personnel.
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Team News
Michael Carrick could give debuts to January signings George Edmundson, Morgan Whittaker and Mark Travers in this match. Ryan Giles came off the bench at Preston last time out and will be pushing for a first start back in Middlesbrough colours.
Regis Le Bris has confirmed that Alan Browne, Tommy Watson and Romaine Mundle are getting closer to a return to action but that this match will come too good for them. Niall Huggins is back in training but is further away from starting.
Betting
If this wasn’t a derby then I would probably have taken Sunderland in some fashion here but the fact it is likely to be a competitive and fiercely fought game makes me hold off on that one because all sorts of weird stuff happens in the Championship anyway let alone when you throw the derby element to it as well. I do expect to see goals though. We have the second and fifth highest scoring teams on show here so it would make sense to think there will be goals.
When you add in that Plymouth have just scored twice against Sunderland and that Middlesbrough are anything but watertight defensively that would only further heighten the expectation for goals to come along in this one. The bet that I like here is for both teams to score and there to be over 2.5 goals. Both teams could really do with winning this match so that should ensure that neither are comfortable with a 1-1 which can bring in a winning goal somewhere. These two are more attack minded than defensively structured and that can lead us to this bet landing.
Tips
Back Both teams to score and over 2.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 2.40 with William Hill
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