Middlesbrough look to bounce back from a surprise defeat at Fulham on Friday, as they welcome Birmingham City to the Riverside Stadium.
A single point separates these teams coming into this fixture and a win could send Boro up to 15th, whereas Birmingham will leapfrog their hosts and climb a spot to 17th position with victory here.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesMiddlesbrough have no fresh injury concerns to report as Britt Assombalonga looks to return from a niggling ankle injury.
Daniel Ayala, Ryan Shotton (both ankle), George Friend (tendon) and Anfernee Dijksteel (knee) all remain ruled out.
Birmingham City also have no fresh injury concerns after their 1-1 home draw with Cardiff on Saturday, as Harlee Dean serves the second of a two match suspension.
Maikel Kieftenbeld is also ruled out as he continues to rebuild his match fitness after a serious knee injury suffered last April.
Stat Attack
- Middlesbrough have lost one of their last 11 meetings against Birmingham City (W6, D4, L1).
- Birmingham haven’t won on any of their last five trips to the Riverside Stadium (D1, L4), with Middlesbrough keeping four clean sheets in their last four clashes on Teesside.
- Just one of the last six goals in this fixture has come from a defender – Daniel Ayala scoring Boro’s equaliser in an eventual 2-1 defeat at St Andrew’s in October.
Prediction
Boro definitely looked lethargic on Friday night so Jonathan Woodgate will probably ring the changes, especially against a hard-working team like Birmingham who have a habit of grinding out close results despite losing five of their last eight league games.
I therefore think that this could be close because Boro are going to have to be wary throughout of Birmingham’s threat, otherwise Birmingham could nick this but their home record against the West Midlands club has been great so am going for a narrow Boro win.
Prediction: Middlesbrough 1-0 Birmingham City
Result: Middlesbrough 1-1 Birmingham City
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