League Two’s Mansfield Town look to cause a cupset as Middlesbrough visit Field Mill in the Third Round of 2021-22 FA Cup.
Victory see Mansfield reach the Fourth Round for the first time in 14 seasons since last doing so during 2007-08 season, where they were coincidentally eliminated by Middlesbrough.
Boro meanwhile are looking to avoid exiting at this stage of the competition for a third consecutive season.
Team News
Danny Johnson is a doubt for Mansfield as he continues to recover from an ankle injury suffered two months ago against .
Kellan Gordon (back), James Perch (head) and Will Forrester (ankle) are ruled out.
Middlesbrough could be without up to ten players who have been self-isolating following positive Coronavirus tests, meaning that manager – Chris Wilder could be forced to field a mixture of fringe and youth players.
Aaron Connolly could meanwhile make his Boro debut after joining the club on loan from Brighton.
Marc Bola and Marcus Browne both remain absent with knee injuries.
Stat Attack
- Mansfield have won and lost one of two previous FA Cup ties against Middlesbrough (W1, L1), with both matches finishing in 2-0 results at Field Mill.
- Middlesbrough lost their only previous Third Round clash away to Mansfield 2-0 in January 1967.
- Both of two previous FA Cup clashes between Mansfield and Middlesbrough have been held during the month of January.
- Mansfield have lost just one of their last five home matches in the FA Cup (W3, D1, L1), dating back to December 2017.
- Boro have conceded twice in each of their last four away matches within the FA Cup dating back to February 2015.
Prediction
After enduring a shaky start to the campaign, Mansfield have lost just one of their last 11 matches in all competitions so won’t be fearing Boro despite there being a two division gap between both teams, amidst just three clean sheets during this run which will be a worry.
Middlesbrough though have bigger concerns than just clean sheets to fry presently, with uncertainty surrounding the basic task of team selection which makes it difficult to predict what to expect despite enjoying high confidence after avoiding defeat in their last six games.
This game is consequently very tricky to call because Mansfield are full of confidence and in strong form, yet Boro will be favourites if a full-strength team is put out otherwise this could boil down to team selections within both squads and who performs best on the day.
Prediction: Mansfield 1-1 Middlesbrough (Mansfield to win on penalties)
Result: Mansfield 2-3 Middlesbrough
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