Middlesbrough welcome West Bromwich Albion to the Riverside Stadium in a huge showdown in the Championship Play-Off race.
With Sheffield United not in action until Wednesday evening, victory would see Middlesbrough reclaim sixth for at least 24 hours.
West Brom meanwhile can climb as high as seventh with a win if they beat Boro by two goals or more, plus Coventry and Nottingham Forest both fail to win elsewhere.
Team News
Matt Crooks is suspended for Middlesbrough for their next two matches, after picking up his tenth yellow card of the season in their 2-1 loss at Bristol City on Saturday.
Martin Payero (ankle), Sammy Ameobi, Darnell Fisher and Marc Bola (all knee) remain absent.
West Brom have no fresh injury concerns to report as manager, Steve Bruce considers rotating his squad after a disastrous 2-0 loss at Luton on Saturday.
Jake Livermore (suspension), Kean Bryan (knee) and Daryl Dike (hamstring) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Middlesbrough have lost just one of their last five meetings against West Brom (W3, D1, L1).
- West Brom have claimed 10 points from their last five trips to Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium (W3, D1, L1).
- Three of last five meetings between Boro and West Brom on Teesside have finished 1-0, with the Baggies winning on two of those three occasions.
- Matt Crooks has scored three goals across two of Middlesbrough’s last three home games.
- West Brom are looking to avoid going six consecutive matches without a goal for the first time this century.
Prediction
Having endured a difficult away defeat at Bristol City on Saturday in a game where they simply weren’t clinical, Middlesbrough should definitely be eager to improve upon the positives from that game but a quicker start and clinical attacking play is a must here.
West Brom meanwhile look like a team in absolute freefall at the moment and five matches without a goal is a huge worry, which they need to correct if they’re to save their play-off dreams especially after a sloppy second-half effort in their loss at Luton.
A reaction is therefore required from both teams coming into this match but if Boro can just tidy up their attacking quality in their finishing, I can’t see them not winning this comfortably because West Brom look wasteful and devoid of much if any confidence across the pitch.
Prediction: Middlesbrough 2-0 WBA
Result: Middlesbrough 2-1 WBA
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