Middlesbrough welcome West Bromwich Albion to the Riverside Stadium in a huge Championship clash on the opening Saturday of the 2022-23 season.
Having missed out on a play-off spot on the final day of last season in seventh place, Middlesbrough will be eager to make a winning start as they look to push for promotion.
West Brom meanwhile endured a mid-season slump last campaign but recovered to finish 10th and just three points off Boro, so will be looking to push to regain promotion at the second season of asking following a summer of reinforcement.
Team News
Marcus Forss could make his debut for Middlesbrough after joining the club from Brentford in midweek.
Fellow summer signings; Kamil Conteh, Darragh Lenihan, Liam Roberts and Tommy Smith could also be in line for their debuts.
Marc Bola (groin) and Paddy McNair (ankle) are set to be available despite suffering injuries during pre-season.
West Brom could hand summer signings; Jayson Molumby, John Swift, Jed Wallace and Okay Yokuslu their club debuts.
Callum Robinson is a doubt after he suffered a knock during pre-season which has kept him sidelined in the last fortnight.
Stat Attack
- Middlesbrough have lost just one of their last eight league meetings against West Brom (W4, D3, L1).
- West Brom have won three of their last six league visits to Middlesbrough (W3, D1, L2).
- Boro have failed to score in each of their last three home losses against West Brom, during which they conceded seven goals without reply.
- Middlesbrough have failed to win any of their last five opening-weekend fixtures in a new season (D3, L2), although those five fixtures were all away from home.
- West Brom are unbeaten in three of their last five opening-weekend fixtures in a new season (W2, D1, L2).
Prediction
After their shock thrashing at Preston on the final day of last season, Middlesbrough have certainly had an interesting summer with fresh reinforcement across the pitch with goalkeeper, Zack Steffen and striker, Marcus Forss being their two highest-quality signings.
Chris Wilder will also be pleased with just one defeat in pre-season but my main area of interest will be in their defence, having kept just two clean sheets in their last eight competitive matches which played a big role in their failure to reach the play-offs at end of last season.
West Brom meanwhile finished last season with three consecutive clean sheets and spent this summer reinvigorating their midfield quality, with John Swift and Jed Wallace certainly capable of causing issues on the attack if they adapt quickly in competitive action to Bruce’s style.
Swift in particular looks already established within Bruce’s starting line-up given his pre-season form, whilst Karlan Grant looks to have found his goal-scoring boots already, so I do expect West Brom to come out and attack this match.
Boro though will be relieved to finally start this season at home after five consecutive away openers to a new campaign, which will give them extra motivation to maximise this luck so I can see a feisty battle and a potential draw if both defences hold up.
Prediction: Middlesbrough 1-1 WBA
Result: Middlesbrough 1-1 WBA
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