Middlesbrough entertain Preston in a huge Sky Bet Championship clash in the race for promotion.
Victory would keep Middlesbrough second in the table and move to within three points of league leaders, Coventry who don’t play until Monday evening.
Preston meanwhile can climb to fifth if Millwall lose to Charlton in a simultaneous lunchtime kick-off.
Team News
Middlesbrough have no fresh injury concerns to report after their 2-1 victory at Stoke.
Callum Brittain (ankle), Kaly Sene (leg), David Strelec (knock) and Riley McGree (hamstring) could return subject to late fitness checks.
Alex Bangura, George Edmundson (both unspecified), Alfie Jones (ankle) and Darragh Lenihan (Achilles) remain ruled out.
Preston are likely to be without Brad Potts after he suffered a knee injury in their 3-0 home defeat against Hull.
Daniel Iversen (groin), Robbie Brady (calf), Andrew Hughes and Andrija Vukcevic (both hamstring) remain sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
Middlesbrough host Preston at Riverside Stadium on Saturday 24 January at 12:30pm GMT, live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Middlesbrough have avoided defeat in four of their last six meetings against Preston (W2, D2, L2).
- Preston have won one of their last six visits to Middlesbrough (W1, D2, L3).
- Boro have won two of their last three home games against Preston by 4-0 results (W2, D1).
- Middlesbrough have kept two clean sheets in their last three home games (W1, D1, L1).
- Preston haven’t gone three consecutive league matches without scoring since a seven-match streak from April – August 2024.
Prediction
Having got away with their first-half sloppy passionless display at Stoke through a mix of luck and solid defensive graft, Boro were lucky that they won from behind through a more aggressively clinical second-half but they will need more of the latter quality because this is another tough test.
Preston meanwhile have hit a bump in their last three games in which they have conceded five goals without reply and exited the FA Cup, so they really need a strong performance and if Boro start sloppy again which they can capitalise upon then an opening goal could fire them up to get a draw.
I however do think that Boro won’t make the same error twice so am going for a home win.
Prediction: Middlesbrough 2-1 Preston
Result: Middlesbrough 4-0 Preston