Middlesbrough vs Bristol City prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2022-11-04 15:00.
Michael Carrick got off the mark as the Middlesbrough manager at the second time of asking thanks to a lovely Chuba Akpom header and a couple of own goals sealing a 3-1 victory at Hull. Keen to take the spotlight off himself, Carrick stated that he was “really proud of the lads, and pleased for them too” as his players have coped well with the recent tumultuous period at the club.
Next on Carrick’s agenda is improving Boro’s faltering home form which has seen them slip to a run of just five wins from 14 league games at the Riverside (D4, L5) following eight straight wins prior. Perhaps buoying Boro further is the fact that they ended a run of three straight home H2H defeats when Bristol City visited last season (W 2-1), yet they’ve not won back-to-back home league H2Hs since a run of four between 1979-1991.
Bristol boss Nigel Pearson was furious after a 1-0 defeat against Sheffield United in midweek consigned them to a third game without victory, commenting post match that “we're frustrated because we've been beaten and we've had some really good chances”. He now travels to Teesside to face the side he made 116 appearances for as a player, but that shouldn’t faze Pearson as he’s unbeaten in nine of his 11 H2Hs against Boro as a manager (W7, D2, L2).
With only one more league game to follow this before the World Cup break, the Robins would like to get some more points on the board to extend their slender three-point cushion above the drop zone. Doing that here won’t be easy though considering they have lost 13 away league games this calendar year (W5, D3, L13), the most they’ve lost on the road since 2016.
Players to watch: Akpom has been a bright spark in an otherwise abject Boro campaign so far, with his return of 0.76 goals per 90 minutes placing him second amongst all Championship players with 3+ appearances this term for goals per minute! Also posting a high average, Bristol top-scorer Nahki Wells (G7) has scored five times in his last seven meetings with Middlesbrough.
Hot stat: Bristol City have scored a league-high seven goals in the 15 minutes preceding half-time (31’-HT).