Middlesbrough vs Aston Villa prediction: ENGLAND: FA Cup betting tips on match 2024-01-05 17:30.
It was a poor start to 2024 for Middlesbrough, whose skeleton team was dismantled 3-1 by Coventry City. No fewer than a dozen players were missing for that clash, hardly an ideal scenario ahead of this eye-catching FA Cup tie against Premier League (PL) high flyers Aston Villa. An equally glamorous League Cup semi-final against Chelsea awaits next Tuesday in what may serve as a litmus test of Michael Carrick’s tactical nous.
The mid-table Championship side have now lost two of their last three league games (W1), but have been known to play the role of David well when it comes to slaying giants in arguably the world’s most prestigious cup competition, perhaps most notably knocking both Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur out in 2022. Both of those wins required extra time, so any Middlesbrough success here may require them to push their upcoming opponents all the way to a replay.
Five years ago in the 2017/18 season, Aston Villa defeated Boro in the Championship play-off semi-final, but since then, the divergence of the two outfits has been remarkable. Now under the tutelage of Unai Emery, the West Midlanders’ 2023/24 season is shaping up to be their finest campaign in many years as they sit just three points off the PL summit and have springtime European football to look forward to after topping their UEFA Europa Conference League group.
Given their recent supremacy, fans of the seven-time FA Cup winners will believe they may have what it takes to go all the way in this competition, although they haven’t lifted the famous trophy since 1957! What they do have is an imperious run of five consecutive clean sheets in H2H action against Boro (W4, D1), as well as a vastly superior squad with a market value almost ten times greater than that of their hosts.
Players to watch: Josh Coburn opened Boro’s goal account for 2024 and famously netted his first FA Cup goal for them in extra time to clinch FA Cup progression against Tottenham back in 2022. John McGinn is one of very few remaining players from Villa’s 2018/19 promotion season and registered two goal contributions (G1, A1) across a pair of 3-0 H2H victories in that campaign.
Hot stat: Villa have been eliminated at the FA Cup third-round stage in each of the past seven seasons – four of which were against lower-league opponents.