Bristol City vs Middlesbrough prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-04-09 16:30.
After ending Stoke’s five-game unbeaten run with a 2-1 comeback victory last time out, Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson was pleased with his side for getting “over the 50 points mark”. Whilst that may not mean much in tangible terms as their play-off dreams are essentially over with just six games to go, it at least shows improvement on their points haul at the same stage of the previous two campaigns.
Returning to Ashton Gate could stimulate further progress for the Robins, who have lost here just once in all competitions since the turn of the year (W5, D4, L1). Even so, they’ve won just two of their nine league games against current top-six sides at any venue (W2, D3, L4), which includes a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium on Bonfire Night.
Boro now need some fireworks of their own to bounce back from the pair of consecutive defeats posted for the first time under Michael Carrick’s tenure. The Boro boss was quick to praise Burnley following a Good Friday defeat which both confirmed their opponents’ “deserved” promotion and moved Boro down to fourth place, albeit with a comfortable seven points separating them from seventh.
Getting a result here is vitally important to Boro, who will be acutely aware that they face current seventh-placed Norwich in the following game, and if they are to slump to negative results in their next two matches, they could unthinkably be on the verge of dropping out of the top-six. Picking up a result here to strengthen their grip on their play-off spot isn’t a given though, with Middlesbrough winning just four of the last 16 H2Hs (W4, D3, L9).
Players to watch: Just one of Andreas Weimann’s Bristol City league goals this season came in victories (W1, D2, L2), yet all of them were team openers, including one against Middlesbrough. As for Boro, Chuba Akpom extended his incredible scoring streak to six consecutive games with his penalty last time out to make it 26 for the league season!
Hot stat: Middlesbrough are winless across each of their last seven Easter Monday-held league games (D2, L5).