Stoke vs Middlesbrough
Date: 4th March 2017
Kick off at 15:00 UK/ 16:00 CET
Venue: Bet365 Stadium
Middlesbrough travel to Stoke this week in the hopes of picking up a desperately needed three points.
With Hull, Swansea and Crystal Palace all on better form than Middlesbrough, the Reds realistically need a win from this game if they want to stay up this year. A victory for Boro could see them move five points clear of the relegation zone. However, a loss could see them slip into the bottom three for the first time all season.
Meanwhile, a victory for Stoke could see them move up to 9th or slip down to 13th place if results do not go their way.
Stoke
Stoke will be desperate to improve on their last Premier League game. Last time out they were embarrassed by Spurs losing 4-0 in a lacklustre performance. The Potters are currently sat on 32pts with 12 games remaining. Therefore, there seems no possibility that they will be sucked into a relegation battle this season. While Stoke also seemingly cannot secure a European place this season, they will still be looking to improve on their highest Premier League finish which is currently 9th. Therefore they will be looking to take an easy 3 points at home to struggling Boro.
Stoke have no new injury concerns since playing Spurs last week. Only Geoff Cameron remains injured for the Potters.
Middlesbrough
Like Stoke, Middlesbrough will be hoping to improve on their last outing after putting in a poor performance against Crystal Palace last weekend. Boro are having an awful 2017, failing to win a single game this year. They will be also looking to end their awful goal drought scoring just three goals in nine games which have seen them slip perilously close to the relegation zone, sitting just one point above it.
After switching to a three at the back formation last weekend due to having only one fullback available. Callum Chambers will face a late fitness test and hopefully, should be fit in time for the Stoke clash. This should allow Boro to revert to their preferred 4-1-4-1 formation. George Friend and Antonio Barragan are back in training and should be fit.
If the Teesiders fail to secure the win in this game, they could be in serious trouble this season.
Head to Head
Last time out, Middlesbrough hosted Stoke in their first game back in the Premier League for seven years. Xherdan Shaqiri scored a superb free kick in the 67th cancelling out Alvaro Negredo’s opener earning Stoke a point in a 1-1 draw.
Middlesbrough and Stoke have collided a total of 93 times. Middlesbrough narrowly beat Stoke in the wins department with Boro racking up 38 wins in comparison to Stoke’s 34. The remaining 21 games ended in draws.
Middlesbrough have not beaten Stoke since August 2008, something they will be hoping to change this Saturday.
Predicted Line Ups
Middlesbrough XI: Valdes, Fabio, Gibson, Espinosa, Friend, Clayton, De Roon, Guedioura, Traore, Ramirez, Negredo.
Stoke XI: Grant; Bardsley, Shawcross, Martins Indi, Pieters; Whelan, Adam, Arnautovic, Allen, Ramadan; Diouf
Stoke vs Middlesbrough Prediction
Stoke should be extremely fired up, after their embarrassing defeat to Spurs on Saturday. Middlesbrough should be desperate to win this game. Combined with Karanka seemingly unwilling to change up his tactics, Middlesbrough will most likely sit back for most of the game, create very few chances and end up conceding one or two unlucky goals which they will not be able to recover from.
Final score prediction: Stoke 1-0 Middlesbrough
Betting Odds
Stoke City- 19/20
Draw- 12/5
Middlesbrough- 7/2
