Middlesbrough vs Burnley
Date: 8th April 2017
Kickoff: 15:00 UK/ 16:00 CET
Venue: Riverside Stadium
Burnley travel to Middlesbrough in hope of picking up their first away win of the season. On the other hand, Middlesbrough will be hoping to take advantage of Burnley’s poor away record and look to pick up their first win of 2017.
A win for Burnley could see them move up to as high as 9th in the table. It would also all but guarantee their survival this season.
A win for Boro would mean they remain 19th but would put pressure on Hull and Swansea who are 18th and 17th.
Middlesbrough
After disappointing displays against Swansea and Hull, Boro look set to be going down this season. They are the league’s lowest scorers. They are also the only team not to have won a game in 2017. However, Boro are not yet mathematically relegated and will be hoping to pick up their first win of the year against Burnley due to the Clarets’ awful away record.
Boro showed some positive signs against Hull in their last game. These signs are the fact they scored two goals in a game. This is something they have not done since December of last year. But, conceding four last time out will have damaged their confidence.
Furthermore, Boro will be hoping to gain some confidence after their poor result again Hull. After the game, Agnew stated, ‘after the game, it was silent (in the dressing room), and you’d expect that. They’re (the players), bitterly disappointed’. This shows the mood at Middlesbrough is not great and if they want to survive they need to beat Burnley.
Injury news: Ramirez and Chambers remain out. Fabio may have recovered from his concussion in time.
Burnley
Burnley have had a great season since being promoted last year. They sit 14th in the table with 35 points and are all but guaranteed survival. Despite this, they have one major problem they need to eradicate, their away record. In all of Burnley’s away games this season they have yet to pick up a win. Therefore, as Boro are on such a poor run of form Burnley will be looking to use this game to end the unwanted record.
Injury news: Dean Marney remains injured and will miss the trip.
Predicted line-ups
Middlesbrough XI: Valdes, Barragan, Gibson, Espinosa, Fabio, Downing, Clayton, De Roon, Traore, Negredo, Gestede
Burnley XI: Heaton, Lowton, Keane, Mee, Ward, Boyd, Barton, Hendrick, Defour, Vokes, Gray
Head to head
Burnley walked away with the win last time these two sides met earlier this season. The game finished 1-0 with Andre Gray scoring the winner.
Head to head record: Middlesbrough wins 23, draws 18, Burnley wins 25
Middlesbrough haven’t beaten Burnley since 2015 and have never beat them in the Premier League.
Prediction
Although Burnley are yet to win an away game this season they may finally do it against Boro. The Reds are on such a bad run of form it’s hard to see them getting any sort of result out of the game.
While Boro needs to win, they most likely lack the quality and guidance to do so. However, their goal scoring looks to have improved so the game may be a bit different from Boro’s usual low scoring draws.
Final score prediction: 2-1 Burnley
Odds
Middlesbrough: 7/5
Draw: 2/1
Burnley: 11/5
