H2H: Middlesbrough vs Norwich City – Prediction (Championship

H2H: Middlesbrough v Norwich – Comparison.

Middlesbrough’s George Saville has been directly involved with three of his team’s last five league goals (two goals, one assist). A scorer for his native Finland over the break, Teemu Pukki bagged two of Norwich’s three goals in their last away win, both of which came in the opening 15 minutes. Though managing a team on a 271-minute run without conceding here, ‘Boro’ manager Neil Warnock has failed to win in five of his last eight personal H2Hs with Norwich (W2, D1, L5).

Middlesbrough Insights.

Neil Warnock has overseen Middlesbrough’s longest unbeaten streak in league games (W4, D6) since the final ten games of their promotion campaign of 2015/16. However, their league-best defensive record comes at the cost of entertainment, with consecutive 0-0 draws, whilst ten of their 11 league games have produced under 2.5 total goals. Middlesbrough’s last three home league goals have come beyond the 80th minute and curiously, three of their six goals scored here have arrived in the 81st minute. Regardless of the potential for a late twist, the Riverside Stadium is still amongst the least entertaining Championship grounds based on total goals averaged (1.60).

Norwich Insights.

In-form Norwich City protect a seven-game unbeaten streak (W5, D2) and could extend their current record of five straight victories over Middlesbrough with another here. Moreover, the Canaries have not shipped in 532 minutes of H2H play, whilst you must look back even further (to 2014) to find the last Middlesbrough player to score against them. Norwich are level or better off on points than at this stage of their last two promotion campaigns. They have lost just once away from home, despite trailing at the break in three of five games (HT: W1, D1, L3), while they’ve picked up four of a possible nine points when conceding first on their travels (W1, D1, L1).