may be too little too late for Middlesbrough to upset the top-six apple cart, but Michael Carrick’s men are at least ending the campaign with a flourish and have the chance to extend their unbeaten run into the double figures when the Whites visit their Riverside home.
A total of 19 points have been accrued from the hosts’ last nine Championship affairs – five wins in addition to four stalemates – including back-to-back draws with fellow playoff outsiders Hull City and title-chasing Ipswich Town in their last two fixtures.
The stopover at Portman Road on April 13 saw the in-form Emmanuel Latte Lath continue his hot streak of form, heading in his fourth goal from as many games – and 12th of the season – on the 20-minute mark, but Carrick’s men were only in the ascendancy for 10 minutes before Massimo Luongo restored the Tractor Boys’ pride.
Entering the gameweek ninth in the rankings with just nine points left to fight for, the hosts have that exact disadvantage to make up to West Bromwich Albion and Norwich City in the final two playoff spots, leaving their playoff hopes hanging by the thinnest of threads.
Gearing up for their penultimate home contest of the 2023-24 season, Middlesbrough ought to be incredibly encouraged by a streak of three consecutive clean sheets at the Riverside – shutting out Blackburn Rovers, Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea City in that time – although only two of their last 10 versus Yorkshire teams on familiar turf have seen Boro come up trumps.
Northern woes may not hold much significance if the form book is anything to go by, though, as while Leicester City’s dramatic downturn in fortunes may have made most of the headlines, Leeds have also hit a sticky patch at the most inopportune time.
From January 1 to April 1, Daniel Farke’s men were slaying almost every opponent in their wake – taking an astounding 41 points from 45 on offer during a 15-match unbeaten sequence – but Monday’s visitors have since gained just a solitary point from the last nine available.
links >> Stream 1 HD Stream 2 HD Stream 3 HD Stream 4 HD
Either side of an uninspiring goalless draw with Sunderland, Farke’s troops have been put to the sword by Coventry City and – more alarmingly – bottom-half battlers Blackburn Rovers, who left Elland Road with a 1-0 triumph to their name on April 13 thanks to Sammie Szmodics’s 24th of the campaign.
However, thanks to Coventry City reaching the FA Cup semi-finals – leading to the postponement of their clash with Ipswich – third-placed Leeds will temporarily usurp the Tractor Boys, who are two points better off, if they can return to victorious ways at the Riverside on Monday evening.
The Whites therefore possess all the motivation they require to pull themselves out of their rut, and the head-to-head records are on their side too; Leeds have prevailed in each of their last three contests with Middlesbrough, who have not overcome their Yorkshire foes since Patrick Bamford struck a hat-trick in a 3-0 2018 success before his switch to Elland Road.
