Manchester City vs Middlesbrough: Preview and Prediction

Manchester City vs Middlesbrough
England Premier League.
Date: Saturday, 5th November, 2016
Kick-off at 15:00 UK.
Venue: Manchester City Stadium.

The Premier League’s current leaders Manchester City host the 15th placed Middlesbrough for match day 11 clash of the 2016/2017 English Premier League season on Saturday evening.

Manchester City ended their win draught in a grand style last weekend. The Citizen enjoyed a 4-0 victory over West Brom at the Hawthorns on match day 10 and now they have put an end to their horrible 6 games winless run. Moreover, Manchester City cemented that weekend win with another wonderful result during their mid-week clash with Barcelona in the Champions league. Pep tutored side sits top of the log with 23 points from 10 games.

Middlesbrough ended their 7 league games winless run last weekend. The Aitor Karanka tutored side earned a hard-fought 2-0 home victory over Bournemouth in their latest fixture at the Riverside Stadium. With the win, they registered their third clean sheet of the season. The Boro sit 15th on the log with 10 points gathered from their 10 games.

Key Facts

• Manchester currently enjoys 2 games winning streak, and maintains 13 homes games unbeaten run. The Citizens have netted 11 goals in their first 5 league games played at home ground so far this season, averaging 2 goals per game.
• Middlesbrough have only 2 wins to their name from their first 10 games of the season. And only 1 win since the 2-1 win against Sunderland on matchday 2.

Manchester City vs Middlesbrough: Head-to-Head Stats

The teams have only met twice in competitive matches since Middlesbrough’s relegation from Premier League at the end of 2008/09 season. Both meetings were in the FA Cup and Middlesbrough won the latest on January 2015 by a 2-0 margin at the Etihad. The previous fixture was on 2010, which was won by Manchester City by a 1-0 margin.

Manchester City and Middlesbrough share 2 wins each in the last four Premier League meetings between them, with each win coming in favour of the home team.

The Citizens have won the last three Premier League home matches against Middlesbrough, but failed to register a single win in the previous 5.

Manchester City vs Middlesbrough: Prediction

Manchester City’s display against Barcelona in the mid-week Champions League fixture is a warning sign to other teams in the domestic league. They were below their potential before that game and could gain a lot of confidence from the win against one of the toughest opponent in world football at the moment.

Middlesbrough will be targeting to get at least a draw from this game and Aitor Karanka is likely to adopt a very defensive tactic. They were so far effective from suffering defeats by heavy margins. And they can give Manchester City a tough time on Saturday with a similar defensive approach. However, we believe Pep Guardiola’s team is in great momentum after scoring 7 goals in the last 2 matches. They could edge a win, but this will be by a narrow margin.