Only a win will do in basement battle
Middlesbrough and Sunderland meet on Wednesday night in the Premier League, with both teams in deep relegation trouble. Only a win will be good enough to give either team hope of staying in the top flight next season.
Middlesbrough come into this match sitting 19th in the Premier League table, with 24 points from 33 games played. This leaves them 9 points adrift of 17th place Hull City, who’s home record has seen them open a gap between themselves and the bottom two teams.
There is only one team below Middlesbrough in the table and that’s their opponents in this match, Sunderland. The Black Cats have 21 points from their 32 games played and although they have two games in hand on Hull, a win in both of those games would still leave them 6 points adrift of safety.
Middlesbrough come into this match having won only one of their previous nineteen Premier League games. Trends show their home form has also seen a dip recently and they have picked up one victory in their last nine league matches at the Riverside. That win came back in December against Swansea City. Since then, Middlesbrough have only tasted success in the FA Cup.
A look back at Middlesbrough’s long term form highlights how they have been struggling for some time. They have won just seven of their last forty-two games in all competitions which is a very poor record and mentally the players must be struggling, not knowing when the next win is going to come.
This match is as a must win for Middlesbrough, against the only team to have performed worse than them this season.
Sunderland have won just five of their previous thirty-three Premier League games, which is dreadful form and good enough to see them relegated. They have won only one of their last seventeen matches in all competitions and confidence must be very low at the Stadium of Light.
Trends show Sunderland have won four of their last twenty-six away games in all competitions, a record which does not bode well for this crucial fixture. The Black Cats have tasted victory in one of their previous ten away games.
Scoring goals has been a real problem for both teams in the Premier League this season. Middlesbrough have managed to find the back of the net 23 times whereas Sunderland have scored 26 goals. The next lowest scorers in the league are Burnley, who have scored 7 goals more than Sunderland.
Middlesbrough have drawn three of their last five home league games and two of their last three home meetings with Sunderland in all competitions. It’s hard to envisage anything but another draw coming from this game.
Neither team are playing with any confidence and they both struggle to score goals. This is not going to be one for the highlights reel come the end of the season and we could easily see a 0-0 draw, which is of no use to either team.
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