Middlesbrough v Sunderland: Boro can edge enjoyable encounter

Middlesbrough v Sunderland
Monday September 5, 20:00
Sky Sports

Middlesbrough suffer agonising late loss

Chris Wilder felt his Middlesbrough side did more than enough to earn at least a share of the spoils in their most recent Championship outing at recently-relegated Watford. Boro more than held their own, had good periods in the game and took an early lead through Rodrigo Muniz but were pegged back just 20 minutes later in the first-half.

Despite a strong recovery in the second half where the Teessiders could have quite easily clinched top honours at Vicarage Road, Watford struck late in stoppage time to hand Wilder's charges late heartbreak. The result was Middlesbrough's third reverse of the campaign with Boro bagging a solitary success across their first seven fixtures.

Reacting to the defeat, Wilder said: "We didn't deserve that. Not at all. I thought we were excellent second half, especially as we had to survive and we had to suffer a little bit first half, we withstood that with the players that they've got. But second half we handled them and we were the better side, but they go home as winning footballers and we don't."

Wilder hoping to have both Jonny Howson and Darragh Lenihan available for Monday night. The duo were both forced off in the midweek reverse, whilst goalkeeper Zack Steffen was also ruled out. All three are battling to be fit enough to feature for the hosts.

Mowbray makes winning start with Sunderland

Tony Mowbray made a wining start to life as Sunderland boss as his new charges ended Rotherham's unbeaten start to the season with an eye-catching 3-0 victory at the Stadium of Light last Wednesday. The Black Cats appointed Mowbray as Alex Neil's replacement and the former Blackburn chief was impressed with what he saw from the Wearsiders.

Ross Stewart scored his first with a cool finish from Jack Clarke's low cross and the pair then linked up again for Stewart's second. The inspirational Clarke then rounded off the win with a wonderful solo goal, as he weaved past a couple of defenders and fired a low shot into the bottom corner - that was one of 17 shots fired in by the Black Cats.

Speaking post-match, Mowbray said: "A whirlwind is a good word to describe the first few days. An opportunity arose and I'm proud to be given an opportunity to manage a club in an environment like this. This team has a lot of talent and we have to let it flourish. A lot of credit goes to the coaches but there's a lot of potential here and I want to harness it."

Boro well-backed by the market

Middlesbrough and Sunderland are crossing swords in for the first time since the pair played out a 3-3 thriller back in February 2018 in the second-tier. Meanwhile, Boro boast a tremendous record when welcoming the Black Cats for head-to-head fixtures in Teesside - the hosts have suffered only two defeats in 25 such league meetings here (W15-D8-L2).

Middlesbrough 1.834/5 are unfortunate to only have six points on the board (W1-D3-L3). Boro rank third for Expected Points (xP) having won the non-penalty Expected Goals (npxG) battle in six showdowns, as well as having more shots from inside the penalty area in six of those fixtures. Chris Wilder's visitors are posting the league's fourth-highest npxG figure thus far.

Sunderland 5.14/1 are only three points shy off top spot in the Championship following promotion. The Black Cats (W3-D2-L2) have only been turned over by the top-two in the division, and have tabled two triumphs from their opening three away days - the Wearsiders have not won as many as three of their first four on the road since 1963-64.

Entertainment expected on Monday

Goals have been prevalent in both Middlesbrough and Sunderland's showdowns during the early stages of the season. Six of Boro's first seven encounters have paid out for Both Teams To Score 1.855/6 backers with the Teessiders getting on the scoresheet in all bar one league date thus far. However, Chris Wilder's troops are still searching for a first clean sheet.

Sunderland have returned profitable BTTS plays in four of their seven matches since returning to this level. The visitors have also scored in six of their seven games, with both sides obliging in two of their three road trips. The prospect of another Both Teams To Score winner holds plenty of appeal here, although I'm going to head elsewhere.

We can grab 1.9520/21 via the Bet Builder by taking Middlesbrough Double Chance, Over 1.5 Goals and A Goal To Be Scored In Both Halves. The goal expectancy is high for the Riverside clash, Boro are due a strong result and as long as we get a goal either side of the interval, a home win by 2-0, 3-0, 4-0, 2-1 or 3-1, as well as the 1-1 or 2-2 draw, return a winner.