Southampton vs Middlesbrough Prediction

Recent Form

Southampton's last four Championship games have been a mixed bag. They lost away at West Ham, drew at home with Bolton, then bounced back with away and home wins over Norwich and Portsmouth.

Southampton: 20 completed matches; Middlesbrough: 20 completed matches.

Southampton

20 matches

Win

65% 13 / 20

Draw

20% 4 / 20

Loss

15% 3 / 20

Scored

38

Conceded

20

Difference

+18

Middlesbrough

20 matches

Win

45% 9 / 20

Draw

30% 6 / 20

Loss

25% 5 / 20

Scored

37

Conceded

31

Difference

+6

Middlesbrough have been the more consistent side of late. A heavy away win at Bolton, a draw with Cardiff, another away win at Stoke and a home win over Wolves all point to a team finding goals in most matches, home or away.

Middlesbrough's away form in particular looks sharper than Southampton's home form right now.

Comparative Team Statistics: Southampton vs Middlesbrough

Head-to-Head

The recent meetings between these two have been tight. Southampton won 2-1 at home last time out, but before that Middlesbrough won 0-0... actually drew 0-0 away, and before that thrashed Southampton 4-0 at the Riverside.

Further back there are a couple of 1-1 draws too, so this fixture has swung between comfortable wins and stalemates rather than settling into a clear pattern.

Recent h2h form doesn't strongly favour either side.

League Table Picture

Middlesbrough currently sit third with 22 points from 11 games, while Southampton are seventh on 17 points from the same number of matches.

Southampton's defensive numbers stand out though. They've conceded fewer goals than Middlesbrough despite being lower in the table, which hints at a tighter defensive setup even if their attacking output has been less consistent.

Players to Watch

Cyriel Dessers... sorry, Cyle Larin leads the way for Southampton with 7 goals in 8 matches, while Fin Azaz has chipped in with 3 goals and 4 assists, showing Southampton's attacking threat isn't limited to one man.

Southampton:

Best scorers:

C. Larin - 7

F. Azaz - 3

Best assist providers:

F. Azaz - 4

Léo Scienza - 2

Penalty cards:

F. Downes x 3

R. Manning x 3

Middlesbrough:

Best scorers:

W. Lankshear - 6

Best assist providers:

L. Ayling - 2

For Middlesbrough, William Lankshear has been prolific too, with 6 goals in 8 matches. Both sides clearly have players capable of deciding this game on their own.