Analysis: Middlesbrough - Wets Ham United

On Tuesday evening we are in for a match within the framework of Npower Championship. The “Lions” will host West Ham United at Riverside in Middlesbrough.

Position in the table and team condition:
Matches of the Championship are coming to the decisive moment, getting closer to the end of the first round of the main season. This match is unusually important for both teams considering their position in the standings. The “Boro” with 32 points are at the 4th place and the “Hammers” have 37 points which gives them the 5th place.

Potential and team situation:
The desire of these teams is to return to the Premier League in which Middlesbrough and West Ham fought against each other for the whole first ten years of the XXI century. However little it might seem let’s recall how the Smoggies yet recently played in the final of the UEFA Cup. Footballers from Riverside are represented in different ways. Although Tony Mowbray’s team lost only twice this season it is on the other hand a team which ends matches in a draw most of the times in the Championship. What is even worse is that the footballers in “Boro” in most cases have played in a draw before their own spectators (3-6-0). Good news for the fans of this club is the perfect condition of Scott McDonald who scored 3 goals in 3 matches and every time is the best player of the match. It seems that the also experienced Barry Robson starts to play within his capabilities what is especially important on the background of a weak condition of the best forward of the team Marvin Emnes. The problem of Middlesbrough players is a good condition of footballers from Upton Park. After a weak start of the season the “Hammers” are returning to better condition. It should be mentioned that in away matches they still haven’t lost since the moment when they played with Southampton on the 18th of October. Sam Allardyce’s players can boast of a better balance of points in away matches among the teams playing in the Championship. West Ham can scare the opponents with such players as Carlton Cole, Kevin Nolan or even Frédéric Piquionne who can fight even against teams from the Premier League. We are also interested in the disposition of the young 22 year old Sam Baldock who has 5 goals at his score.

History of meetings:
Middlesbrough can boast of a very good statistics of matches against West Ham. In 22 matches at Riverside “Boro” won 12 times and the “Hammers” only 4. The rest 6 times the matches ended up in a draw. The last meeting of these teams in the season of 2008/2009 at this stadium ended with the score 1:1.

Tips and justification:
We offer a variant of under 2.5 goals for this match. Most likely these teams have respect to the opponent and that is why they won’t attack from the start. In this season nobody has yet played at the Riverside stadium and “Boro” scored only 7 goals shooting at the opponent’s goal 12 times – which isn’t a good result. The “Hammers” do not shoot at the goal often in away matches either (16 goals in 9 matches).