Our prediction for this Championship match:
Birmingham City
Match Time & Date:
15/03/2022
20:45
Prediction: 1-1
Middlesbrough
Birmingham City play host to Middlesbrough at their St. Andrew’s Stadium in what is expected to be an interesting Championship game. The Blues have been having their ups and downs of late, with the team losing to Huddersfield, beating Bristol City, while sharing the spoils with Hull City. Anyhow, Birmingham face a difficult task in the midweek clash, and seeing that all Colin, Sarkic, Deeney, George, and Bela are sidelined with injuries, home win should not be considered.
The Boro, on the other hand, are only one point behind the playoffs berth. Middlesbrough, though, have been struggling on the travels of late, with the team collecting only one point in total from the previous four away games. Anyhow, a close match is on the horizon at St. Andrew’s Stadium, and we are tempted to put our money on draw. Both Riley McGree and Anfernee Dijksteel are rated doubtful for the match.
Highlighted Player (George Friend):
George Friend has played for no less than nine English clubs so far in his career. Friend made his first-team debut for non-League club Exeter City on April 17, 2006 in a goalless draw with Forest Green Rovers and he stayed at St James Park until 2008. After ending his loan spells with Tiverton Town and Team Bath he joined Wolverhampton, but he made no more than seven appearances for the Wolves in the league.
The 188-cm-tall left-back, who is capable of playing as a centre-back as well, played for the likes of Millwall, Southend, Scunthorpe United and Exeter City on loan during his spell with Wolverhampton and at the end of the 2009/2010 season he signed a two-year deal with Doncaster Rovers. Friend made his Doncaster debut on August 7, 2010 in a 2-0 win over Preston and after three years at the club he was sold to Middlesbrough for a fee of £100,000.
The left-footed defender has been playing for Boro ever since and you should know that he made 24 appearances for the club in the 2016/2017 Premier League campaign.
Highlighted Team (Middlesbrough):
Middlesbrough is a professional football club that have been balancing between the top two divisions of England’s league system in the modern history. Boro have been playing their home games at the Riverside Stadium since 1995 and their shirt colour is red. The capacity of the Riverside Stadium is 34,742. Middlesbrough impressed in the 2015/2016 Championship campaign and they did really well to secure promotion to the English top flight. Newcastle United and Sunderland are regarded as the club’s main rivals, but there is a rivalry with Leeds United as well.
Middlesbrough made it to the FA Cup final in 1997, but Chelsea proved to be a big catch for the Boro in the title game (0-2). However, the Riverside Stadium outfit did remarkably well to win the League Cup trophy in 2004, with the team beating Bolton Wanderers in the final. George Boateng, Stewart Downing, Juninho Paulista, Gareth Southgate, Jonathan Woodgate, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Tuncay Sanli and Hamilton Ricard are the star footballers who left their mark at Middlesbrough.
