Middlesbrough v Sheffield United
Football : England : Npower Championship
Sunday 22nd August 2010 – Kickoff 1:15pm

---

My next preview features two teams who are currently occupying places at the wrong end of the table - highly-fancied promotion candidates Middlesbrough and Sheffield United, who seem to be there or thereabouts in the play-off mix at the end of the season.

Middlesbrough (20th)

However, both sides have made indifferent starts – Middlesbrough with relatively new boss Gordon Strachan at the helm have yet to win a league match this season; they lost 1-3 at home to Ipswich Town on the opening day, then drew a blank at Leicester City drawing 0-0.

They did manage a narrow 2-1 win at Chesterfield in the Carling Cup in between, but Strachan will be judged solely on whether he can get Boro back up into the Premiership. I say he won't. His managerial stats suggest he's at his best when working with a club trying to avoid relegation, or achieve survival; in this case his remit is to achieve promotion – something he has never done as a manager.

Boro will have to do without the services of defender Seb Hines who sits out with an ankle injury, while midfielder Gary O'Neil is struggling to be fit. New loan signing, Matt Kilgallon from Sunderland is in line to make his debut against his former club.

Sheffield United (23rd)

Sheffield United will be under the guidance of new manager Gary Speed who takes charge in his first match following the departure of Kevin Blackwell who was sacked following The Blades’ 0-3 home loss to QPR last week.

Whilst Speed will be tempted to make some changes, they will be without forward Darius Henderson, Ryan France and midfielder Lee Williamson who miss the trip to the Riverside Stadium.

It's been a slow start for the Yorkshire side this term, but they did get a point away at Cardiff City in the first match of the season. Since then, things have taken a turn for the worse as they made a swift exit in the Carling Cup going down 0-2 at Hartlepool United, then crashing at home 0-3 to QPR which did for Blackwell.

The Blades will be hoping former Man City and Wales striker Ched Evans can hit the net on a regular basis along with Jamie Ward and former Barnsley hit-man Daniel Bogdanovic. Leon Britton, the former Swansea midfielder is expected to create plenty of chances, so it's not all gloom and doom.

The Betting verdict :

Despite Boro's poor start and Sheffield United's bad loss at home last weekend, I believe these sides to be evenly matched and should at least be challenging for play-off spots later in the season.

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Pick: I'll take the Draw @ 3.39 with Pinnacle Sports