Middlesbrough vs Crystal Palace Betting Pick | Eng. Championship

Eng. Championship

2012-08-25 - Middlesbrough vs Crystal Palace

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

Middlesbrough v Crystal Palace
Football: English Championship
Saturday 25 August 2012 - Kick Off 3pm

Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough picked up their first win of the season in the Championship and will be looking to back that up with another here at the Riverside Stadium. It was their lack of wins at home last season (8 out of 23 home games) that cost them a place in the Play Offs, but Tony Mowbray will be hoping the win over Burnley will see a change of fortunes on that front.

The team beat Bury 1-2 in the Capital One Cup to open the season, but then suffered a surprise 1-0 loss at Barnsley on the opening day of the season. Their game with Burnley was topsy-turvy to say the least as they recovered from a goal deficit before conceding a late equaliser and then scoring the winning goal with a couple of minutes left.

Beating Burnley during the week means Boro have won back to back home games in the Championship for the first time since December, albeit stretched over two seasons. However, Middlesbrough remain a tough team to back at home as shown by the fact they have won just 3 of their last 8 here in the League.

Joe Bennett, Kevin Thomson and Muzzy Carayol are all facing late fitness tests as they look to make their return to the Middlesbrough squad.

Crystal Palace

Not many people would have projected Crystal Palace as a side that would be challenging in the top half of the table, but their start to the new Championship season has still been disappointing to say the least. Palace are now just one of two teams that have failed to pick up a point so far this season and they prop up the rest of the table at this early stage.

Palace should really have got off to a winning start this season as they led Watford on the opening day 2-1 with a couple of minutes left to play. Unfortunately they conceded twice to lose 2-3 and then followed that up with a comprehensive 4-1 loss at Bristol City.

The side finished with a 6-6-11 record away from home in the Championship last season, but the loss at Bristol City has continued a poor run of form. Palace have failed to record a win in their last 11 away games in the Championship, while they have now lost 4 of their last 5.

Paddy McCarthy and Jonathan Williams are both facing late fitness tests to determine their availability. Jermaine Easter and Glenn Murray are hoping to return, while Palace have made three new signings in Darcy Blake, Yannick Bolasie and Andre Mortiz. All three may be in the squad for this game.

Head to Head

Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace met three times in all competitions last season, with both sides earning 1 win and other ending in a draw.

It was the game at the Riverside Stadium that ended in a 0-0 stalemate and that result has extended Middlesbrough's run to 6 games unbeaten at home against Palace.

Of those 6 games, Middlesbrough have won 4, although the 2 draws have come in the last 3 games between the sides.

Prediction

I am not comfortable at all in backing Middlesbrough to win a home game at odds on considering their form here over the last twelve months, but Crystal Palace have struggled to open this season and have been pretty awful away from home from the end of last season and opening this one.

While I am not interested in the win-draw-win market, I have been enticed by the odds against offer for this game to end with at least 3 goals.

Crystal Palace have not kept a clean sheet so far this season in their three games and they have been poor defensively in conceding at least 3 goals in each of their Championship games. Palace have also conceded at least 2 goals in each of their last 5 away games and have only kept 2 clean sheets in their 11 games without a win.

However, one concern I have is they did keep one of those clean sheets here at Middlesbrough. Still, Palace have been poor enough defensively to think Boro should get their chances in this one and get on the scoreboard.

To further my belief that this game could have goals, Palace only failed to score in 6 of their 23 away games last season and they should trouble Middlesbrough at the very least.

The 2.20 being offered on there being goals looks a touch high to me and worth playing.