ENG. CHAMPIONSHIP BETTING PICK - MIDDLESBROUGH V MILLWALL

Eng. Championship

2013-02-23 - Middlesbrough vs Millwall

A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter

MIDDLESBROUGH v MILLWALL
Football – England – Championship
Saturday 23rd February 2013 – Kickoff: 1720hrs

MIDDLESBROUGH

Sixth placed Middlesbrough will be keen to cement their play-off place when they entertain Millwall at their Riverside ground in Saturday’s late kick-off in the Championship.

Following some disappointing results recently, Middlesbrough will no doubt be happy to return to their familiar surroundings and the relative comfort of the Riverside after defeats to Ipswich Town 0-4, Barnsley 2-3 and Crystal Palace 1-4 although two of these three were away from home (Ipswich & Crystal Palace).

Boro did take all three points against Leeds at home a couple of weeks ago in a 1-0 win and they stemmed the tide of away goals conceded in their midweek 0-0 draw at Burnley which would have pleased manager Tony Mowbray. However, they need to do a job on a stunned Millwall at home on Saturday to maintain their play-off challenge.
Middlesbrough’s home record stands at 11-1-4 32/19 and despite a couple of recent stutters against Watford and the aforementioned Barnsley, they should account for Millwall today with the likes of Leadbitter (7 assists) pulling the strings in midfield along with Emnes (4 goals) and Miller (5 goals) up front in attack.

MILLWALL

Onto Millwall then, and The Lions were taken by surprise 1-5 at home against rampaging Peterborough United who quite literally went to town on them on Tuesday night! That embarrassing defeat condemned Millwall to a fifth straight defeat in the Championship and the London side now sit firmly in a mid-table position.

Millwall will be careful though to not let their midweek result turn into anything long-term and sinister as they are six points above Wolves who have now dropped into the bottom three following their 1-2 loss at Barnsley on the same night.

Millwall have also gone six matches without a win away from home and their current away record stands at 4-6-6 21/25 with recent defeats at Ipswich Town 0-3, Cardiff City 0-1, Barnsley 0-2 and Blackpool 2-1 along with points at Brighton and Bolton.

Millwall lost the services of strikers Wood and Henderson and although Keogh (6 goals, 6 assists) is a dangerous force, he only has the midfielders Henry and Trotter in support and they’ve only kept three clean sheets in total this season so far on their travels.

THE BETTING VERDICT:

Middlesbrough still have a pretty solid record at home and I’m tipping them to return to winning ways against a shell-shocked Millwall at the Riverside on Saturday; I’ll back Boro with the handicap though just in case.

The Pick :