Coventry vs Middlesbrough Prediction: Who wins top-of-the-table clash?

So here we are, the top-of-the-table clash in the Championship that has been hyped up since Middlesbrough took top spot at Bramall Lane last Monday night. One week later, they have a chance to go five points clear at the top of the table - if they can beat second-placed Coventry City at the CBS Arena (20:00 GMT, Sky Sports Main Event).

Below you can find my Coventry vs Middlesbrough predictions as I look ahead to this gargantuan clash, and bring you the latest team news and betting tips. 

Team News

Coventry manager Frank Lampard has quite the dilemma heading into Monday night’s game, with the main issue being he doesn’t really know his best starting XI right now. He dropped both regular centre-backs, Bobby Thomas and Liam Kitching, in favour of Joel Latibeaudiere and Luke Woolfenden against Oxford, and having kept a clean sheet in that 0-0 draw, it leaves him in a slight predicament. 

Does he stick with the same back four, or change things up? Could he even move to a back three? Frank Onyeka was signed at the end of the January window and didn’t come on against Oxford but may partner Matt Grimes, while surely Jack Rudoni will play as the number 10 ahead of Josh Eccles. Lampard also needs to decide who plays as the front three, with Ephron Mason-Clark racing to be back fit having missed the Oxford draw. 

Haji Wright and Ellis Simms will battle it out for a starting spot up top, while Romain Esse and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto look to be the most likely duo to start out wide. 

Football Odds

Kim Hellberg’s Middlesbrough team are far easier to predict right now, given their spectacular form. Sol Brynn will start in goal behind a back four of Callum Brittain, Luke Ayling, Adilson Malanda and Matt Targett. 

Hayden Hackney and Aidan Morris are likely to be joined in midfield once again by Alan Browne, with Riley McGree and Morgan Whittaker set to flank Tommy Conway. Alfie Jones and Darragh Lenihan remain out until later this month.

Today's Football Fixtures

Coventry vs Middlesbrough Odds

Coventry are perhaps surprisingly the favourites for this game, priced at 5/4, giving them an implied win probability of 44% at the time of writing. A draw is 5/2, while Middlesbrough are 2/1 to win their seventh game in a row. 

Over 2.5 goals is 4/6, BTTS is 8/15 and Wright is the favourite to score first at 4/1. 

Middlesbrough to win with -1 handicap @ 11/2

I’m a Coventry fan, so forgive me for talking down my own team a little bit here and taking the pressure off the Sky Blues - but I simply cannot understand how they can feasibly be favourites to win this game of football. It’s almost like the traders have priced this up as if the two teams haven’t played another game of football since Cov won 4-2 at the Riverside in late November. 

Middlesbrough, as we saw on Monday night as they dismantled Sheffield United with a first half that was simply scintillating, have been the best team in the league for about two months now. They’ve picked up 31 points from their last 15 games, the most in the division, and Hellberg has transformed them from contenders into title favourites. 

Six wins in a row, and they haven’t dropped a single point since Malanda started playing for them in January. Meanwhile, the Sky Blues have been poor for about six weeks, and pretty dreadful over the last few games. In their last three, they have picked up just one point, and that came at home against 10-man Oxford United, as they failed to break down the side sat second-bottom. 

Coventry sit 16th in the form table over the last 10 matches, having amassed just 12 points. That’s nearly relegation form, and it’s so tough to predict what team Lampard is going to pick. 

Sometimes, prices like this pop up and you just have to go with the form book. I’d be keen to back Boro as a single, but I’ll push things further with this first selection and back Boro to win with a -1 handicap. 

Bet Builder - Boro to win, Conway to score, Ayling and Van Ewijk to be carded @ 40/1

Let’s go for a Bet Builder to round off our selections. I think Boro are a great price to win, while I also think front man Conway has found some form and should be able to find the net against this slightly shaky Coventry back line. 

Conway has seven goals this term in the Championship, but four have come in his last four appearances, including that wonderful opener at Bramall Lane. To boost our Bet Builder, let’s add a card for each side. Milan van Ewijk is one of the only Coventry players guaranteed to start and he has seven yellows this term already and will be up against McGree, while Ayling has picked up six yellows and should have his hands full with Wright. 

Decent price for this Bet Builder. 

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