Football Bet of the Day: Boro can book place in round five

The Carabao Cup returns for round four this midweek as a whole host of clubs from the English pyramid strive to continue their cup adventure. Our football bet of the day for Tuesday comes from St James Park, as Exeter City host Middlesbrough.

Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough side tasted defeat this weekend as their seven game winning run came to an end at the hands of Stoke City. The Potters have found some form in the Championship and did a job on Boro at the Riverside in a 2-0 win, but I believe Boro will bounce back in style here. 

After an awful start, they have risen up the league table and progressed nicely in the Carabao Cup. The Stoke result is a set-back, but one that is unlikely to knock them off course given what we have seen from Carrick’s men over the past two months. 

There was a summer of upheaval on Teesside, with several elite players such as Chuba Akpom departing after their failed play-off campaign. As a result, the slow start this term was to be expected as the new players bedded in. With Emmanuel Latte Lath, they have a physical striker who is beginning to find form, and now they look more like the impressive outfit we saw last season. 

They travel to League One outfit Exeter, who haven’t won since their 1-0 win over Luton Town in the last round of this competition. Their league form has dropped off a cliff and only a late goal this weekend rescued a 1-1 draw with Lincoln City, to stop a run of six consecutive defeats. 

Manager Gary Caldwell is coming under fire as the club have dropped to 17th in the league, and are just three points above the relegation zone. The 1-0 win over Luton Town was impressive, but since then they’ve looked poor in front of goal and up against Middlesbrough are going to find life tough. 

Boro will be taking this competition seriously and should have enough about them to win this game comfortably. The -1 handicap offers the price of 21/10, which is far better than the 4/5 on Boro to win the game outright. Given the gap between the two teams in the league system, we can expect there to be a clear difference on the pitch. 

Boro to win with a -1 handicap is our football bet of the day for Tuesday 31st October.

You can check out our previous Football Bets of the Day, here at Betfred Insights.