Middlesbrough vs Watford Prediction: Goals galore on final day

Middlesbrough play host to Watford on Saturday afternoon (12:30), hoping to secure eighth place in the Championship standings with a victory, while the Hornets can rise as high as 13th if they claim all three points.

Two former Manchester United teammates will tussle on the touchline as Michael Carrick and Tom Cleverley will be in the respective dugouts at Riverside Stadium this weekend, and below you can find my Middlesbrough vs Watford prediction, as well as the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Middlesbrough continue to deal with an extensive injury list but with no returning players, Carrick is likely to name an unchanged side after enjoying a 4-1 win over Cardiff City last time out.

As for the visitors, Giorgi Chakvetadze is expected to miss out with a groin issue, while Emmanuel Dennis sustained a knee injury last weekend and won't be fit to travel this weekend. Cleverley has also revealed that Tom Dele-Bashiru won't be part of the matchday squad.

Match Odds

Boro are favourites for the game at 7/10 - or a theoretical chance of 58.8% - while Watford can be backed at 18/5, and the draw is available at 3/1.

If you fancy both teams to score, that's currently priced up at 8/13, whereas a Boro clean sheet is 7/4 and it's 5/1 for Watford to keep the hosts out.

The hosts enjoyed a 3-2 win at Vicarage Road in the reverse fixture back in September, and a repeat of that scoreline is priced up at 18/1.

Over 3.5 goals @ 6/4

With both sides having nothing to play for, end-of-season matches can usually go one of two ways. Either they're low-intensity, dull, boring affairs or there's plenty of goalmouth action, and on this occasion I think it'll be the latter.

Middlesbrough have been involved in some big scorelines recently, losing 4-3 to Leeds United and beating Cardiff 4-1, so they could be involved in another on the final day.

Watford have looked increasingly organised under Tom Cleverley's guidance but they're prone to being pulled into open games by more attack-minded teams, as shown in the games against as Leeds (2-2), Southampton (3-2) and West Bromwich Albion (2-2).

In addition, across the last five Championship final days,  over 3.5 goals has landed 24 times, making it a decent proposition for Saturday's encounter.

Emmanuel Latte Lath to score anytime @ 11/8

Boro's red-hot no.9 has been crowned the Championship's Player of the Month for April, and with good reason to.

After netting braces against Leeds and Swansea City, Latte Lath also found joy on the road at Hull City, Ipswich Town and Cardiff, taking his tally for the season up to 15.

The 25-year-old has bagged seven goals in his last five appearances for Carrick's side, so he's certainly one to watch heading into the weekend's action.

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