Championship: Middlesbrough vs Coventry
At 23:00 Beijing time on January 29, 2022, the 29th round of the Championship, Middlesbrough will face Coventry at home. Middlesbrough has performed steadily this season, after 27 league rounds, it has achieved 12 wins, 6 draws and 9 losses, ranking 8th in the league with 42 points, and in the case of 2 rounds of less, there is only a 3-point gap with Huddersfield in the promotion play-off area, which shows that the team still has a great chance of competing for promotion places, and there is no doubt in terms of war intention. From the statistical point of view, Middlesbrough scored 31 goals in 27 league rounds, conceded 26 goals, and the offensive and defensive performance was acceptable.
Middlesbrough was unbeaten in eight consecutive games, 7 of which were won, showing the team's strong desire to grab points. The team played away to Blackburn in the last round of the league, with 68% possession, 9 shots on goal and 1 shot on target, although it held most of the game time, it was still scored by the opponent, and finally returned to the 0-1 defeat, but also ended the previous strength. It is worth noting that in order to increase the strength of the team, Middlesbrough introduced a number of players during the winter window, including McGrey, Connolly, Mus, Barogon and other players.
Coventry's performance this season has risen very significantly, the team was still in the lower part of the league last season, and after 26 rounds of league this season, it has achieved 11 wins, 7 draws and 8 losses, ranking 9th in the league with 40 points, and there is a 5-point difference with the promotion play-off area, but this gap is caused by the situation of 3 games less, which shows that the team still has the qualification to impact the promotion of the play-off place, and the war intention is also not to be underestimated. However, it is worth noting that Coventry has not played as well as home this season, and is currently 14th in the league away.
After the winter break, Coventry won 3 of the 4 games, the team last round of the league home against Stoke City, the possession rate of 44%, 14 shots on goal 4 on target, the number of shots on goal is twice the opponent, with the striker Vicott's second-half goal, the final 1-0 win. The squad is currently relatively complete, and during the winter window, the loan players Pilsen and Papaga were recalled, while defender Bidwell was introduced.
In terms of past meetings between the two teams, Middlesbrough has achieved 4 wins, 3 draws and 3 defeats in the last 10 meetings against Coventry, and in the first leg of this season, the team lost 2-0 away from home. In terms of recent developments, Middlesbrough has been very strong before, although the last round was slightly depressed, but the overall strength has not been weakened; and Coventry has also performed well recently, and on the level of warlike intentions, the team seems to be more sufficient. Judging from the current attitude of all parties, the performance is decent, combined with the current strength and state of the two sides, this battle Coventry still has the opportunity to take the points home.