Fulham v Middlesbrough: Sky Bet Championship prediction, odds and free tip

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Fulham v Middlesbrough in the Sky Bet Championship.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Football, 7.45pm Friday

Best bet

Middlesbrough draw no bet
1pt 11-5 Betfair, Paddy Power

Team news

Fulham
Top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic (ankle) is out. Harrison Reed is a doubt.

Middlesbrough
Daniel Ayala, Ryan Shotton, George Friend, Anfernee Dijksteel and Britt Assombalonga are all injured.

Match preview

Since a crushing 4-0 loss at Leeds at the end of November, Middlesbrough have turned around their fortunes and head for Fulham having taken 13 points from their last five league encounters to scoot away from any obvious relegation trouble.

In that run they have recorded deserved wins at West Brom and Preston, two of the Sky Bet Championship’s fortresses, and their only dropped points since mid-December came at home to Derby last weekend, a 2-2 draw which Jonathan Woodgate’s men utterly bossed.

Their remarkable resurgence has even got one of their stars, Adam Clayton, talking this week about a charge at the playoffs.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that they arrive at Fulham having played a sapping 90 minutes at Spurs in the FA Cup on Tuesday night and their showdown with Scott Parker’s men will seriously test their mental and physical strength.

Not that Fulham will be reading much into that. They will be more concerned about the Middlesbrough resurgence.

The Cottagers are going well themselves. They have beaten Leeds in the league and Aston Villa in the FA Cup in front of their own fans over the last four weeks, although they have also been beaten at home 2-1 by Reading, one of four reverses at the Cottage.

The last five Championship meetings between the sides have produced just five goals and with neither side’s top scorer in action this might be another low-scoring affair.

Aleksandar Mitrovic, scorer of 18 of Fulham’s 41 goals in the Sky Bet Championship this term, injured his ankle in last Saturday’s gritty 1-0 win at Hull.

Boro, meanwhile, have been without their joint top scorer Britt Assombalonga for a few weeks and there’s no sign of a return just yet.

Jonathan Woodgate’s visitors are the division’s second-lowest scorers anyway – they’ve bagged 28 in 27 games, and only Wigan have scored fewer than that – although they have at least found the net in each of their last ten since that hiding at Elland Road.

In terms of recent form, Boro are the better of the two sides and Jose Mourinho was more than complimentary about their efforts over two games against Tottenham.

They’ve stayed in London since Tuesday and must feel they have a decent chance of getting something at Craven Cottage.