Derby vs Middlesbrough Betting Tips

Fans of English football might struggle to believe this, but Derby are a club that miss the skills of manager Steve McClaren. Paul Clement will surely get this side back on track and in contention for at least a playoff place, but there is evidence in the Rams early season form the shrewdness and experience of getting results that McClaren had. Derby just couldn’t get past Charlton on Saturday, though Clement was determined and positive in spite of the defeat.

Will Hughes and Craig Byson are Derby’s two injury concerns. Apart from that, they have a clean bill of health and they’ll be desperately hoping that this is the game that leading goal-scorer Darren Bent breaks out and gets his name on the scoresheet.

For Middlesbrough, there are no fresh absentees, it’s worth noting that oft-injured defender Jonathan Woodgate is currently sidelined. The team from Riverside added some useful players to a side that suffered a disappointing playoff final defeat to Norwich. David Nugent, Stewart Downing and Christian Stuani add a little extra quality to the squad and should be especially effective during periods where they are lots of games.

Middlesbrough are deservedly among the favourites to secure automatic promotion. They were held to a draw by Championship newcomers Preston North End, but a convincing 3-0 victory over Bolton at the weekend suggests that they are now on track.

Betting on the result when two good sides meet in the early stages of a season is never easy. Both of these clubs will want to get a head start in the race for promotion places, but there are very few easy games in the Championship and there’s plenty of attacking football.

Derby are the home side and they are also more likely to be the team that lines up to stop the visitors in this contest, but our expectation is that there will be a few goals in this game. Middlesbrough will at the very least test out Derby’s defensive front and Bent should find some room to play in. A relatively early goal for either side will change the way this game plays out tactically and we expect that to happen thanks to some carry over in rhythm for Middlesbrough after their impressive win against Bolton.