Middlesbrough vs Stoke Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

After a wait of over half a decade Middlesbrough have finally made it back into the top flight of English football. They were one of the standout performers in a very talented Championship last season, but eventually finished 2nd thanks to a bit of a collapse at the end of the season.

They drew each of their last four Championship games, a run which allowed Burnley to take the top spot by a four point margin. However, they did fend off Brighton & Hove Albion to the only remaining automatic promotion spot on goal difference, meaning they avoided the lottery of the playoffs.

Middlesbrough haven’t wasted any time in strengthening their squad either. Big names such as Victor Valdes and Alvaro Negredo have been brought in to provide genuine Premier League quality to the squad, and they followed that by spending nearly £20 million on Ajax winger Viktor Fischer and midfieder Marten de Roon. Whether this squad can gel in time to get Middlesbrough off to a good start remains to be seen, but their overall chances of survival have been drastically improved with these signings.

Stoke have held off on the big name signings this season after bringing in huge talents such as Ibrahim Afellay and Xherdan Shaqiri last season, but the arrival of Joe Allen from Liverpool is a great move in my eyes. They have also secured the services of highly rated teenager Ramadan Sobhi, and it will be interesting to see whether he is deemed good enough to make it into the first team straight away.

Stoke’s season last year looked to be going very well, but a small injury crisis led to a couple of runs of poor form. They were on track to secure their best ever Premier League finish, but a six match winless streak at the end of the season put an end to that. They eventually finished 9th with 51 points, which was a fairly average performance for them.

They will be hoping for a better showing this season now that their big names have had time to adapt and with Mark Hughes at the helm and a number of very good players in their prime I think they will do well.

Both of these sides have some top notch attacking talent to call upon, and I think that could lead to a rather entertaining match. Stoke, despite their poor form at the end of the season, still managed to score in 11 of their last 13 Premier League games, but they only kept one clean sheet during this period. Middlesbrough have scored in nine of their last ten competitive matches, so odds of 21/20 for Both Teams to Score look very valuable. I’m going for a 2-1 Stoke win for my correct score prediction as well, just due to the fact that Middlesbrough won’t have had much time to familiarise themselves with one another.