MK Dons vs Middlesbrough Betting Tips

Boro could do with a victory too having lost top spot in the league to Hull over recent weeks and seen their lead on the chasing pack cut to just a point. This is one of the 2 games in hand they have on 3rd place Burnley, who are in good form so they’ll be determined to make it count.

Lack of goals has been their main problem and the Teesiders will be hopeful that January signing Jordan Rhodes will help provide the answer. Boro haven’t scored more than once in any of their last 5 matches and they’ve taken just 4 points from their last 4 league games, the most recent of which was a disappointing home draw against struggling Blackburn.

MK Dons are a funny side, who at times have put in some extremely poor displays that make them look distinctly like relegation fodder. They’ve conceded 5 times or more on 3 occasions at home this season against Burnley in the league and Southampton and Chelsea in the cup so their flaws have been badly exposed by the stronger sides and for that reason they’ll be wary of Boro.

However the Dons do grind out results often from places you wouldn’t expect them to and put in a stubborn rear-guard action to draw 0-0 at Cardiff at the weekend. They’d almost certainly settle for a repeat here and it would move them 3 points clear of the drop-zone.

We can expect a fairly cautious approach from the hosts, who will be wary of those recent big home defeats and also aware of the fact that Boro do struggle to break teams down when they sit back against them.

It’s hard to see there being too many goals here. Both teams have scored in only 1 of the last 15 league games involving Middlesbrough although that was on Saturday against Blackburn. Both teams have scored in only 5 of the 14 Championship matches that have been played at Stadium MK so far and backing ‘No’ here in the ‘Both teams to score’ market looks a good bet at 4/5.

There can be no doubting that Boro are a strong side and they have overcome small wobbles before this season and there is no reason why they can’t do so again. Hull, Derby and Burnley have all won in Milton Keynes this term and the class differential could again be evident here so consider backing a 2-0 away win at 15/2.