Stoke City vs Middlesbrough Predictions

• Seven of Stoke City’s last nine matches have produced fewer than three goals.
• Stoke have seen under 2.5 goals in their last six home matches against Boro in all competitions.
• The visitors have failed to score in five of their last six visits to Stoke City.

Miserable beginning to the season for Stoke

The hosts have had a pretty poor start to the campaign having now lost two of their opening three league fixtures. Most recently they lost 3-1 away to Huddersfield Town despite dominating possession and registering the most shots. Seven of their last nine fixtures have produced fewer than three goals and they make it tough for themselves having conceded the opening goal in five of their previous seven fixtures.

The visitors arrive here off the back of a 2-2 draw at home to Sheffield United and they’ll hope to clinch their first win of the season here. They’ve played against some difficult opponents and it’s quite unfortunate that they’re scoring an average of two goals per game without earning a single victory. However, there is no doubt that Chris Wilder will see this as an ideal opportunity for his side to get off the mark.

Game of few goals expected

We see this match being rather tight. Stoke City know they’ll need to keep things close early doors and will hope they don’t fall behind. But we don’t think there will be a lot of goals here and will side with under 2.5 goals in total.