Getting closer to the top teams is at stake when these two mid-table clubs battle it out. Both will be aiming to improve their league table standing, Cardiff City in 13th and Middlesbrough in 11th place.
It’s busy days for these teams as both were in action only a few days ago. There’s no rest for the wicked, or in this case; no rest for Cardiff City and Middlesbrough.
Cardiff City form and stats
Three Championship home games done for Cardiff City, who are not happy collecting 1 point from these matches.
The home supporters saw a 1-1 draw versus AFC Bournemouth in the Championship last time out and are looking for a win here. Before that match, a win away at Preston North End.
This is expected to be a close game, with Cardiff perhaps considered small favourites due to their home advantage. Looking back at earlier matches similar to this one (expected to be close with Cardiff City as a small favourite), we find eleven games. Cardiff City has won three of these, drawn four and lost four.
There's a new game coming up fairly quickly for Cardiff City as they are travelling to their away game against Derby County in the Championship. That match is four days after this one.
Cardiff City aren't scoring a lot here at Cardiff Stadium in the league, with only 2 goals from 3 games. Defensively it’s touch-and-go for the home team as 5 goals have been conceded.
Middlesbrough form and stats
Things could have gone better for Middlesbrough in their Championship away matches, but 4 points from 3 games is all right.
181 minutes! That's how long the Middlesbrough goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli and his defense have shut out their league opponents.
Two travels in a row for Middlesbrough, whose manager K. Blackwell could celebrate last time after the Championship win against Bristol City. A draw for Middlesbrough before that, at their own venue hosting Reading (0-0).
So, this is expected to be a close game, an even contest. Looking at earlier matches with Middlesbrough playing away and similar expectations, we found 16 relevant matches. Results were seven Middlesbrough wins, five draws and four defeats.
A quick return to home after this game, as Middlesbrough are hosting Coventry City in the Championship only three days away.
The visitors have scored 2 goals from 3 away games in the league, an average of less than one per game. It's not easy to score on Middlesbrough as they have only conceded 2 goals from these away games.
Head 2 Head
As for the last ten games between these two teams, there's six Cardiff City victories, zero draws and four Middlesbrough wins. Over/under statistics; four of these games ended with three goals or more, six matches with two goals or less.Top Goalscorers
  K. Moore 2 goals |   C. Akpom 2 goals |  L. Tomlin 1 goals |
Cardiff City missing players
Middlesbrough missing players
| Cardiff City | Middlesbrough | ||||||
| Total | Home | vs | Statistics | Stat | vs | Away | Total |
| 6 | 3 | 0 | Played | P | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | Won | W | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | 1 | 0 | Drew | D | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | Lost | L | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | 2 | 0 | Scored | S | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 5 | 5 | 0 | Conceded | C | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 83% | 100% | 0% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 100% | 83% |
| 67% | 100% | 0% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 100% | 33% | 50% |
| 17% | 33% | 0% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 0% | 0% | 17% |
| 0% | 0% | 0% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 0% | 0% | 0% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 33% | 67% | 0% | BTTS | BTTS | 100% | 33% | 50% |
| 50% | 0% | 0% | Clean Sheets | C S | 0% | 33% | 33% |
| 33% | 33% | 0% | Failed to Score | F T | 0% | 33% | 33% |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1.3 | 1.3 | 0 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 65 | 31 | 0 | Total Shots | T S | 10 | 31 | 68 |
| 16 | 9 | 0 | Shots on Target | S O | 3 | 8 | 20 |
| 31% | 22% | 0% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 33% | 25% | 25% |
- All of Cardiff City's home-matches have had more than 1,5 goals.
- Cardiff City have yet to win a game at home.
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Reading | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 16 |
| 2 | Bristol City | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 13 |
| 3 | Watford | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 13 |
| 4 | AFC Bournemouth | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 12 |
| 5 | Millwall | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 11 |
| 6 | Swansea City | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 11 |
| 7 | Brentford | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 10 |
| 8 | Norwich City | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| 9 | Huddersfield Town | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -1 | 10 |
| 10 | Stoke City | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 11 | Middlesbrough | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
| 12 | Luton Town | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -1 | 9 |
| 13 | Cardiff City | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 14 | Blackburn Rovers | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 7 |
| 15 | Preston North End | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| 16 | Queens Park Rangers | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 6 |
| 17 | Rotherham United | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | -1 | 6 |
| 18 | Birmingham City | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 6 |
| 19 | Coventry City | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | -4 | 5 |
| 20 | Nottingham Forest | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -5 | 4 |
| 21 | Barnsley | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | -4 | 3 |
| 22 | Derby County | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | -8 | 3 |
| 23 | Wycombe Wanderers | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | -12 | 0 |
| 24 | Sheffield Wednesday | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | -4 |
- Cardiff City
- Wales Online - (local newspaper)
- Middlesbrough FC
- Teesside Live - (local newspaper)
- The Northern Echo - (local newspaper)