Manchester City Host Middlesbrough Expecting Easy Win

Middlesbrough will travel to Manchester City`s Etihad Stadium in the FA Cup tomorrow just days after climbing a place to claim one of the two Championship promotion positions. Aitor Karanka`s side are undefeated in their last six games in all competitions, their last loss coming against fellow promotion hopefuls Ipswich in December.

City, on the other hand, will be looking to bounce back after suffering a 2-0 home defeat against Arsenal last time out. Indeed, Manuel Pellegrini`s men have failed to pick up a win in their last two games following their 1-1 draw against Everton at Goodison Park. Fernandinho put his side ahead with 15 minutes remaining in that encounter before Steven Naismith levelled up soon after.

Both sides have only played one FA Cup match after receiving byes into the third stage of the tournament.

Home side City eventually progressed past another Championship club in Sheffield Wednesday at home despite going behind in the first half through Atdhe Nuhiu`s 14th minute strike. An unlikely second half brace from versatile midfielder James Milner, the second goal of which coming in the dying minutes of the match-up, turned the game on its head and knocked Stuart Gray`s Yorkshire club out of the competition.

Should you think he can continue his goal scoring run against Championship opposition, England international Milner is 22/5 (32red, unibet) to add to his tally at any time whilst he can also be backed at 11/1 with ladbrokes and sportingbet to grab successive FA Cup braces.

Middlesbrough`s transition through to the fourth round of the competition was much smoother, putting two goals past Barnsley goalkeeper Ross Turnbull without reply. The match remained goalless until the second half when Jelle Vossen hit the opener and Daniel Ayala doubled up through a headed goal six minutes from time.

This victory was recorded in spite of Adam Clayton seeing red for two bookable offences.

As a consequence of the gulf in quality and City`s home advantage, the Sky Blues are the easy to back favourites at 3/10 with a trio of bookmakers (bet365, Betvictor, Coral). It`s 5/1 across the board should you think that Boro can force a replay or, if you have full belief in Karanka`s men, 11/1 with boylesports for a surprising victory for the Tyneside club.

The Reds` job has been made even more difficult since learning that talismanic defender Rhys Williams will be out for the long-term after rupturing his Achilles tendon against the Tykes in their initial FA Cup encounter.

This is the second time that the Australia international has suffered from such an `extremely rare` injury.

In his place comes Chelsea loanee Tomas Kalas who has joined Boro following returning from a loan spell with German club Cologne. Twenty-one-year-old Kalas played his part in the clean sheets picked up against Reading (0-0) and Huddersfield (2-0) as well as playing in the 2-1 win over Cardiff.

Whilst Middlesbrough have kept a clean sheet in four of their last five games in all competitions they are 10/1 to not concede against Chelsea with Spreadex and are 22/1 (Betvictor) to win to nil.

City will be without new signing Wilfried Bony who is still on duty with the Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations. The most expensive African footballer will most likely play for his new club in mid-February.

As a result, Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic dominate the first goalscorer market at 14/5 (Betvictor), 15/4 (bet365) and 4/1 (Numerous) respectively.

The last time the two sides met was in the 2010/2011 renewal of the FA Cup, City putting a goal past Boro in their 1-0 victory. bet365 and Betvictor have 8/1 on history repeating itself.

Go To bet365

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23/01/2015     © Frixo 2024