Fulham make the long trip to Middlesbrough knowing that victory will realistically put them on the brink of earning promotion to the Premier League.
While the leaders begin the week with a 14-point advantage over third position, Boro have moved back into the Championship playoff spots after recording successive league wins.
Match preview
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Having failed to win either of their final two fixtures before the international break, there was a little bit of pressure on Fulham as they prepared to make the shortest of trips to London rivals Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
However, a goal in each half from Aleksandar Mitrovic ensured that the Cottagers collected their 24th Championship victory of the campaign, moving them ever closer to an immediate return to the Premier League.
Marco Silva will insist that his team need to take one match at a time but with the teams in third position and lower struggling for consistency, two more wins may be enough to get over the line.
Despite their indifferent form, Fulham make the long trip to the Riverside Stadium with the best away record in the division, collecting 40 points from their 19 fixtures on the road.
Remarkably, this will be the Cottagers' fifth away fixture in succession, and they have the opportunity to end a testing run with 10 points from a possible 15.
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However, Fulham face opponents in Middlesbrough who have won eight league matches in a row at their North-East home, not dropping points since a 2-1 defeat to Preston North End on November 23.
In sharp contrast, Chris Wilder had witnessed his players struggle on their travels during his reign until their recent successes at Birmingham City and Peterborough United.
Six goals have been scored without reply during that double-header, Arsenal loanee Folarin Balogun netting in both games to take his recent tally to three strikes in four outings.
With five matches still to come at the Riverside, Wilder and his squad will be confident of maintaining their place in the playoffs, but such is the small margin of error that defeat on Wednesday could leave them outside of the top six once again.
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Team News
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Wilder could decide to stick with the Middlesbrough XI which started the demolition of Peterborough at the weekend.
Even if Neil Taylor recovers from injury, Marc Bola is expected to keep his spot at left wing-back, with the only alteration realistically coming in attack.
Duncan Watmore and Andraz Sporar may potentially come back into the team ahead of Brighton & Hove Albion loanee Aaron Connolly.
Silva is likely to hand a recall to Antonee Robinson, who was rested at the weekend after representing USA in World Cup qualifying.
Jean Michael Seri and Nathaniel Chalobah are both alternatives for Tom Cairney in the centre of midfield.
Middlesbrough possible starting lineup:
Lumley; Dijksteel, Fry, McNair; Jones, Crooks, Howson, Tavernier, Bola; Connolly, Balogun
Fulham possible starting lineup:
Rodak; Williams, Adarabioyo, Ream, Robinson; Reed, Chalobah; Wilson, Carvalho, Decordova-Reid; Mitrovic
We say: Middlesbrough 1-2 Fulham
On the back of their goal glut at Peterborough, Boro will be confident of pushing Fulham all the way on Wednesday evening. Nevertheless, we are backing the visitors to come out on top, perhaps by the odd goal in three, as they continue to canter towards the title.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Fulham win with a probability of 50.59%. A draw had a probability of 25.7% and a win for Middlesbrough had a probability of 23.66%.
The most likely scoreline for a Fulham win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.71%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (9.72%) and 1-2 (9.32%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.17%), while for a Middlesbrough win it was 1-0 (7.96%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 12.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 0-1 win for Fulham in this match and our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted the win for Fulham.
