Bottom of the league Wycombe Wanderers welcome Middlesbrough to Adams Park on Saturday as these two sides meet for the very first time in their history.
Wanderers come into this fixture off the back of a 2-1 win over Cardiff City, thanks to goals from Ryan Tafazolli and David Wheeler, while Middlesbrough have been riddled with inconsistency in recent weeks, and fell at the hands of managerless Sheffield Wednesday in midweek.
Match preview
© Reuters
Despite a strong result against Cardiff, Wycombe still only have one win in their last five and three in their 22 games so far this season which suggests they have a long, hard battle on their hands to stay in the division.
The win also broke their 12-game winless streak but was not enough to lift them off the bottom of the table, where they sit four points adrift of safety.
Furthermore, Wanderers have the worst goal difference in the league, having not only conceded the most goals but scoring only 15, a total better only than Sheffield Wednesday and Derby County, who have scored 14 each.
Looking ahead, the next handful of fixtures will be key to Gareth Ainsworth's side's survival as they face Birmingham City, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday and Queens Park Rangers in their next five games, all of whom sit in 18th place or lower.
© Reuters
From Boro's perspective, their trip to Wednesday did not yield the result they would have wanted and will leave a bad taste in Neil Warnock's mouth as 2020 draws to a close.
On a chilly night in Sheffield, Boro were caught cold as they conceded two goals in the space of 10 minutes. Not even a goal from the much-talked-about Duncan Watmore could inspire a late comeback despite Boro racking up 21 shots on goal, four times as many as the home side.
Boro have only lost consecutive games once this season, and when they did - to Stoke and Preston recently - they then responded with three straight wins that saw them net eight and concede just one - perhaps the benefit of being so inconsistent.
History also suggests that Boro could well bounce back on Saturday. The Smoggies have not lost in their opening game of the year for seven straight seasons, last losing to Derby County in 2013.
Boro head into 2021 only four points adrift of the playoff places with a game in hand, and will feel that a top-six finish is very much within their grasp - a testament to what Neil Warnock has achieved since steering them away from relegation last season.
Wycombe Wanderers Championship form: LLLDLW
Middlesbrough Championship form: LLWWWL
Team News
© Reuters
Darius Charles and Curtis Thompson returned to Wycombe's starting lineup recently but may be rested this time round having only just returned from long-term injuries.
Anis Mehmeti may drop to the bench with Fred Onyedinma vying for a starting berth.
For Boro, Warnock may look to sure things up in midfield and Watmore could be sacrificed for the more versatile Marcus Tavernier.
Elsewhere, Boro do not have any fresh injury concerns and could offer starts to the likes of Hayden Coulson and Chuba Akpom.
Grant Hall remains far off a return to the matchday squad, while Jonny Howson could start from the bench on Saturday.
Wycombe Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Allsop; Grimmer, McCarthy, Knight, Jacobson; Bloomfield, Wheeler, Freeman, McCleary; Akinfenwa, Kashket
Middlesbrough possible starting lineup:
Bettinelli; Dijksteel, Fry, McNair, Bola; Wing, Saville, Morsy, Johnson, Watmore; Assombalonga
We say: Wycombe Wanderers 1-2 Middlesbrough
Boro will be keen to get back to winning ways, and Warnock will likely have his team raring to go after suffering an unexpected defeat to the Owls. With this in mind, we predict that Boro will come through this one, winning their first game of the calendar year for the eighth year in a row.
Top betting 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 Middlesbrough win with a probability of 51.43%. A draw had a probability of 26.1% and a win for Wycombe Wanderers had a probability of 22.44%.
The most likely scoreline for a Middlesbrough win was 0-1 with a probability of 13.69%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (10.27%) and 1-2 (9.18%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.23%), while for a Wycombe Wanderers win it was 1-0 (8.15%). The actual scoreline of 1-3 was predicted with a 4.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Middlesbrough would win this match.
