Bristol City host stuttering Middlesbrough in a huge clash in the 2024-25 Championship Play-Off race.
Victory will lift Bristol City up to sixth position ahead of the weekend’s action, whilst Boro can move above their hosts with a win into at least eighth – as seventh position is only possible if Sheffield Wednesday lose to Burnley.
Team News
Ross McCrorie is ruled out for Bristol City with a hamstring injury which forced him off the pitch in their Severnside Derby draw at Cardiff last weekend.
Cam Pring however is set to return after he missed the Robins’ last nine matches with a hamstring injury.
Ayman Benarous remains sidelined with a lengthy hamstring injury.
Middlesbrough have no fresh injury concerns to report following their home loss to Watford.
Sol Brynn (shoulder), Seny Dieng, Jonny Howson, Riley McGree (all knock), Ben Doak (thigh), Alex Bangura (Achilles) and Darragh Lenihan (fitness/Achilles) are still sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
Bristol City host Middlesbrough at Ashton Gate on Friday 21 February at 7:45pm GMT, untelevised live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Bristol City are unbeaten in their last six meetings against Middlesbrough (W4, D2).
- Middlesbrough have won one of their last five visits to Bristol City (W1, D2, L2).
- Bristol City have never gone seven consecutive games without defeat to Middlesbrough in this fixture.
- Liam Manning’s Robins have won three of their four league matches at home in 2025 (W3, L1).
- Middlesbrough are looking to avoid suffering five consecutive league defeats for the first time since a six-match losing streak from March – April 2019.
Prediction
With just two wins in their last seven league games and in inconsistent form, Bristol City are a tough team to predict but there is no doubting that they do leak goals, which could be their Achilles heel if Boro can find those extra gears but I do expect the Robins to score here given their home form in this fixture.
Middlesbrough however have just four points from their last seven league matches and lacked much quality in defence to concede a sloppy winner to Watford, whilst their attack lacked much end product so a huge improvement is needed if want to reignite their play-off hunt given how tight that particular race is.
Both teams therefore know that this fixture is realistically must-win if look at it long-term from an end-of-season perspective where a win here could be the difference, so I do expect this to be close but if Boro tighten up their defensive game then they should nick this.
Prediction: Bristol City 0-1 Middlesbrough
