Watford vs Middlesbrough Prediction: Two sides in quest for top six

Watford will host Middlesbrough at Vicarage Road in what promises to be a battle that pits the two sides in the quest to get into top six in the Championship. Who will emerge on top after 90 minutes?

If the form on their part was strictly based on home matches, Watford would be considered one of the teams running at the top in the Championship; however, having taken ten out of twelve possible points from Vicarage Road, their second-tier home loss was last on March 9th.

On the other hand, Tom Cleverley side has suffered an awful away run. Tom's side has lost their last three games outside home. Their defeat both at Sheffield United and at Norwich City had been somewhat psychological defeats but the 3-0 defeat at Preston North End hurt very badly, as they didn't play any good game there. Recently though, Tom's side has beaten league leaders Sunderland which bodes well for their promotion aspirations if the away situation improves.

Bond; Pollock, Ogbonna, Morris; Ebosele, Sissoko, Louza, Larouci; Ince, Chakvetadze; Bayo

Middlesbrough, having appointed the efficient Michael Carrick, are going to take a challenge with the very good home record of Watford, who are quietly but steadily making their way throughout this season. Despite scoring only nine goals in eight league matches so far, Middlesbrough at the moment are at seventh position and shocked West Bromwich Albion 2-1 at The Hawthorns.

This season, their only two defeats in the Championship have been by a one-goal margin at Derby County and Sunderland.

A significant drawback to their performances is that they have never managed to score over two goals in a game this term, and this has occurred just once this term-to Watford, and that was on the last match-day of the 2023-24 season.

Dieng; Ayling, Van den Berg, Edmundson, Borges; Morris, Hackney; Jones, Azaz, McGree; Latte Lath

There are probably XI changes for Watford, with Tom Ince and Vakoun Bayo a possibility to return. Angelo Ogbonna, who didn't play after the halftime of the Preston match, will replace Daniel Bachmann and Francisco Sierralta in the back three.

Middlesbrough would roll the dice on potentially starting with Isaiah Jones instead of Ben Doak in their first XI for the game. Maybe the number of players they have on their injury list lets them look almost like the one's they played last game against West Brom.

Therefore, even though Middlesbrough have pulled off that win against West Brom, having another away game so soon might be a hard thing to handle. Predictably, Watford has an almost slender chance of winning this game but less time to recover.