Middlesbrough will fancy their chances to qualify for the Championship Playoffs this Saturday when they travel to Deepdale for a match against Preston North End in the final match day of the English Football second tier. Kickoffs at 14:30 EAT.
Preston is placed in the mid table, 14th with 61 points in the table. They have nothing to gain as well as nothing to lose, and this absence of pressure has really affected their form as well. Since his arrival in December, Lowe has collected 36 points from 24 games, suffering just six defeats in the process, and posting another win at the weekend would leave supporters feeling increasingly optimistic about their playoff chances in 2022-23.
Preston North End comes into this meeting off the back off 1-3 Championship success over Barnsley. In that match, Preston North End had 70% possession, 18 shots with seven of them on target and goals scored by Daniel Johnson (23′, 54′) and Emil Riis Jakobsen (74′). Barnsley got 15 shots with five of them on target and a goal by Aiden Marsh (16′).
Middlesbrough is seventh in the table as of now, and they need a surplus of two points to climb level with the cut off for the playoffs. It gives them hope that the fifth-placed Sheffield as well as the sixth-placed Luton has just two more points than them and they need to overtake only one of these teams in order to qualify for the playoffs.
The Boro prepare for this fixture in high spirits coming off 3-1 Championship success over Stoke City in their previous game. In that match, Middlesbrough had 42% possession, nine shots with two of them on target and goals scored by Matt Crooks (21′, 72′). Stoke City got 10 shots with three of them on target and goals by Lewis Baker (25′ OG) and Nick Powell (94′).
Preston North End vs Middlesbrough head to head
Middlesbrough boasts dominance having won 10 times out of the 19 head to head meetings between these two sides. Six matches ended in stalemates while Preston North End has won three times.
- Middlesbrough 1-2 Preston 23/11/21
- Middlesbrough 2-0 Preston 16/03/21
- Preston 3-0 Middlesbrough 09/12/20
- Preston 0-2 Middlesbrough 01/01/20
- Middlesbrough 1-1 Preston 01/10/19
Home
- Barnsley 1-3 Preston
- Preston 1-4 Blackburn
- Fulham 3-0 Preston
- Preston 1-1 Millwall
- Preston 2-1 QPR
Away
- Middlesbrough 3-1 Stoke
- Middlesbrough 2-0 Cardiff
- Swansea 1-1 Middlesbrough
- Middlesbrough 0-2 Huddersfield
- Bournemouth 0-0 Middlesbrough
Preston North End team news
The Lilywhites may not have Patrick Bauer for the season finale after the defender went off with illness in their last game. However, on the bright side, Andrew Hughes could return from a toe injury.
Middlesbrough team news
Chris Wilder has a clean bill of health coming into the final match day of the season.
Prediction and odds
Before the match against Barnsley, Preston was on a two-fixture losing streak and they had remained winless in nine of their past thirteen overall games while Middlesbrough is on a two-game winning streak, and had scored a total of five goals in the process.
- Middlesbrough Win
- Draw
- Goals under 2.5
