Both Middlesbrough and Burton have a chance to make history on Tuesday when they clash in the quarter-finals of the League Cup at the Riverside Stadium as they are the only two non-Premier League teams left in the competition. The two teams have met last season in the Championship and Middlesbrough won 2-0 at home before snatching a 1-1 draw away from home. Both teams failed to reach their league objectives last season, Middlesbrough finished fifth and failed to achieve promotion while Burton finished 23rd and got relegated to League One.
Middlesbrough are hoping for a repeat of the 2003-2004 season, when they went all the way and won the League Cup. It seems much more difficult now, though, as they will have to get past two big teams on the way to the trophy if they manage to beat Burton. They are on a poor run of four matches without victory in the Championship and they are down in sixth place after 22 matches. They have knocked out Premier League side Crystal Palace in the previous round of the League Cup, Lewis Wing scored the decisive goal in the 1-0 victory. Muhamed Besic is suspended for this match, while Rudy Gestede and Ashley Fletcher are out injured.
Burton are having a great run in the League Cup this season, the best in club history. However, they have lost three of their last four matches in League One and they have crashed out of the FA Cup after a 2-1 defeat at Scunthorpe. They have knocked out Aston Villa in the second round of the League Cup this season and then produced an even bigger upset when they defeated Burnley 2-1 in the third round. In the fourth round they faced Nottingham Forest and somehow they managed to win the match 3-2 after having missed a penalty kick in the first half. Marvin Sordell is the only injury concern for Burton ahead of this match.
Probable line-ups:
Middlesbrough: Konstantopoulos - Fry, Batth, Ayala, McQueen - Wing, Leadbitter, McNair - Downing, Hugill, Tavernier
Burton: Evtimov - Fox, Brayford, McFadzean, Atkins - Fraser, Allen, Quinn - Hesketh, Boyth, Templeton
My prediction: Middlesbrough to win 2-1, the home side should take advantage of their superior experience.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Middlesbrough win - 1.40
Draw - 5.00
Burton win - 9.00
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Comments (1)
sharpe
12/23/18, 02:12:00 PM
I've been really happy to see a league one side reaching the late stages of this tournament and like Johnny mentioned above it's been the best cup run in the Burton's...
I've been really happy to see a league one side reaching the late stages of this tournament and like Johnny mentioned above it's been the best cup run in the Burton's history so it quite sure the local fans are over the moon about their team being at the semis. They'll face Man City who've been the most lucky side in the draw but no doubt it would be a festival for Burton's players and fans whatever the end result is.
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