Middlesbrough vs. Burnley Betting Tips: Back Both Teams To Score on Friday's Bank Holiday

We have a full slate in the Championship on Friday with the pick of the ties being Burnley’s trip to Middlesbrough. The game is live on Sky Sports kicking off at 8pm and we’ve tasked Anthony Eadson to supply us with his best bets for the game.

Middlesbrough suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Neil Warnock last weekend in the Championship, losing out 4-2 to relegation-threatened Huddersfield. After the game Neil Warnock was quoted as saying “It’s probably as good a result as I’ve ever had in my career. We were 5/1 with the bookies beforehand and what a bloody insult that was - I’ve never been 5/1 at home in my life”.

Despite that defeat Boro have still won 15 of their last 20 league matches and still have hope of chasing down Sheffield United in second place, for which there is a six point gap heading into the bank holiday weekend.

Burnley on the other hand can secure promotion back to the Premier League with a win here and if other results go their way on Friday. It’s been an excellent season for Vincent Kompany and The Clarets, who were as big as 10/1 pre-season with some betting sites finish top of the second-tier table.

Taking a look at the match result odds on Friday and the bookies are struggling to split the pair, with bet365 going 13/8 for both a home win to Boro and an away win for Burnley. Those who fancy the draw can take the 12/5 that is widely available.

The first selection I want to highlight on Friday is for Both Teams To Score. This is available with several firms at the time of writing, including William Hill and bet365.

Burnley shut up shop against Sunderland in their most recent match last Friday, with the score finishing 0-0 despite Kompany’s men dominating the game. I struggle to see a team who has been so effective this season failing to score in two games on the trot, and looking back at their record this season, they have only failed to find the net in three of their 38 outings.

When it comes to Middlesbrough, their games have been absolutely packed with goals of late with seven of their last nine outings featuring Over 3.5 goals. The way that Michael Carrick is setting his teams up at the moment means they can be quite open at times, and despite their form being strong, they have conceded in six of their last nine, with Huddersfield putting four past them last week. All things considered, both teams to score looks the wise play here.

I’ve already mentioned how I think we could see quite a few goals here, particularly if Burnley have the chance of sealing promotion depending on Luton’s result earlier in the day, and also considering how Middlesbrough are setting up at the moment.

Chuba Akpom is now just 1/33 with most bookmakers to be crowned The top-scorer in The Championship this season after a stunning 25 goals in just 32 appearances. The 27-year-old has now scored in five consecutive matches and looking back a little further, he has bagged in eight of his last 10, scoring a brace in two of those.

After his hat-trick against Hull three weeks ago, Nathan Tella has scored five goals in his last three. Only Chuba Akpom and Viktor Gyokeres have scored more goals in the second-tier than Tella who has 17 to his name in total. Combining Tella and the Middlesbrough man to score on Friday evening pays 17/2 with BetUK who are best-priced on both these selections as singles, with other firms going shorter than 7/1 on the double.