Middlesbrough 2 Sheffield United 0 LIVE: Goals from Watmore and McNair give Blades mountain to climb
United will kick off a point shy of seventh place after their recent resurgence, and defender Ben Davies says United must make the most of the momentum they have built up in recent weeks after admitting the Blades are playing “catch-up” in their pursuit of promotion after their poor start.
After taking two points from their first five games of the league season, United travel to Middlesbrough having picked up 10 points from their last 12 available.
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Hide AdUnited are seven points behind second-placed West Brom and nine adrift of leaders Bournemouth, who they face at the weekend.
And defender Davies, on loan from Liverpool, admitted: “We know the Championship’s a tough relentless league and we’ve done well in the last few weeks to get on a positive run.
“Now we need to continue it because we need to be picking six or seven points up a week. The target is still to get promoted back to the Premier League.”
Boro v Blades LIVE
M A T C H D A Y
and the Blades are back in action at the Riverside as they face Neil Warnock’s Middlesbrough - they’ll be looking to build on Saturday’s late victory over Derby County and perhaps even get themselves into the play-offs if they win and results go their way ahead of a tough-looking weekend trip to Bournemouth
The Form Guide
United are unbeaten in their last five Championship matches, winning three, drawing two and scoring 12 goals in the process. They have conceded five times during that run. Middlesbrough have won only one of their last seven games in the competition, and enter this fixture hoping to avoid a third consecutive defeat after losses to Blackpool and Reading.
The History Lesson
United have not won any of their last six away matches at Middlesbrough, losing five and drawing one of those. However, they boast a better record than their latest opponents in the overall head to head between the two clubs, winning 43 and drawing 22 of their previous 104 meetings. The most recent stalemate between these two clubs in the North-East came on the opening weekend of the 2009/10 Championship season. Kevin Blackwell, now Warnock’s assistant at Middlesbrough, was in charge of United for that fixture. Warnock had led them into the Premier League three years earlier.
SJ on Hourihane
Conor has had a fantastic time with me, it’s not important who started or who didn’t. We all know his quality and his character but it’s about the team, not one player. I can only start with 11 players, I consider him one of the important players in my team and if he will not be starting, he will be on the bench. He’s an important player in my team and my squad.
John Egan scoring from corners
He scored against Portugal too and had a good month, he showed his quality in front of the goal. He’s an important player for us in this situation and he was successful against Hull and Portugal. We expect he can help us in this situation too
I expect a strong Neil Warnock team, they will try and find a 1v1 situation. I’ve played a lot of times against Neil, he’s one of my favourite coaches in England. I like having a chat and a beer with him, to have some conversation. Of course I will be looking to win the game, but I know him and he knows me too. We don’t change our style much, we are ready and I am sure they are ready too. We’ll see what happens.
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