By User:Anthony Winward, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50559911
Both of these sides earned goalless draws against North London clubs on the weekend. Middlesbrough can be particularly pleased with a point from the Emirates but it is now seven games without a win as they sit just one place above the drop zone. They’ve particularly struggled at the Riverside, where they remain winless and defeat to Watford a few weeks ago meant Boro had lost three straight home games for the first time in seven years.
Bournemouth, meanwhile, went toe-to-toe with Spurs and find themselves in the top-half of the table as a reward, with a defeat at Man City their only blemish in their last seven league outings. The Cherries games have been hard to predict so far; five of their nine matches have had no more than two strikes but their four to have more than this have all seen at least four goals.
Finding the net has been Boro’s main problem, with just four in their last seven. They’ve tightened up at the back though and are unlikely to give anything away in the early stages against a dangerous Bournemouth side so the HT 0-0, as has been the case in Boro’s last three matches, makes appeal. However, given Karanka’s side are winless at home and seem to lack some confidence in addition to Bournemouth playing some good football in their recent run of four unbeaten matches, we’ll look to take the home side.
Best Bet: Bournemouth Draw No Bet at 2.05
