Middlesbrough-Portsmouth, England Premier League
2004-10-24 16.00 CET
Pick: Middlesbrough
Stake: 3%
Odds: 1,65
Final reasons
Good home side Middlesbrough with a very good season so far looks as a good bet against a Portsmouth side that seems to have problems when playing on the road also this season. We stake 3% on Middlesbrough.
General comment about the game
Today sixth placed Middlesbrough welcomes 13th placed Portsmouth. Middlesbrough has started the new campaign quite impressing. They have already played Arsenal, Manchester U, Chelsea and Newcastle, and with a little bit more luck they could have got more than two points from these games. The games were close and Middlesbrough played very good against these awaited top sides. When playing the less impressive sides this season, Middlesbrough has managed to take four wins, two at home and two on the road. In midweek Middlesbrough made a trip to Greece to face Egaleo in the UEFA cup. Middlesbrough rested some of their best players ahead of the Portsmouth game but could still win with 1-0, in a quite bad game. In the last league game Middlesbrough went to Blackburn and trashed them with 4-0. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink had a great day as he made a hat trick in the second half. Blackburn started quite well but could not score on any of their chances and when they got midfielder Tugay sent of, it did not take long before Middlesbrough got their wheels going. In the beginning of the second half they made three fast goals and they then kept on playing very well against a Blackburn defence that had collapsed. Today Middlesbrough will rest young talent Stewart Downing (2(4) apps, 2 goals) who has looked promising so far this year. Missing through injury is defender Stuart Parnaby (8(1) apps, 1 goal) and since before defender Frank Queudrue (6 apps, 1 goal). Otherwise all important players should be available.
Portsmouth has started the new season as expected. As usually they perform better at home than on the road and so far they have only taken one point out of nine when they play away. Looking at the teams that Portsmouth has played against on the road, you get even less impressed. The point was taken against newcomer Norwich and the two losses were against struggling Blackburn and Charlton. Last game Portsmouth played at home against Tottenham. Portsmouth won the game with 1-0 after a very good performance where they did not let the Tottenham strikers to score. It was the best defensive performance of the year from Portsmouth. However it must be said that Tottenham has been very bad when it comes to scoring this year, and it will probably be a totally different task when Portsmouth has to face Hasselbaink and his friends later today. Portsmouth does not have any new injury worries and can pick the starting side from the same players as last week.
Recent games for home team
|
2004-10-16 |
Blackburn-Middlesbrough |
0-4 |
|
2004-10-03 |
Manchester U-Middlesbrough |
1-1 |
|
2004-09-25 |
Middlesbrough-Chelsea |
0-1 |
|
2004-09-19 |
Everton-Middlesbrough |
1-0 |
|
2004-09-11 |
Middlesbrough-Birmingham |
2-1 |
Recent games for away team
|
2004-10-18 |
Portsmouth-Tottenham |
1-0 |
|
2004-10-02 |
Norwich-Portsmouth |
2-2 |
|
2004-09-26 |
Portsmouth–Everton |
0-1 |
|
2004-09-18 |
Blackburn-Portsmouth |
1-0 |
|
2004-09-11 |
Portsmouth-Crystal Palace |
3-1 |
Home table
|
Middlesbrough |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
6-5 |
7 |
Away table
|
Portsmouth |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3-5 |
1 |
Links for this game
|
Middlesbrough: |
|
|
Portsmouth: |
|
|
|
|
|
Livescore: |
|
|
|
|
|
League: |
|
|
|
|
// SportsObserver 041024
