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Kick Off: 1330, 02/04/2017
Stadium: Liberty Stadium
TV: Sky Sports 1
Middlesbrough enjoyed their best day of the Premier League season when beating Swansea 3-0 at the Riverside in mid-December, but the Welsh outfit are fancied to gain revenge in the reverse fixture.
Boro haven’t claimed a top-flight victory since then, whereas the Swans can boast five wins from their last 10 games in this competition.
The pick of our Swansea vs Middlesbrough betting tips is 31/4 for a 2-1 home triumph.
Trueform tips: Swansea’s ratings have dipped badly at times, but the two peaks were home wins and show that there is scope for a return to form at Liberty Stadium, whereas Middlesbrough have done little to suggest they are worth support.
Paul Clement will have been bitterly disappointed by Swansea’s failure to pick up any points from away games against Hull and Bournemouth, with those defeats keeping them very much in the relegation battle.
However, the Swans did look a touch tired heading into those games and the international break may just have come at the right time to help them rediscover the zest which brought wins over Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Southampton, Leicester and Burnley between early January and the start of March.
“Middlesbrough is the game we need to win, that one is massive,” said Leroy Fer. “Our injured players can come back in and we can focus on the next game. The last two games have not been our best week, but the things we were doing before, we have to start doing again.”
Four of Swansea’s five wins came by a one-goal margin and we like 5/2 they achieve the same feat here.
Time is running out for Middlesbrough to pull off a great escape after a run of 11 league games without a win, with only one point picked up from their last seven road trips and just one goal scored in those fixtures.
On the plus side, Aitor Karanka’s departure has at least opened the door to more positive tactics being used and Boro did threaten a late rally against Manchester United at the Riverside in Steve Agnew’s first match in charge until the visitors pounced on a Victor Valdes slip to make it 3-1.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the players, the fighting spirit they showed, and the crowd was top class,” declared Agnew after that loss. “If we show that commitment and that sort of intensity until the end of the season, then we have a real chance of staying in this league.”
Avoiding the drop is a big ask, but there is at least hope that Boro will now be more of a threat going forward. We like 7/2 for Swansea to win and both teams to score.
Additional stats
Last result:
Bournemouth 2-0 SWANSEA
MIDDLESBROUGH 1-3 Man Utd – Rudy Gestede
Head-to-head: Middlesbrough 3-0 Swansea, Swansea 1-0 Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough 3-4 Swansea, Swansea 1-0 Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough 1-1 Swansea, Swansea 0-3 Middlesbrough
