BRISTOL CITY v MIDDLESBROUGH - BORO TO BRING BRISTOL CITY BACK TO THE RIVERSIDE?
These sides met in last season’s FA Cup 4th round and only penalties separated the 2 sides after two 2-2 draws despite City being a League One side at the time. This season Bristol City will be looking to go a step further and beat their struggling Premier League opponents and if form is anything to go by, they will.
The Robins currently sit in 3rd place in the Championship level on points with leaders West Brom. They’ve lost just once in their last 9 matches and have won their last 4 home matches. Gary Johnson’s side have taken the Championship by storm on a limited budget in their first season at this level. They do have some gifted attacking players in Michael McIndoe, Ivan Sproule and Lee Trundle, who could cause a few headaches for former Real Madrid defender Jonathan Woodgate and co.
A 3rd round FA Cup exit is all Gareth Southgate needs right now, despite picking up 3 wins in December the managerial axe is still looming after 3 defeats in Boro’s last 4 games. Surprisingly Boro’s away form is not as bad as you would expect with just one defeat in their last 5 matches on the road, this includes an impressive win at Fratton Park in their last match. This will be Boro’s man of the moment Tuncay’s first taste of the FA Cup and it will be interesting to see what he makes of Ashton Gate. Surely 20,000 Bristolians won’t be as intimidating as a local derby with Galatasaray, which was a regular occurrence with his old club Fenerbahce.
This looks to be a relatively even contest on paper. However despite their Premier League shortcomings, Boro do usually defend relatively soundly and have only been beaten at the 3rd round stage once in the last 7 seasons (by Chelsea away). So expect a tough physical encounter with the match taken to a replay just as it was when these teams clashed last year so back the draw on Premier 10.
Pundit’s Pick: FA Cup déjà vu for City and Boro (draw)
Tags: 05/01/08, Boro, Bristol City, FA CUP, Gareth Southgate, Gary Johnson, Middlesbrough, RObins
