Middlesbrough vs Southampton Preview & Prediction

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Amid another ‘spygate’ scandal, Middlesbrough and Southampton lock horns in their first leg of their Championship play-off semi-final.

Kick-off date/time:

How to watch on TV: UK – Sky Sports / US – CBS Sports Network

How to watch online: UK – Sky Go / US – Paramount+

Middlesbrough vs Southampton prediction

For the second time in Championship history, the build-up to a big play-off tie was dominated by a spy story, with Middlesbrough accusing Southampton of spying on their team training. But come Saturday lunchtime, all the focus will be on the pitch as these two sides face off in a bid to gain a precious aggregate lead heading into the second leg.

Southampton have every reason to be confident when considering how they finished the season. They’ve incredibly not lost a Championship fixture since January 19, a run of 19 matches unbeaten in the second tier. That’s also not including their run to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, which saw them knock out Premier League title contenders and Champions League finalists Arsenal in the last eight.

However, Middlesbrough thrashed them 4-0 in this fixture back at the start of the year and after an extended slump which saw them fall out of automatic promotion contention, two wins and two draws from their last four suggests a Boro resurgence.

Expect a cagey affair despite both head coaches being incredibly dynamic in the way they go about their work. These two teams will be extremely well set up and it would be no surprise if they could not be separated across the 90 minutes.

Middlesbrough vs Southampton tip: Draw