25 May 2015 17:00 Norwich v Middlesbrough
Norwich City had a very good Championship season finishing in 3rd place on 86 points which was just 3 points behind 2nd place Watford. Alex Neil’s side beat local rivals Ipswich 4-2 on aggregate to get to this final. Norwich have been very resilient away from Carrow Road and they are now unbeaten in their last 12 matches and Norwich’s recent away record reads W8, D5, L2
When visiting teams that were placed in the top 7 of the table Norwich’s away record reads W4, D1, L1 and Norwich can be backed at around 2.60.
The recent head-to-head matches certainly favour Middlesbrough who won both of these games this season. 4-0 at the Riverside and 1-0 at Carrow Road
If you do fancy Norwich to do well here then you are probably best keeping the draw on your side and Norwich can be backed -0.0 on the Handicap at around 1.84.
The draw can be backed at around 3.25 and, although this result should not be discounted due to the nature of the game, it offers no real value.
Middlesbrough finished in 4th place on 85 points which was a point below Monday's opposition. In the Semi-Final, they beat a plucky Brentford side 2-1 at Griffin Park and they won the return leg with something to spare running out 3-0 winners. Middlesbrough’s away record reads a reasonable looking W6, D3, L6.
When playing teams that were placed in the top 7, their record reads W2, D0, L4 and Middlesbrough can be backed at around 3.05. As with Norwich, if you do fancy Boro to do well here then you can also keep the draw on your side and Middlesbrough can be backed off scratch at around 2.10
When looking at the goal line then we have some mixed stats. When looking at both sides last 15 away matches, in the 30 games, 15 have seen 3 or more goals, 8 matches have seen 2 goals and 7 games have seen 1 or less. When playing the top 7 sides, only 1 of Middlesbrough’s and 5 of Norwich’s 6 games contained 3 or more goals. My ratings suggest value backing Over 2.0/2.5 goals.
This looks like an extremely competitive match and Middlesbrough have had the better of the 2 meetings this season. My ratings suggest small value in both the goal and match line. Looking at the goal line only 2 of Norwich’s last 15 away games have contained 1 or less goals and my ratings suggest value in Overs. For my trade I am turning to the match line where my ratings suggest value in a very resilient Norwich side. As previously stated they have not lost in 12 away games and although they lost both games against Middlesbrough they have performed far better away from home against the Top Championship sides and my recommended trade for this game is Norwich -0.0 goals at around 1.84.