Match Pack: Middlesbrough vs Saints
Get set for Southampton's first away day of the new year with our detailed Match Pack ahead of Sunday's trip to Middlesbrough in the Sky Bet Championship.
THE MATCH
Middlesbrough vs Southampton
Sky Bet Championship
Riverside Stadium
Sunday 4th January, 3pm GMT
THE OFFICIALS
Referee: Oliver Langford
Assistants: Mark Stevens, Shaun Hudson
Fourth official: Benjamin Speedie
THE KITS
Saints will wear the yellow and blue away kit for this one, with Middlesbrough in their traditional colours of all red.
TICKETS
Tickets are now off sale for Saints fans, with around 1,700 snapped up for our longest away trip of the season.
LIVE COVERAGE
For those unable to make it to Teesside, Saints Play match passes are available to supporters outside the UK.
WHAT’S AT STAKE?
Both sides have suffered over the festive period, with positive form through November and the early part of December making way for winless runs.
Boro sat five points clear of the play-off places four games ago, but a run of just one point from a possible 12 since, scoring only one goal in that time, has seen them drop to third.
Saints are without a victory in their last five, losing two and drawing three of those, but head coach Tonda Eckert was encouraged by his side’s clean sheet against Millwall on New Year’s Day.
Saints are currently seven points adrift of the top six in 14th, while Middlesbrough sit a point behind second-placed Ipswich.
TEAM NEWS
Middlesbrough: Head coach Kim Hellberg finds himself in the midst of a defensive injury crisis, with Dael Fry, George Edmundson, Darragh Lenihan and ex-Saint Alfie Jones all sidelined.
The Swede also lost Callum Brittain to injury in the New Year’s Day defeat at Derby, but his options could be boosted by potential returns for Adilson Malanda and Lukas Engel, who is back from a loan spell at FC Cincinnati in the MLS.
Saints: Tonda Eckert is likely to be selecting from the same squad as New Year’s Day, with Shea Charles, Ross Stewart, Mads Roerslev, Damion Downs and Sam Edozie expected to remain unavailable.
The head coach made five changes against Millwall, admitting that was with the busy festive schedule in mind, suggesting the likes of Caspar Jander, Tom Fellows, Finn Azaz and Adam Armstrong could be under consideration for recalls.
THE MANAGERS
Kim Hellberg: "It was unbelievable winning the first four games, having that start. But then getting one point from the next four and not scoring, creating a lot of chances, playing a lot of good football and goalkeepers being the man of the matches almost every game, that hurts. Looking at the table, we are back to the same position when we started eight games ago and that hurts also.
"Look at the bigger picture over those four games and we scored no goals and we created tons of opportunities to score. At the moment we are not good enough at scoring and we have to be honest with that.”
Tonda Eckert: “I just said to the boys that if you draw a game, it always depends so much on the game that comes up after, so for us this game is massive, such an important one, and we will do everything to come away with the three points.
“I think that [Boro’s loss of form] is not so much the performance, because I think they’ve been performing, also in the last games, it’s just the results didn’t come. I think that’s very different. We’ve watched their games, they’re still playing very good football, so it’ll be a tough match for us, but obviously we go there for three points, and it depends on our performance.”
ONES TO WATCH
Morgan Whittaker: Whittaker endured a tough start to his Middlesbrough career after signing from Plymouth last January.
The talented right winger, who specialises in long-range shooting with his left foot, failed to score after making the switch last season, but recently found the net in six straight matches, suggesting he’s found his feet on Teesside.
Finn Azaz: Former Middlesbough star Azaz makes his first return to the Riverside Stadium on Sunday.
The attacking midfielder, a former teammate of Whittaker at Argyle and Boro, contributed a goal or an assist in seven successive games in the early part of Tonda Eckert’s reign, and will want to make his mark on his return to the north east.
TOP PERFORMERS
Middlesbrough
Goals:
Whittaker 8
Hackney, Conway, Strelec 3
Targett, Sene, Fry, McGree 2
Assists:
Hackney 5
Brittain 4
Whittaker 3
Saints
Goals:
Armstrong 11
Azaz 7
Manning, Harwood-Bellis 4
Assists:
Armstrong, Azaz 4
Manning, Fellows, Scienza 3
Harwood-Bellis, Fraser 2
FORM GUIDE
Middlesbrough
Derby (a) SBC: L 0-1
Hull (h) SBC: L 0-1
Blackburn (h) SBC: D 0-0
Bristol City (a) SBC: L 0-2
QPR (h) SBC: W 3-1 (Strelec, Whittaker, Conway pen)
Saints
Millwall (h) SBC: D 0-0
Birmingham (a) SBC: D 1-1 (Archer)
Oxford (a) SBC: L 1-2 (Harwood-Bellis)
Coventry (h) SBC: D 1-1 (Wood)
Norwich (a) SBC: L 1-2 (Manning)
HEAD TO HEAD
Played: 60
Boro wins: 18
Draws: 17
Saints wins: 25
LAST FIVE MEETINGS
Sep 2025: Saints 1-1 Middlesbrough Championship (Armstrong)
Mar 2024: Saints 1-1 Middlesbrough Championship (Armstrong)
Sep 2023: Middlesbrough 2-1 Saints Championship (Armstrong)
May 2017: Middlesbrough 1-2 Saints Premier League (Rodriguez, Redmond)
Dec 2016: Saints 1-0 Middlesbrough Premier League (Boufal)
KEEP UP TO DATE
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