Date: Saturday 19th
March 2022
Venue: Riverside Stadium
Kick-off: 17:15 GMT
Another day,
another tough crowd, mostly Middlesbrough obviously, because we’ll be thin on
the ground. They’re a bit tetchy with us about the request to play behind
closed doors, although to be fair, it is an FA Cup quarter final, and they
haven’t had one of those since the 2016-17 season. Well, that and the fact it
was a ridiculous request to start with.
Anyway, they’ll
be ready to give us a game.
Middlesbrough
are in good shape in the cup, having already dispatched with Manchester United
and Sp*rs to get into the quarterfinals. They’re unbeaten in nine games at home,
conceding just four goals in that run, and they come into the game off the back
of a 2-0 win against Birmingham City in the league.
We got to this
stage with a tough 3-2 win against Luton after wins against Chesterfield and
Plymouth and we’re on a run of five wins away from home in all competitions. We
beat Newcastle in the Premier League last weekend and Lille away midweek to
progress to the last eight in the Champions League (much to everyone’s
disappointment), and if the relentless fixtures don’t catch up with us, all the
Easy Jet trips soon might.
Middlesbrough have
looked intent on reaching their first semi-final since 2005-06 and they’ll be
trying to match the hostility levels set by the journalists, pundits and
politicians to date. So, aching joints from insufficient leg room aside, if we
want to make the semi-final for the third season in succession, we will need
our wits about us from start to finish this evening.
MANAGER’S VIEWS
Going into
today’s game, Middlesbrough manager Chris Wilder, says “I don’t want to disrespect Chelsea, they did great
things during Covid. Thomas has conducted himself amazingly this week – it’s
been no surprise. I met him last season after a match and he spent 45 mins in
the office chatting with my staff. That’s unique. World class operator.
I’m sure the occasion, the emotion of playing in the quarter-final of
the FA Cup against European champions and World champions, the environment, the
atmosphere, it will give our players a lot of energy. So that doesn’t bother or
worry me. We can just go and give it a real good go.”
Thomas
Tuchel, meanwhile, says “I expect an FA Cup
atmosphere, and I don’t think there’s any need for anything more hostile… and especially
not in these times. Football is the opposite of war, football is about
the love of game, passion, respecting your opponent, and supporting your own
team. This is what we expect; an emotional stadium, emotional crowd. We love
the competition, I love the FA Cup, so we expect a tough away match against a
strong team. And not more than that. But this is what we expect, and it will be
a challenge for us.”
SQUAD NEWS
For Middlesbrough, Riley McGree, Martin
Payero, Darnell Fisher and Sammy Ameobi remain out, but Andraz Sporar and James
Lea Siliki return from illness.
For Chelsea, Ben Chilwell (knee), remains our long-term absentee,
Andreas Christensen is a major doubt after coming off against Lille midweek, Reece
James (muscular) and Callum Hudson-Odoi (Achilles) are also doubts, whilst Saul
Niguez and Ross Barkley have covid.
TEAMS
MIDDLESBROUGH (Possible line-up): Lumley; Dijksteel, Fry, McNair; Jones, Tavernier, Howson, Crooks,
Taylor; Balogun, Connolly
CHELSEA (Possible
line-up): Kepa; Chalobah, Rudiger; Sarr, Pulisic, Jorginho, Kante,
Alonso; Mount, Werner, Lukaku
CURRENT FORM (ALL)
MIDDLESBROUGH: LWWLDW
CHELSEA: LWWWWW
OTHER STUFF
- Middlesbrough won back-to-back Premier League games against Chelsea
in 2006.
- Middlesbrough have lost their last eight matches with Chelsea in
all competitions without scoring.
- Middlesbrough have never won against reigning European champions in
20 attempts.
- Middlesbrough are appearing in their first FA Cup quarter-final
since 2016/17.
- Middlesbrough have been eliminated at this stage on the last four
occasions they have reached the final eight
- Middlesbrough have eliminated two Premier League clubs en route to
the quarterfinals.
PREDICTION
Sportsmole: Middlesbrough 0-2 Chelsea
