The other match on Tuesday night in the Championship carries the utmost of importance for both Middlesbrough and Bristol City as they prepare to do battle at the Riverside Stadium with a precious three points at stake for both clubs.
Middlesbrough recently dropped out of the play-off pack due to a worrying run of five matches without a win in the Championship which includes losing their last four matches on the trot with defeats to Brentford, Preston North End, Aston Villa and Norwich City.
This was admittedly a tough sequence of fixtures, but Middlesbrough manager, Tony Pulis, will be particularly concerned by the fact that three of these four losses were dished out to Boro on home turf.
Middlesbrough now sit in 8th place but they’re just one point adrift of 6th placed Derby County, so the hosts still have a great chance of re-asserting their claims for a top six finish with a win on Tuesday night.
Forwards Assombalonga (10 goals) and Hugill (6 goals) look the most likely for the hosts.
The hosts actually possess the best defensive record at home in the Championship, but their defence have conceded at least 1 goal in 8 of their last 10 matches at the Riverside and their visitors, Bristol City, are also in the frame for a play-off spot.
Onto Bristol City and they ended a miserable run of five matches without a win in the Championship on Saturday when they stole all three points away at Bramall Lane with a 3-2 win against Sheffield United who were in 2nd place prior to the weekend’s action.
Bristol City manager, Lee Johnson, will certainly be hoping that this recent win at high-flying Sheffield United will kick-start The Robins’ push for a play-off spot following defeats to Norwich City, Birmingham City and Leeds United along with being held to 1-1 draws by Preston North End and Ipswich Town in recent weeks.
The visitors also have reason to be confident of getting something at the Riverside Stadium on Tuesday night against a wobbling Middlesbrough outfit as The Robins have scored in 15 of their 18 away matches to date, and with strikers Diedhiou (11 goals) and Weimann (9 goals) up front, the latter bagging a hat-trick against Sheffield United, they could make life difficult for Middlesbrough in this clash too.
A win for either side here would see them jump back up into the play-off pack, so there’s a decent chance that both teams will score in this encounter.