Nottingham Forest earned a point in a 2-2 draw away at Millwall in the Championship on Saturday and although Tuesday night’s hosts dropped down to 5th place, they return to the City Ground for this upcoming clash against Middlesbrough looking to return to winning ways.
Having lost just once in their last six matches in the second tier, Sabri Lamouchi’s side still occupy a place in the Championship play-off pack, thanks to recent wins against Luton Town, east midlands rivals, Derby County, and QPR - the latter being a resounding 4-0 win away from home at Loftus Road.
Forest have suffered a couple of recent hiccups on home turf though at their City Ground as they’ve been handed defeats by Hull City and Cardiff City, but both of these teams currently sit in the top half of the Championship, while Middlesbrough are still floundering in the lower reaches of the division.
With just 3 defeats out of their last 10 matches at home (a run that includes 6 wins for Forest), Tuesday night’s hosts will be keen to grab the points here as they welcome former striker, Britt Assombalonga, back to the City Ground.
Middlesbrough will make their way down to Nottingham in reasonably confident mood having secured a second win in three matches on Saturday when they registered a 1-0 home win against Charlton Athletic, and along with the recent 1-0 win at home over Barnsley, these victories have given manager Jonathan Woodgate a stay of execution.
However, it should be noted that both of these aforementioned wins were both at home and both against teams sitting in the bottom half of the Championship with just 2 away wins out of a total of 20 matches between them.
Overall results for Middlesbrough do appear to be improving on the face of it as Boro have lost just 1 of their last 5 matches, but delve a little deeper and the results away from home continue to undermine any revival they may be staging at their Riverside Stadium.
Middlesbrough still remain without an away win so far this season with their record consisting of 4 draws and 5 defeats, while the bigger picture shows that the north-east outfit have picked up just 2 away wins out of their last 15 matches on the road.
Nottingham Forest therefore should have the edge over Boro at the City Ground on Tuesday night.