Middlesbrough were involved in a third draw in four matches in the Championship on Tuesday night when they took a point in a 2-2 draw away from home at Wigan Athletic which followed earlier stalemates against Birmingham City and Blackburn Rovers, both in 1-1 results.
Boro have now gone 6 matches without a win but this includes just 2 defeats to Fulham and Brentford, both of which were away from home and against teams that are seriously challenging for the play-offs, if not automatic promotion.
This means that Middlesbrough have drawn 4 of their last 6 matches overall in the Championship as the hosts continue to inch their way to Championship safety, holding an important 7-point cushion over third from bottom club, Wigan Athletic.
Along with Cardiff City and Millwall, Middlesbrough are the joint draw-specialists in the second tier having drawn 13 of their 32 matches to date this season, while also being involved in no fewer than 7 stalemates at their Riverside Stadium in their 16 home matches.
Onto the visitors, and Luton Town handed themselves a lifeline in what could turn out to be a crucial three points in their bid to avoid the drop following a 1-0 home win against Sheffield Wednesday at Kenilworth Road which became only their second win from their last 12 matches in the Championship.
📝 LUTON TOWN 1 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 0 - James Collins nets his tenth goal of the season to lift the Hatters off the bottom of the @SkyBetChamp table 👇#COYH https://t.co/eyVLINMyYH— Luton Town FC (@LutonTown) February 12, 2020
📝 LUTON TOWN 1 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 0 - James Collins nets his tenth goal of the season to lift the Hatters off the bottom of the @SkyBetChamp table 👇#COYH https://t.co/eyVLINMyYH
However, Luton’s Championship survival seems to hinge upon the results that they can grind out on home turf as The Hatters have won 6 of their 8 wins this season at Kenilworth Road, while winning just twice on the road all season.
Just 2 away wins from their 16 away matches so far in this season’s Championship campaign has been a very disappointing return for the visitors in their return to the second tier, and they find themselves 7 points adrift of fourth from bottom club, Stoke City, ahead of this weekend’s action.
Luton have had to endure a particularly barren spell in recent weeks on their travels as The Hatters have lost their last 11 matches on the trot, conceding a total of 33 goals and scoring just 6 in reply, so the best they can appear to hope for at Middlesbrough is a draw.
Middlesbrough have struggled to put teams away in recent weeks and this could fizzle out into another stalemate.