Burnley v Middlesbrough: Oppose goals in Turf Moor tussle | OneFootball

EFL Championship

Burnley have kept 12 Championship clean sheets this season

High-flying pair Burnley and Middlesbrough lock horns in a crunch Friday night Championship clash from Turf Moor. Betfair writer Mark O'Haire is expecting a tight tussle.

Burnley v Middlesbrough

Friday December 25, 20:00Live on Sky Sports

Burnley move up to second

Burnley moved back into the Championship's automatic promotion places with a comfortable 2-0 victory at Stoke last weekend.

The hosts had the better of a scoreless first-half but it was the Clarets who came out strongest after half-time, Jay Rodriguez slotting home from close range before substitute Josh Brownhill sealed the win from the spot.

The result leaves Scott Parker's men one point ahead of third-placed Leeds and the Burnley boss was full of praise for his players after overseeing a fifth successive league clean sheet for the first time since 1980.

Meanwhile, the Clarets have conceded just six Championship goals all season - the fewest goals against across the Premier League and EFL.

Parker said, "It's a pretty remarkable record. We've been rock solid in certain moments, and I do emphasise this is not just a back five unit here that should take the credit for keeping the clean sheets. This is the whole team effort. They've got habits and traits; they're relentless in what they do and their character and application has been outstanding.".

Middlesbrough maintain top-six challenge

Middlesbrough maintained their place in the Championship play-off positions with an impressive 3-1 success against Hull at The Riverside Stadium last Saturday (taking 21 shots in the victory).

It was a fourth win in five games for Michael Carrick's men - with 18 goals scored - as they recovered from their disappointing home loss to Blackburn in midweek.

Finn Azaz scored the first and Scotland international Tommy Conway bagged a brace, both set up by Ben Doak in another stellar display from the 19-year-old on-loan from Liverpool.

Boro fired in 16 attempts from inside the penalty box and created three Big Chances against the Tigers - the Teessiders now rank third in the Championship for Big Chances generated.

Carrick admitted he was impressed with his team's performance. He said, "I thought today was going to be a really tricky game, the type of team they are and the way they play, the change of manager, but we came through it really well and did a lot of good things. We pressed well as a team, scored goals and could and probably should have scored more."

Clarets unbeaten at Turf Moor

Middlesbrough boast a very slight W6-D3-L5 supremacy in head-to-head battles with Burnley this century, although Boro come into this clash winless in their last five league meetings with the Clarets (W0-D2-L3), losing each of their 2022/23 encounters.

At Turf Moor, the Teessiders have tabled a solitary win in six against Burnley (W1-D2-L2).

Burnley 2.44 have bagged four wins on the spin, as well as posting five successive clean sheets to move into the top-two.

The Clarets are unbeaten at Turf Moor (W6-D3-L0) and have kept an eye-catching 12 (67%) clean sheets in 18 league outings thus far with the hosts allowing just 0.77 Expected Goals (xG) per-game, a record only bettered by Leeds thus far.

Middlesbrough 3.20 have motored back into the top-six off the back of a fine run of form. However, Boro have been difficult to trust on their travels (W4-D1-L3), as well as posting W2-D1-L4 when facing top-half teams. Nevertheless, Michael Carrick's charges are ranked second on Expected Points (xP) and top the xG charts both home and away this season.

Close contest forecast

The Championship is only averaging 2.47 goals per-game with just 42% of overall fixtures featuring Over 2.5 Goals winners.

Burnley have been a significant contributor to that tally with Scott Parker's side seeing 15 (83%) of their 18 second-tier showdowns producing fewer than two goals, with matches avergaing a desperately-dull 1.61 goals per-game.

Surprisingly, 10 (56%) of Middlesbrough's 18 outings have followed suit and so Under 2.5 Goals has to be a strong consideration at 1.79.

The only Burnley matches to feature three strikes or more came against bottom-six dwellers, whilst eight of Boro's 10 tussles with teams inside the top-15 have also delivered a maximum of two goals this term.

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