Middlesbrough vs Swansea City. Premier League.
Riverside StadiumAttendance28,302.
Saturday 17 December 2016 15:07, UK
Precious points are up for grabs when relegation-threatened Middlesbrough and Swansea meet at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday.
Boro have lost their last two Premier League games without scoring and are the lowest scorers in the division with just 13 goals registered.
Aitor Karanka's men have also had the fewest shots (146) and fewest shots on target (41) in the Premier League this season.
The league's worst attack meets one of the worst defences as Swansea's 3-1 defeat at West Brom on Wednesday means they have now conceded 34 goals in the league - only Hull (35) have conceded more.
Bob Bradley's men have picked up just one point from last seven away Premier League games.
George Friend could return to Middlesbrough's starting line-up for the clash.
Friend has missed Boro's last five games since suffering a knee injury last month but having trained through the week, he is lined up to replace Fabio at left-back.
Gaston Ramirez faces a late test on the foot injury that has ruled him out for the last two games but striker Cristhian Stuani is still definitely ruled out with an infected foot.
Swansea are not thought to have any fresh fitness concerns.
But Federico Fernandez and Ki Sung-yueng look likely to remain absent as the Swans visit a team just one place above them in the Premier League.
Both players have been recovering from toe injuries - South Korean midfielder Ki has missed the last four games - and they are set to sit out Swansea's third game in eight days, a sequence that began with a convincing victory over fellow
strugglers Sunderland before West Brom beat them 3-1.
This will be the first top-flight meeting between these two clubs since May 1982.
Swansea have won each of their last three competitive meetings with Middlesbrough, all by a one goal margin (1-0, 4-3, 1-0).
Swansea have conceded 15 goals in five Premier League away matches under Bradley - an average of three per game.
Middlesbrough have scored the fewest goals (13), attempted the fewest shots in total (146) and the fewest shots on target (41) in the Premier League this season.
Only Southampton's St. Mary's Stadium (13 goals) has witnessed fewer Premier League goals this season than Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium (16).
This is Swansea's lowest points tally after 16 games of a Premier League season (12) - two points fewer than at this stage last season.
The Swans have conceded 34 league goals this season - 10 more than they have after 16 games in any previous Premier League season (24 in 2015-16 after 16 games).
Middlesbrough have to win this. I thought Boro would be alright this season, but if they lose this game they are in big trouble. Swansea away from home are not a side you can drop points against. They are conceding goals left, right and centre.
Boro are not in great form, but because of how crucial it is, I can't see anything other than a Middlesbrough win
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0 (Sky Bet odds 8/1)
Sky Bet make Middlesbrough the 11/10 favourites to claim victory at home to Swansea on Saturday afternoon. The Swans are available at 13/5 for an away success and the draw is an option at 23/10.
Sky Sports pundits Charlie Nicholas and Phil Thompson both agree that Boro striker Alvaro Negredo should be backed to open the scoring at 9/2, while Matt Le Tissier is going for Swansea midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson at 6/1.
