Southampton vs Middlesbrough Championship play-off preview, team news and prediction

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After last week’s 0-0 draw at the Riverside, Southampton and Middlesbrough meet again on Tuesday to decide who reaches the Championship play-off final - a tie already clouded by the “Spygate 2.0” controversy. However, a place at Wembley Stadium is up for grabs for a chance to secure Premier League promotion.

The bookies have this much almost equally-poised with the Saints the slight favourites at 5/4 with BetGoodwin while Sky Bet have 7/4 on Boro to go through and a draw after 90-minutes is 23/10 with bet365 . You can also find more betting offers at the Mirror Betting Hubs Free Bets offers .

Southampton have home advantage at St Mary’s after finishing above Boro on goal difference. The Saints are chasing an immediate return to the Premier League, having surged into the top four under Tonda Eckert following his November arrival. A 19-game unbeaten run helped power their late-season charge, which ended with a 3-1 win at Preston on the final day to secure fourth spot.

Off-field distractions followed them into the first leg after an alleged spying incident involving a staff member, but Southampton came through the noise with a goalless stalemate and now return home looking to turn their strong form into a place at Wembley.

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Middlesbrough travel south aiming to continue a good record against Southampton this season, having gone unbeaten in the league meetings, including two wins. Kim Hellberg’s side spent much of the campaign in the automatic promotion mix but finished fifth, four points off the top two, after a damaging seven-game winless run in the spring. They dominated spells of the first leg without finding a breakthrough, leaving them needing an away win at St Mary’s to reach the final.

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Southampton will again be without defenders Jack Stephens and Mads Roerslev for Tuesday’s second leg. Eckert is expected to stick largely with the side that started the first leg, with Nathan Wood and Taylor Harwood-Bellis set to continue at the heart of a back four. Shea Charles is pushing for a midfield start, potentially at the expense of Flynn Downes or Caspar Jander.

Cyle Larin, who has scored eight league goals since joining in January, is in line to lead the attack again but faces competition from Ross Stewart. Leo Scienza, ex-Boro man Finn Azaz and Tom Fellows should operate in support.

Middlesbrough remain without centre-backs Alfie Jones and Darragh Lenihan, as well as Alex Bangura, while key midfielder Hayden Hackney is still sidelined and is not expected back from the injury that has kept him out since mid-March. Riley McGree partnered Aidan Morris in midfield in the first leg, though Alan Browne could come in to add more solidity. Up front, David Strelec, Morgan Whittaker and Tommy Conway will hope to retain their places after scoring eight, 13 and 14 league goals respectively this season.

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