Middlesbrough travel to Manchester United this evening for the fourth round FA Cup clash, and BBC Sport pundit Mark Lawrenson had had his say in his weekly predictions column.
Middlesbrough overcame Mansfield Town in the third round, beating the League Two side 3-2 in the last minute. Manchester United overcame Aston Villa and the two sides meet this evening at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils have lost just once in the last 13 games against Boro, a record dating back to 2006. But despite the Premier League giants beating the Teessiders twice in the top flight in the 2016/17 campaign, their last meeting in a cup competition resulted in a Middlesbrough victory.
The Championship side will be hoping for a repeat result, especially in front of almost 10,000 travelling supporters.
But although an upset could well be on the cards, BBC Sport pundit Mark Lawrenson doesn’t believe so and predicts a comfortable win for the hosts.
“Middlesbrough have really picked up under Chris Wilder, who has won eight out of his 12 games since he took charge at the start of November,” wrote Lawrenson.
“We know he is a good manager, and he has won at Old Trafford before – with Sheffield United in January 2021.
“I don’t see a repeat result this time though and in any case Boro have got bigger fish to fry, because Wilder has put them right back in the mix for promotion out of the Championship.”
He went on to say that it will be interesting to see what team Manchester United select, but if the side is a strong one there should be no difficulty overcoming Middlesbrough this evening.
Lawrenson predicts a 2-0 victory for Ralf Rangnick’s side. The pundit was going up against rapper and Manchester United fan Mist, who also had his say on the scoreline, predicting a 3-1 home win.
Boro’s undoubted main priority will be the league and they get their Championship back underway on next week. They travel to Queens Park Rangers on Wednesday evening, but before then they will want to put on a show for the travelling faithful and get into the next round.
