Data reveals how difficult Middlesbrough’s next six Championship fixtures are compared to rivals

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Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough return to Championship action on Saturday against Bristol City.

The Teessiders have had a mixed start to the 2024/25 Championship season under Michael Carrick.

Middlesbrough beat Swansea City 1-0 at the Riverside Stadium to kick off their campaign and end a run of 10 years without a single victory on the opening weekend.

Those three points meant the North East outfit had already bettered their start to the 2023/24 season (no wins from five) in just one league fixture.

However, Boro’s form then quickly declined as they suffered a shock defeat to Derby County at Pride Park and were held to a draw by another newly-promoted team, Portsmouth, on home soil.

A 1-1 draw with Preston North End and a 1-0 defeat to local rivals Sunderland then followed a 2-0 win over 24th-place Cardiff City.

However, despite losing to Watford last time out, Middlesbrough’s form did pick up shortly before the October break with wins and clean sheets against West Bromwich Albion and Stoke City.

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Difficulty of next six Middlesbrough Championship fixtures

Middlesbrough face Bristol City in their first game back this weekend and should be considered favorites to pick up the win as the Robins are 16th in the Championship table.

After Bristol, Middlesbrough have a mixed run of Championship fixtures, including taking on an unbeaten Sheffield United.

Now, Opta have revealed how difficult the next six Middlesbrough Championship fixtures are in comparison to the rest of the division.

Using the Opta Power Rankings, Boro have been given an average opponent rating for their next six games of 78.0, giving them the ninth-most difficult run leading up to the November break.

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How Middlesbrough fixtures compare to rest of Championship

Ironically, it is Boro’s upcoming opponents, Bristol City, who Opta believe have the toughest run of fixtures on the horizon with an average opponent rating of 79.5.

Queens Park Rangers are then second on the list (79.1), while Danny Rohl’s Sheffield Wednesday round out the top three (78.7).

On paper, recently promoted Portsmouth have the easiest run of games (76.0) and Sunderland are also low on the list with a rating of 77.0.

Carrick will be hoping for maximum points from these upcoming matches but that is unlikely to happen.

Middlesbrough are predicted to beat Bristol City but it is hard to see them getting too much out of their games against Sheffield United, Norwich City or Luton Town.

Should Boro beat that trio, however, it would give them a massive boost in their promotion push.