City Travel To Riverside

An improving Bristol City side travel to the the Riverside Stadium on Saturday to take on Middlesbrough.

They haven’t been too good of late and sacked Gordon Strachan, but now it could be a bad time to face them as they will be trying to impress new boss Tony Mowbray.

Vital Quotes:

Tony Mowbray
‘We’ve studied Bristol City and we know that Rose and Adomah offer a real threat, while Haynes has great pace.

‘They played QPR last week and you wouldn’t have known which side was top and which was bottom of the table.’

Keith Millen
“I know people are going to look at the table and say ‘what if this happens` and ‘what if that happens`.

“That`s fine, I understand people doing that, but we`re certainly not looking at the table or even thinking about it.

“Points are what will get us out of trouble and that is what we are focussing on. I have set the players long-term targets and they will not change, no matter what the results are against Middlesbrough or Preston.

“We know where we want to be later in the season and I don`t see these next two matches as six-pointers.’

Middlesbrough Team News:

New Middlesbrough boss Tony Mowbray has already revealed his starting 11 to his new squad, and it seems as though two of his key players will miss the visit of Bristol City to the Riverside.

Both Julio Arca and Gary O’Neil are doubtful but could play some part if they can prove their fitness before the game.

Yet Kevin Thompson, who suffered damage to his already fractured fibula last weekend, and Justin Hoyte are available for selection and could be involved in the ex-Celtic manager’s first game in charge

Player to watch: Kris Boyd

Bristol City Team News:

Midfielders Cole Skuse and Jamal Campbell-Ryce are doubts for Bristol City.

Skuse has missed the last two matches with a heel problem, while Campbell-Ryce failed a fitness test on a hamstring injury ahead of the home draw against QPR last Friday.

Defender Christian Ribeiro is a definite absentee with the groin/hip problem he suffered in training towards the end of last week.

Player to watch: Jonathan Stead

Match Facts & Stats

Bristol City took four points off Middlesbrough last season.

The Robins have only managed one league victory in 27 visits to Teesside, a 1-0 win in November 1993.

Boro have picked up one point from the six matches they have played since beating Reading 3-1 at home on 18 September.

They have not lost four successive matches since October 2007, when they were still a Premier League club. They last lost four in a row at this level in February/March 1990.