West Brom vs Middlesbrough Predictions, Lineups & Betting Tips

West Brom vs Middlesbrough Predictions, Lineups & Betting Tips

Match Details: January 16, 2026 | The Hawthorns | EFL Championship | 20:00 GMT

Two sides struggling of late face off in the Championship as Middlesbrough make the journey to the Black Country to play West Brom, who will be looking to start their reign under Eric Ramsey with a bang. Ryan Mason's spell at The Hawthorns won't be remembered particularly fondly, so a new manager bounce would be much appreciated by the Baggies fans to start pushing back up the table where they feel they belong. Boro need to recapture form after a bit of a slip up over the last few weeks, with the pack behind now almost caught up and the risk of slipping away from the automatics looming large, let alone trying to catch up with Coventry at the top of the table.

Key Betting Tips: BTTS @ 1.75 odds on BoyleSports and Quinnbet, or 1.72 on Kwiff all represent good value based on the tip provided by Football Park's advanced algorithm.

Both sides have looked very capable in front of goal, but having both suffered dips in form lately, there's a good chance they'll both be suffering from a lack of confidence at the back, so opting for Both Teams To Score looks like a good bet all things considered.

West Brom vs Middlesbrough Predicted Lineups

West Brom Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Joshua Griffiths; Charlie Taylor, Chris Mepham, Nathaniel Phillips, George Campbell; Callum Styles, Jayson Molumby; Karlan Grant, Michael Johnston, Isaac Price; Aune Selland Heggebø

West Brom will be without three players through injury, though luckily two of them are due to return by the end of the month, but not quick enough to be able to feature in this game. Those two are Jed Wallace and Oliver Bostock, while Tammer Bany is unfortunately set to be sidelined until around May.

Middlesbrough Predicted XI (4-2-2-2): Solomon Brynn; Matt Targett, Adilson Malanda, Luke Ayling, Alan Browne; Hayden Hackney, Aidan Morris; Alexander Gilbert, Samuel Silvera; Tommy Conway, Morgan Whittaker

Boro are ravaged with injuries, suffering from one of the worst availability crises in the Championship with a total of nine first team players out injured. Luckily, most of them are expected back in the next couple of weeks, including Alex Bangura, Alfie Jones, Darragh Lenihan, David Strelec, George Edmundson, Kaly Sene and Riley McGree. Callum Brittain and Seny Dieng, however, will likely return to fitness in February.

West Brom vs Middlesbrough Current League Standings

As far as they go for West Brom, this season has been a bit of a nightmare, so it's no surprise that Ryan Mason was shown the door. He's been replaced by a different young coach without much experience in Eric Ramsay, so it looks as though the Baggies are trying to build a long-term project, but as Mason has shown, results in the short term are still vital. Despite only being seven points ahead of the relegation places and all the way down in 18th, the drop doesn't really feel like a worry for West Brom, who should be able to avoid the drama at the bottom quite comfortably, but you never know with this division. They've been really poor so far, any worse and that threat might start to become real for them.

Middlesbrough can count themselves lucky that Coventry have hit a difficult spell at the same time as themselves, otherwise they'd probably have the title just about wrapped up by this point. Hellberg's side have struggled as of late, which has let the chasing play-off pack catch up and reduce their gap to the rest of the league. Still six points behind Coventry, it's going to take quite a push to reach them soon, and they're now only five points clear of dropping out of the play-offs entirely, let alone automatic promotion. They desperately need to recover their form soon, otherwise this season could take a bleak turn.

West Brom vs Middlesbrough Head-to-Head Timeline

For the most part, recent encounters between these two have been all Middlesbrough. They've won the last four games in a row between them, three of which came at the Riverside, so if they can make it five in a row then they will have some serious bragging rights over the Baggies. Not only have they beaten them so regularly, but they've managed to keep three clean sheets in that time, further proving that this has been something of a period of dominance on Boro's part.

It's a bit of a pattern through history between these two, in fact, that Boro have been comfortably the better side. In all meetings between the two in the last decade, West Brom have won only three times, with four matches ending on level terms and eight matches being won by Middlesbrough. As we look further across history, that continues as West Brom's 36 wins is beaten by Middlesbrough's 46, while 24 matches have ended as a draw.

Recent Head-to-Head Results:

• September 19, 2025: Middlesbrough 2-1 West Brom (Championship)
• January 21, 2025: Middlesbrougb 2-0 West Brom (Championship)
• October 1, 2024: West Brom 0-1 Middlesbrough (Championship)
• December 23, 2023: Middlesbrough 1-0 West Brom (Championship)
• August 26, 2023: West Brom 4-2 Middlesbrough (Championship)

West Brom and Middlesbrough Recent Matches Analysis

West Brom Last 5 Matches:

• West Brom 2-2 Swansea (A) - FA Cup, West Brom win 6-5 on penalties
• West Brom 1-2 Leicester (A) - Championship
• West Brom 0-1 Swansea (A) - Championship
• West Brom 2-1 QPR (H) - Championship
• West Brom 1-2 Bristol City (H) - Championship

Having only won once twice in their last nine games, perhaps Baggies fans should start to worry about the prospect of relegation more than they currently are, as form like that is going to do them no favours in staying above the drama zone. They've conceded in each of their last five, with a total of eight goals shipped in that time, displaying their tendancy to be caught out at the back, but they've responded with six goals of their own in that period. The signs still aren't positive, but at least there's normally action at both ends for the neutral to enjoy.

Middlesbrough Last 5 Matches:

• Middlesbrough 1-3 Fulham (A) - FA Cup
• Middlesbrough 4-0 Southampton (H) - Championship
• Middlesbrough 0-1 Derby (A) - Championship
• Middlesbrough 0-1 Hull (H) - Championship
• Middlesbrough 0-0 Blackburn (H) - Championship

I ought to be as critical about Middlesbrough's form as I was about the hosts considering the results have been almost identical. Their worrying run of games without scoring came to an abrupt end when they battered Southampton 4-0, just to remind the Championship that they're still a side worth worrying about facing. They also gave Premier League side Fulham a decent go, suffering a respectable 3-1 loss when you consider how good the Cottagers have been lately. They've only scored five and conceded five in their last five games (I'm getting bored of saying five now), so perhaps they've not been the most entertaining side to watch, but we anticipate that changing now they can refocus on league form.

West Brom vs Middlesbrough Predictions

Our advanced algorithm analyses over 200 data points to generate these predictions with a 73.30% confidence in BTTS. The model factors in current form, head-to-head records, player availability, and tactical matchups.

Best West Brom vs Middlesbrough Betting Tips

Football Park’s Best Bet: BTTS @ 1.75 odds on BoyleSports or Quinnbet - Based on the form of both sides, picking a winner looks like a risky game to play, whereas the attacking quality that they both possess makes the likelihood of goals either way pretty high. As a result, opting for BTTS looks like a good value bet to put on with these odds.

Key Players to Watch: West Brom vs Middlesbrough

Isaac Price (West Brom): At just 22-years old, Price has been West Brom's breakout star this season and looks destined for a bright future based on the performances he's been putting in. Able to operate pretty much anywhere in the midfield, Price is at his most effective when he's offered the freedom to push forward and influence the attack, where he's managed to find the net five times in the league this season, with a further two assists to boot. The Northern-Irish international has been one of the stand-out players at the club this season and will be looking to cause problems for an injury-ridden Boro backline.

Hayden Hackney (Middlesbrough): While Morgan Whittaker's 10 league goals are worthy of mention, it's become pretty clear that the most important player for Middlesbrough this season is Hackney, who has been dominating from his holding midfield position for quite a while now. He already impressed last season, but seems to have stepped his game up another level in this campaign and will certainly earn a move to the Premier League should Middlesbrough find a way to bottle promotion. Strong defensively and composed and skillful on the ball, he's pretty much the complete package for Boro, and has been dropping consistently strong performances even through the club's rough patch of late.

West Brom vs Middlesbrough Match Facts

Broadcast Details: Sky Sports Main Event Sky Sports Football Sky Sports + NOW UK

Referee: Joshua Smith

Stadium Information: Located in the Black Country, The Hawthorns has been home to West Brom since 1900 and has a capacity of 27,087. It is the highest ground out of all Premier League and EFL stadiums, at an altitude of 551 feet (168m).

West Brom vs Middlesbrough: Final Prediction

West Brom 2-1 Middlesbrough