- Burnley are second, two points behind leaders Sheffield United
- Boro are fifth, eight points off the top
- Recommended bet: Burnley to win and both teams to score

Two of the Championship's top five meet on Friday night in what could be a cracker between Burnley and Middlesbrough at Turf Moor.

The Clarets look to be ominously positioning themselves for a promotion tilt as they approach the match on a run of four straight wins in the second tier without conceding a single goal – a sequence that has seen them move up to second in the table.

Free-scoring Boro, who are six points behind in fifth, also have promotion ambitions and, aside from losing 1-0 at home to Blackburn last week, are generally in good form, too, winning four of their last five.

That spell that includes a 4-1 success at QPR, a 5-1 home hammering of Luton and a stunning 6-2 win at Oxford.

Team news

Both sides have plenty of players in the treatment room, with the hosts set to be without Joe Worrall, Lyle Foster, Benson Manuel and Mike Tresor, while Hannes Delcroix, Hjalmar Ekdal and Louis Jordan Beyer are also still absent.

While those seven could make their comebacks in and around the Christmas period, Aaron Ramsey is unlikely to be fit again until the New Year.

Boro also have several absentees and Friday's clash is set to come too soon for Rav van den Berg, Lukas Engel and Aidan Morris as they continue to recover from injury.

Riley McGree is a major doubt for the visitors, but Seny Dieng is expected to be fit after getting over a recent illness.

The stats

Middlesbrough have scored a total of 21 goals in their last seven Championship games.

Boro are the second-highest scorers in the division, with only Norwich (35) bettering their tally of 32 goals.

The Teessiders have, however, conceded the most goals in the top five, shipping 21 in their 18 games.

Burnley are the lowest scorers in the top six with just 23 goals from 18 matches.

The last time the two sides were in the Championship, in the 2022-23 season, Burnley won both games – 3-1 at home and 2-1 away.

Prediction

The Clarets now look like serious promotion candidates under Scott Parker and their run of four consecutive wins to nil means Boro will be worried heading to East Lancashire on Friday evening.

Burnley's defence has been solid of late, but if there is any team that can breach it in the Championship then surely it is the Teessiders, who have been scoring for fun of late.

They have averaged three goals per game across their last seven league games and have hit four against QPR, five against Luton and six at Oxford recently to underline their attacking threat.

Burnley will concede again sooner or later and Friday looks set to be the night their defence is finally exposed, although the hosts may well be good enough to come out on top to maintain their promotion charge.

Back Burnley to win and both teams to score with LiveScore Bet at 4/1.

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