At some point, the likelihood is that forward lines with plenty of quality will eventually find some form, and that could be the case on Wednesday. However, we feel that there is a greater vulnerability about Stoke, leading us to predict a narrow victory for the visitors.
Read more.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Stoke City win with a probability of 40.07%. A win for Middlesbrough had a probability of 32.24% and a draw had a probability of 27.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Stoke City win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.76%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.29%) and 2-0 (7.47%). The likeliest Middlesbrough win was 0-1 (10.27%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.04%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 4.6% likelihood.