Last time out, Sunderland's performance was heavily hindered by an early red card, and they should put up more of a fight here. Nevertheless, we still expect Boro to have too much quality for their rivals, strengthening their hold of a playoff spot in the process.
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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 Middlesbrough win with a probability of 37.7%. A win for Sunderland had a probability of 36.07% and a draw had a probability of 26.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Middlesbrough win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.62%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.3%) and 0-2 (6.4%). The likeliest Sunderland win was 1-0 (9.37%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.47%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 6.1% likelihood.
-0.2) 
0.12) 
