Playmakerstats
·1. Mai 2025
PREVIEW | Coventry City vs Middlesbrough - team news, lineups, predictions

Playmakerstats
·1. Mai 2025
Coventry City and Middlesbrough go head-to-head at The Coventry Building Society Arena this Saturday in the EFL Championship. The match will be broadcast live at 12:30 on Sky Sports Main Event.
The Sky Blues sit sixth in the table with 66 points. In their last fixture, Frank Lampard's team suffered a 1-0 reverse against Luton Town.
Middlesbrough, meanwhile, have won 64 points to date and are placed in 9th position. Michael Carrick's team drew 0-0 with Norwich City in their last game, but have a slim chance of making the play-offs if they can best their play-off rivals here.
The last meeting between the two teams ended in a 3-0 Coventry win.
Ross Cooper (SkyBlues Extra ): Well, here we are. The final game of the Championship season is upon us and a fixture that many Coventry fans last summer speculated could be one with big consequences on the line and, well, that certainly is the case.
We have had a little stumble in the last two games, two defeats against relegation-threatened sides, which has put us in a precarious position with regard to the fight for a play-off berth. Fortunately despite the recent setbacks, it is still firmly in our hands.
In simple terms, we beat Boro and we secure at least 6th position and a play-off campaign. A defeat and we can't get the play-offs, meanwhile a draw will leave every Coventry City fan with no nails left, as it will then be relying on other teams to slip up.
We need to find the home performances we showed against Sunderland, and more recently West Brom, and if we do that we give ourselves every chance of getting the job done. Our home form under Frank Lampard has been absolutely fantastic and another 31,000+ crowd is expected and a sea of Sky Blue will be there to roar on the boys.
We are all hoping that Milan Van Ewijk and Bobby Thomas are deemed fit, after missing recent games and if they are, then I think that could be the factor that tips the scales in our favour on Saturday.
There is enormous pressure on Lampard to make a change in goal, with Brad Collins coming under fire once again after another costly mistake against Luton and there is a genuine fear that another mistake could be the final nail in the coffin of our playoff hopes. It is a huge call for Lampard and whatever he chooses, by hook or by crook, it needs to result in the Sky Blues finishing in the top 6 come 2.30pm on Saturday afternoon.
John Donovan (@Twe12man): I'm not sure where to start with this game if I'm honest. We go into the game having to win, but even that might not be enough depending on other teams results. Coventry's home form at the CBS is impressive, and our form at the Ricoh/CBS over the years isn't good. Coventry won 3-0 at ours earlier on in the season, and seem to have the run on us in recent meetings. Saying that, it's a one off game. We've shown glimpses of good play, but not over a sustained period. A nervy game in front of a sell out crowd, so it'll be a tense 90+ minutes.
Coventry City: Bradley Collins, Milan van Ewijk, Liam Kitching, Bobby Thomas, Jake Bidwell, Ben Sheaf, Jack Rudoni, Matt Grimes, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Ellis Simms, Haji Wright
Middlesbrough: Mark Travers, Anfernee Dijksteel, Jonny Howson, Dael Fry, Samuel Iling-Junior, Hayden Hackney, Aidan Morris, Delano Burgzorg, Finn Azaz, Morgan Whittaker, Tommy Conway
Coventry City ( vs Luton Town 2025-04-26): Bradley Collins, Luis Binks, Liam Kitching, Joel Latibeaudiere, Jay Dasilva, Matt Grimes, Ben Sheaf, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Jack Rudoni, Ellis Simms, Haji Wright
Middlesbrough ( vs Norwich City 2025-04-26): Mark Travers, Anfernee Dijksteel, Dael Fry, Jonny Howson, Samuel Iling-Junior, Hayden Hackney, Aidan Morris, Morgan Whittaker, Kelechi Iheanacho, Finn Azaz, Tommy Conway