Aston Villa will travel to Middlesbrough after entering the New Year second on the Premier League table. Their hosts were most recently defeated 3-1 at home by Coventry City in the Championship. The Lions finished 2023 on a high note, defeating Burnley 3-2 in the top flight.
Preview (Middlesbrough vs. Aston Villa)
Middlesbrough head coach Michael Carrick, who won the FA Cup once with Manchester United in the 2015–16. He is getting ready to supervise two straight knockout matches from the bench. On January 9, the Championship team will also play Chelsea in the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final. The 12th-placed hosts were denied the opportunity to get closer to the coveted playoff line by Tatsuhiro Sakamoto’s brace and Haji Wright’s effort, but Middlesbrough will now put their second-tier efforts on hold as they attempt to avoid another early FA Cup third-round exit. They have only advanced past round three once since the 2018–19 campaign. They lost to Chelsea in the 2021–22 quarterfinals.
Zeki Amdouni and Leyla Foster, who negated goals from Leon Bailey and Moussa Diaby in the West Midlands. It ensured that Vincent Kompany’s relegation scrappers would only receive a point. However, with 89 minutes remaining, Douglas Luiz narrowly missed a decisive penalty. Villa temporarily surpassed Arsenal and leveled the score with leaders Liverpool after their convincing victory over the Clarets. Although they are currently ahead of the Gunners and the Citizens, they now have a three-point deficit to close with the Reds after their 4-2 victory over Newcastle United on New Year’s Day.
Team News
Due to forthcoming international obligations, no less than three Middlesbrough players—starting with goalkeeper Seny Dieng, who has been called up to represent Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations—will be absent from the Riverside for a few weeks. Sam Silvera and Riley McGree, both Australians, were absent from the match due to Asian Cup duties. It leaves Carrick to lament his team’s enviable absence list, which includes no less than eight wounded soldiers. Darragh Lenihan and Tom Smith, suffered ruptures of their Achilles tendon. They will not be able to return to the field this season. Additionally, the medical staff is attending to Lewis O’Brien (ankle), Marcus Forss (thigh), Hayden Hackney (groin), Patrick McNair (back), Matt Crooks (discomfort), and Emmanuel Latte Lath (hamstring).
Burkina Faso winger Bertrand Traore was the only first-team player of Aston Villa’s squad to be called up for the AFCON, even though the 28-year-old has only made six appearances this season due to injury. The following players will also be unable to travel to Riverside: Youri Tielemans (calf) and Matty Cash (sickness). Positively, Boubacar Kamara is available for selection again after serving his three-game ban, and Jon Duran and Calum Chambers might be added to the starting lineup in anticipation of the EFL Cup semifinals.
Middlesbrough 1-3 Aston Villa
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