Championship: Middlesbbrough vs Derby County 29/11/2025

2-1

Betting on Winner

The manager merry-go-round is in full swing this season as ever! For Boro, out goes Rob Edwards off to Wolves, while in comes Kim Hellberg from Swedish side Hammarby IF. With Boro sitting in 2nd, his departure did dismay fans initially; however, there is plenty of hope and interest in the new man who has a good pedigree. Boro will hope that he can be as successful as Graham Potter, also from a Swedish club side, was at Brighton for their team. Hellberg will take his place in the dugout on Saturday, with his side having suffered a bit of a knock, losing 4-2 at home to promotion rivals Coventry. They are now 10 points behind the Sky Blues and need to get back to the winning form they showed at the start of the season to maintain their hopes of a return to the Premier League.

Derby are coming into this in a fair bit of form however so it won’t be that easy. They won 5 on the trot before a disappointing 3-2 defeat at home to Watford, having been 2-0 up after an hour. That defeat left a bad taste in the mouth for fans and players, and they will need to gee themselves back up before Saturday’s trip to the Riverside. Carlton Morris has been banging in goals (10 in 16) and will look to inspire them to get the result. He’s worth backing on anytime goalscorer in most games this season.

I’m backing the new manager bounce and home advantage to give Boro the kick they need to put to bed the disappointment over losing their manager to their local rivals. The team hasn’t got any worse, and Derby are beatable. The odds seem acceptable at around 1.70 for this to happen.