>
>
A fascinating Championship fixture takes on Tuesday evening with Nottingham Forest set to host Middlesbrough.
These teams have had extremely differing starts to the new campaign.
Forest have already parted company with manager Steve McLaren after a poor start, while Middlesbrough are still unbeaten after 11 games.
As mentioned, Forest have had a shocker of a start. Despite being in the promotion mix for the last couple of seasons, they sit 23rd in the table with just two victories to their name so far.
Former England manager McLaren walked out on the club after falling out with board members over the club’s action in the transfer market, an issue highlighted by the slow start.
After he left the club, chairman Nigel Doughty also moved on meaning the former European champions were in somewhat of a crisis.
There has been some movement in terms of replacements with Frank Clark and Steve Cotterill coming in as chairman and manager respectively, but there is still a lot of work to do.
A 1-0 defeat at struggling Coventry yesterday highlighted the problems for the team at the moment and Cotterill will be desperate to get off to a winning start on Tuesday evening.
It will be far from easy though. Middlesbrough may well have drawn their last four games, scoring just one goal in the process, but they are unbeaten and sit 3rd in the table as things stand.
Tony Mowbray’s men will certainly be keen to get back to winnings ways, so there is a lot at stake for both teams in this one.
Match odds
This is set to be an extremely tough one to call. Forest will be boosted by their new manager, while Middlesbrough are in better form than their hosts.
Showing how close it could be, Bet365 have both teams down at 2.63 (13/8) to win the game, while the draw is available at 3.30 (23/10).
Correct score
With this expected to be an extremely competitive and closely fought contest, it is worth checking out odds for the 0-0 draw. You can back no goals at 11.00 (10/1) with Betfair and this is definitely worth a look.
Then, for a narrow home win you can back 1-0 to Forest at 8.00 (7/1) with Ladbrokes while Middlesbrough to win by the same scoreline is available at exactly the same odds.
If you think there will be goals though – Forest are an attacking side at home after all – you can back a 3-2 win for Cotterill’s new team at 29.00 (28/1) with BetFred.
Other markets
There some other interesting markets to consider in this one including betting on the half-time/full-time results. For example, if you fancy Forest to be winning at half-time, but for Middlesbrough to pull it back in the second-half, you can get odds of 17.00 (16/1) with BetFred.
Recommended bets
For the game to end 1-1 @ 8.00 (7/1)
For Forest to be winning at half-time before the game ends in a draw @ 17.00 (16/1)
