The Riverside Stadium hosts Middlesbrough and Huddersfield this Saturday for the third game of their Championship seasons. Middlesbrough and Huddersfield are both winless this season and desperate to get some sort of points on the board.
Boro have had a nightmare start to their Championship season for a team that finished fourth in the league last season. With zero goals and four goals conceded, Middlesbrough lie bottom of the Championship merely by virtue of their goal difference. Though not the start manager Michael Carrick would have wanted, he has a squad proven successful in the Championship as well as some new young players to hopefully change their fortunes.
So far this season Middlesbrough have faced Millwall and Coventry in the league and Saturday’s opponents in the First Round of the League Cup. On the opening weekend against Millwall Middlesbrough had the lion's share of the possession but fell to a 1 - 0 loss due to a late goal from Romain Esse. The following trip to Coventry was a disappointing outing for Carrick’s side as goals from Matt Godden, Haji Wright and an own goal from Darragh Lenihan gave Coventry a 3 - 0 win and all three points.
Huddersfield have had a similarly underwhelming start to the season. The Terriers sit just one place above their opponents for this weekend in 19th with zero points to their name. However, Huddersfield only sit above Middlesbrough due to their single goal they’ve scored this season. Neil Warnock’s side hasn’t been strengthened too much this summer with the only notable additions being goalkeeper Chris Maxwell from Blackpool and right-back Tom Edwards from Stoke City.
The Terriers started their campaign with a trip to newly promoted Plymouth Argyle but were served an opening day shock. Michal Helik’s goal was not enough as goals from Morgan Whittaker, Bali Mumba and Ryan Hardie gave Argyle the 3 - 1 win. Huddersfield’s second league outing came against Premier League relegated Leicester, their first home game of the season also ending in a loss. The Terriers had just 30% of the possession and a Stephy Mavididi goal late on gave Leicester the 1 - 0 win.
The two sides have already met this season as they were drawn together in the First Round of the League Cup. Huddersfield raced into the lead with a Kian Harratt goal in the fourth minute but Jaheim Headley also got ahead of himself when he picked up a red card in the 13th minute. Samuel Silvera pulled Middlesbrough level before half time before Boro picked up the pace in the second half with Isaiah Jones and Riley McGree pushing them to a 3 - 1 leaving no room for a Huddersfield comeback despite a goal from Kyle Hudin in the 94th minute salvaging a 3 - 2 score line.
This weekend will mark the 102nd time these teams have met. Middlesbrough have won on 45 occasions whereas Huddersfield have been victorious 35 times with the remaining 21 meetings ending in a draw.