Middlesbrough aim to rein in soaring Coventry as top two meet

incoming head coach is observing from the stands. The interim manager is finally in charge of his former club. The town’s leaders are attempting to eke out a double-digit lead at the top.

The top two sides of a division’s meetings don’t typically go this way.

However, Middlesbrough welcome Coventry City to the Riverside on Tuesday at 19:45 GMT for the Championship’s biggest game of the season.

Kim Hellberg will take over after Tuesday’s game against a club where he spent seven seasons as Mark Robins’ assistant. Rob Edwards will replace him in the Boro hotseat.

And the key question will be: How can Viveash stop the perpetually dominating Sky Blues goal machine.

Before kick-off, Hellberg will be introduced to Boro fans before his third and final game as interim manager.

Edwards brought him to the club, but the 56-year-old has since left and has spent the last two years playing for Teesside.

Viveash kicks off with a “mouth-watering” game against a club to which he has strong professional and personal ties after netting both victories and draws in the two games without Edwards.

The Sky Blues dropped penalty shootouts to lose in the FA Cup semi-final and the Championship play-off final after working with Robins for seven years.

Since it was announced in the summer, well before they were both first and second in the league, he has had his fiancee play the game, which he has had circled.

He told BBC Radio Tees, “It’s a club that means a lot to me. “I participated in a team of staff and players that was incredibly successful,” said I.

We had some fantastic times, worked with excellent players, great staff, and a fantastic fan base.

Finding the cause of Coventry’s ascent to the top of the Championship would take the least casual of football observers very little time.

The Sky Blues have scored a staggering 43 goals in just 16 Championship games, 15 more than Hull City, the next-best scorer, and surprisingly, 23 more than Boro, who is second-placed.

The rivals hoping for a stumble from the runaway leaders are perhaps most uneasy about the squad’s spread of goals, though.

Coventry started Saturday against West Bromwich Albion without either of their top scorers, Haji Wright or Brandon Thomas-Asante, who both scored 10 goals.

So Josh Eccles and Ellis Simms’ replacements will have had a chance to increase their confidence in the building bank of confidence as they both score goals to bring them level at 2-0 from 2-0.

Josh and Ellis are excellent examples of this, Lampard told BBC Radio WM, “It shows every player that if you aren’t starting because the team is winning a lot, you have to keep training, keep going, and keep pushing.”

And Lampard’s resilient team can win from almost any position thanks to Victor Torp’s winner, his seventh goal of the season.

Although the majority of it is in Coventry’s favor, the two clubs have a lot of recent history.

Gustavo Hamer’s goal sent them to Wembley in the play-off semi-final in 2023, despite Luton Town’s defeat in the final.

Boro won the play-off spot in what turned out to be Michael Carrick’s final game in charge thanks to Coventry’s 2-0 victory on the final day of last season.

In fact, these rivals have never allowed the Sky Blues to fall. If that record is preserved, they can make another step in the direction of the Premier League, according to them.

The rest of the chasing pack will only be hoping Boro can slack off Coventry’s relentless early pace.