Middlesbrough vs Norwich City - prediction, team news, lineups

By Carter White | 10 Sep 2026 16:19, Last updated: 10 Sep 2026 16:19

Out to maintain their 100% record on Teesside so far in 2026-27, Middlesbrough welcome promotion-chasing Norwich City to the Riverside Stadium for a Championship clash on Saturday afternoon.

Boro were dumped out of the EFL Cup by Crystal Palace earlier in the week whilst a rotated Canaries XI competed in a second-tier battle, earning a narrow win over Birmingham City at Carrow Road.

After a couple of near misses in recent years, Middlesbrough are once again looking to secure promotion to the Premier League for the first time since 2016, when Aitor Karanka was the mastermind of Teesside triumph.

Focusing on the modern day, Kim Hellberg's troops witnessed their four-game unbeaten run (W3 D1) come to a grinding halt on Tuesday night, when a double from Jorgen Strand-Larsen and an excellent Daichi Kamada chip sealed comfortable EFL Cup progression for Crystal Palace.

In truth, it was a much-changed Middlesbrough XI that suffered that 3-0 loss at Selhurst Park last time out, with fringe players such as David Strelec, Tommy Conway and Sam Byram earning key first-team minutes.

Playing the final quarter of the South London contest, Will Lankshear was largely rested and is set to regain his spot in the team this Saturday, with the 21-year-old scoring five goals across three competitive games at the Riverside since his summer arrival.

Middlesbrough have won three consecutive home contests by an aggregate scoreline of 6-2 on Teesside in 2026-27 and last endured back-to-back competitive defeats over nine months ago.

Flexing their enviable squad depth on Wednesday night, Norwich City had the luxury of resting both Mohamed Toure and Anis Ben Slimane for their home triumph over Birmingham City in East Anglia.

It was an uncharacteristically-scrappy performance from the Canaries in moments last time out, however, excellent first-half finishes from Oscar Schwartau and Papa Diallo sealed maximum points for the hosts.

Following a pair of worrying defeats to West Bromwich Albion (1-2) and Millwall (0-3) at the beginning of the season, Philippe Clement's side have now won three of their past four second-tier contests, moving them up to ninth spot in the Championship table.

Recent trips to The Den and Stoke City have resulted in disappointing defeats for Norwich, but Saturday's visitors were victorious in their most recent outing, beating Sheffield United 3-1 at Bramall Lane.

A reason for concern ahead of this weekend's trip to Teesside, Middlesbrough are unbeaten in their past nine meetings with the Canaries, who last won at the Riverside courtesy of a solitary Teemu Pukki strike in November 2020.

Recovering from a leg injury, Middlesbrough's Jeremy Sarmiento has missed the past three competitive matches for the hosts.

Head coach Hellberg will restore a number of his first-team favourites for Saturday's clash, with Lankshear and Ashley Phillips set to make the XI.

Norwich are short on options in midfield and attack due to the absences of Mirko Topic (knee) and Ali Ahmed (knee), with the latter expected to miss most of the campaign.

Appearing in his first Championship game since February against Birmingham on Wednesday, Jovon Makama is back in selection contention after a string of foot injuries.

As mentioned above, talisman Toure and Ben Slimane were rested at Carrow Road and should come into the Riverside XI this weekend.

Vitek; Phillips, Malanda, Borges; Brittain, Berhalter, Morris, Arfsten; Joseph, McGree, Lankshear

Kovacevic; Fisher, McConville, Cordoba, Chrisene; McLean, Mattson, Brooks, Ben Slimane, Musaba; Toure

Middlesbrough have the opportunity to put EFL Cup disappointment behind them pretty quickly with a victory on Teesside this Saturday.

Norwich will be boosted by the return of rested stars Toure and Ben Slimane, however, we are still envisaging maximum points for Boro.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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