Baggies look to continue promising start at Boro

Middlesbrough v West Bromwich Albion; Riverside Stadium, Saturday 29th August 2026, 12.30pm

There is a growing feeling amongst those who follow the club that we could be seeing the start of something special at West Bromwich Albion. A comfortable win at Rotherham and a backs-to-the-wall victory at Norwich have been followed by a hugely impressive win over Burnley and an excellent display in defeat at Premier League Newcastle United. It’s very early days, of course, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had such a good feeling about an Albion team.

What was particularly impressive about the performance at St James’s Park on Wednesday night was that the team looked like very cohesive unit despite Morrison having made six changes to side that had beaten the Clarets on Sunday. All of the squad look well-coached, all have a clear understanding of what the plan is and all look to be enjoying their football. The fans, of course, are enjoying it just as much.

The man who has made the difference is, of course, head coach James Morrison. Last season, it was predominantly a man-management job – he got a group of under-performing players to get back to the required performance levels with simple messages and a back-to-basics approach that was easy to understand. Over the summer, he has transformed the playing style and, with the help of the recruitment team, assembled a young, hungry and talented squad fully suited to that style and eager to perform. The latest new recruit, Spanish winger Kareem Tunde, was announced on Thursday and fits the mould perfectly. Having been training with the squad in the north-east, he could make is bow in a Baggies shirt at the Riverside.

In addition to the impressive work on the training field, Mozza is also showing signs that he is an astute in-game tactician. The introduction of Jayson Molumby at Carrow Road was instrumental in securing the points, while his changes at Newcastle on Wednesday were inspired – not only did it reduce the risk of a red for both Diakité and Nzingoula who had both picked up yellow card for late challenges, it galvanised the side and transformed the flow of the game leading to Isaac Price’s equalising spot kick.

That he was an Albion legend even before he became the head coach makes his success to date all the more special – almost two decades with the club and he is only enhancing his already excellent relationship with the Baggies fans.

For this match, of course, he is returning the club where he started his career. Born in Darlington, Middlesbrough was Mozza’s first club and he spent nearly a decade at the Riverside as a youth player and professional before Boro’ legend Tony Mowbray tempted him south in the summer of 2007.

One point to note about the season so far is that the Baggies have already been awarded two penalties having been awarded just one in each of the last two full seasons. Both were converted by Isaac Price, of course, and the last time Albion missed a penalty other than in a shootout was in December 2022. Brandon Thomas Asante missed one in a 3-0 win over Rotherham United – since then, the Baggies have converted twelve penalties in succession, six by John Swift, one each by BTA, Alex Mowatt, Josh Maja and Adam Armstrong, and the two this season by Price.

I said before the start of the season that I would have been happy with four points from Albion’s opening three league games as they were all against teams fancied for promotion. With six already in the bag, I will probably be disappointed if the boys come away with nothing from this match. Kim Hellberg’s side will represent a tough test, however.

Having been re-instated to the play-off final following Spygate, Boro’ were beaten at Wembley by Hull City – it was a very disappointing end to the season given how much of the campaign they had spent in the top two. They dropped out of the automatic places on Easter Monday having been there since early December. The club has responded with significant investment over the summer with the most eye-catching signing being that of Will Lankshear from Tottenham Hotspur for £10m.

I’m sure I’m not alone amongst Albion fans in raising eyebrows at the fee given his less-than-impressive spell at the Hawthorns last year, and while he has improved and got into double figures at Oxford United last season, it does still seem a bit on the high side. However, football transfer fees rarely make too much sense and he has, at least, started well with four goals in four games – a double against Lincoln City on the opening day and one each against Wrexham and Doncaster in the EFL Cup.

The Teessiders have made eight other permanent signings including former Albion loanee, Jeremy Sarmiento, who scored his first Albion goal against Middlesbrough three years ago and scored for his new club last weekend in the 2-1 defeat at Blackburn Rovers. Their new goalkeeper, Radek Vítek, joined from Manchester United while two players have come in from MLS, Sebastian Berhalter and Max Arfsten, who were both in the USMNT World Cup squad this summer. Other players include Myles Peart-Harris from Oxford United, Kyle Joseph from Hull City, Ashley Phillips from Spurs and, earlier this week, Sam Byram from Leeds United. The biggest name to leave the club so far this summer is Hayden Hackney who joined Everton for £16m.

Having started the campaign with a 1-0 win over Wrexham in the EFL Cup, Hellberg’s team beat newly promoted Lincoln City on the opening day of the league campaign thanks to a last minute goal from Lankshear. They were beaten at Blackburn last week, however, with Tony Mowbray’s team making an encouraging start to the season. Their latest result was a comfortable 3-1 win at Doncaster Rovers in the EFL Cup on Tuesday which means the Rovers defeat is the only blot on their campaign so far, but the two league matches suggest that Boro’ aren’t quite operating at their best level just yet, and the Baggies could take advantage.

That the hosts have had an extra 24 hours since their last match will obviously give them a slight advantage, but if Albion can match the performances they produced against Burnley and at Newcastle, I feel that they have every chance of claiming all three points. The return of Aune Heggebø to the team will be another boost to James Morrison’s team, and they will undoubtedly be full of confidence. Middlesbrough are a good side but, say it quietly, so are Albion.

History

Albion’s recent record against Middlesbrough is distinctly unimpressive – Boro’ have won the last five meetings between the sides and the Baggies have registered just three wins in the last sixteen encounters. The run started after the 2009/2010 season when Roberto di Matteo’s team recorded a league double over the Smoggies including the club record 5-0 win at the Riverside in September 2009.

If Baggies fans are looking for a positive omen, however, the last time that the club’s met in August was the last time that Albion were victorious. Like this season’s contest, it took place on the Saturday of the August Bank Holiday weekend, on 26th August 2023. Carlos Corberán was in the early stages of his first full season as Baggies boss and both he, and Boro’ boss Michael Carrick, were hoping to improve on the previous campaign when both had taken over a club in trouble in the autumn and improved performances dramatically – Albion had just missed out on the top six while Boro’ had been beaten by Coventry City in the play-off semi-finals.

The clubs met at the Hawthorns and the hosts went ahead when a Darnell Furlong long throw was flicked on by Semi Ajayi and fell at the feet of Cédric Kipré who controlled the ball and fired it calmly into the corner of the net. A few minutes later, Jayson Molumby found John Swift some 40 yards from goal, and he advanced quickly before firing an unstoppable shot into the top corner from the edge of the box. Within a minute, the visitors had reduced the arrears when Emmanuel Latte Lath headed in Sammy Silvera’s cross from close range. Just after the break, a wayward backpass from Lukas Engel was intercepted by Brandon Thomas-Asante who finished well to make it 3-1 and, a few minutes later, Middlesbrough were reduced to ten men when Tommy Smith was handed a second yellow card for pulling back Matt Phillips. The visitors were given brief hope when Furlong handled in the box, and Marcus Forss converted the spot kick with five minutes to go but two substitutes combined to secure the points in stoppage time – Alex Mowatt teeing up Jeremy Sarmiento for his first goal in an Albion shirt.

Since Boro’ moved to the Riverside in 1995, Albion have played there on 15 occasions and have won just three times, drawing on four occasions. The first ever Baggies win at the Riverside was in the Premier League in September 2008 – Jonas Olsson scored the only goal in the game in the first leg of what proved to be Albion’s only league double of that campaign and, indeed, their only league win on the road. Both sides were relegated at the end of the season and the Baggies returned the following year for the 5-0 victory I recalled in the preview to last year’s fixture. The latest victory came in 2019 when Hal Robson-Kanu scored the only goal of the game with eight minutes left.

Stat Attack

Current Form

All competitions; most recent game on the right

Last matches

Last meeting

16 Jan 2026 – League Championship
West Bromwich Albion 2 (Price, Wallace)
Middlesbrough 3 (Taylor (o.g.), Silvera, Burgzorg)

Last meeting at Middlesbrough

19 Sep 2025 – League Championship
Middlesbrough 2 (Strelec, Sène)
West Bromwich Albion 1 (Heggebø)

Last win

26 Aug 2023 – League Championship
West Bromwich Albion 4 (Kipré, Swift, Thomas-Asante, Sarmiento)
Middlesbrough 2 (Latte Lath, Forss (pen))

Last win at Middlesbrough

19 Oct 2019 – League Championship
Middlesbrough 0
West Bromwich Albion 1 (Robson-Kanu)

Albion’s Record against Middlesbrough