Boro aim to rein in soaring Sky Blues as top two meet.
An incoming head coach is observing from the stands. The interim manager takes charge for the final time against his former club.
The leaders in town hope to establish a double-digit lead at the top. Meetings between the top two teams in a division are not usually like this.
But that is where we are as Middlesbrough host Coventry City to the Riverside on Tuesday (19:45 GMT), the Championship’s biggest game of the season thus far.
Kim Hellberg has been named Rob Edwards’ replacement as Boro manager, but he will take over after Tuesday’s encounter, with the veteran Adi Viveash in charge against a club where he previously worked as Mark Robins’ assistant for seven seasons.
The major question will be Viveash’s secrets to halting the Sky Blues’ free-flowing goal machine.
Frank Lampard’s side has 43 goals in only 16 games and will go 10 points ahead if they win their tenth game in a row.
IMAGE SOURCE, SHUTTERSTOCKAdi Viveash has led Middlesbrough to a win and a draw from his two games as interim head coach
Prior to kickoff, Hellberg will be introduced to Boro fans, after which the spotlight will shift to Viveash in his third and last game as temporary manager.
Edwards brought him to the club, but when the head coach left for Wolves, the 56-year-old remained on Teesside.
Viveash finishes with a “mouth-watering” fixture against a club to which he has deep professional and personal ties, after winning and drawing the previous two games without Edwards.
During his seven years with Robins, the Sky Blues rose from League Two to lose penalty shootouts at Wembley Stadium in an FA Cup semi-final and a Championship play-off final, respectively.
His fiancee comes from a Coventry family, and he has been looking forward to this game since it was announced in the summer, long before they were first and second in the league.
“It’s a club that is extremely important to me,” he told BBC Radio Tees. “I was part of a very successful team of staff and athletes. “We had a tremendous time, worked with some extremely good players, a great staff, and a fantastic fan base.
“Apart from tomorrow and 16 February [the date of the return fixture], I wish the club nothing but the best.”
Goals from all quarters fuelling Sky Blues’ rise
IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGESFrank Lampard will mark his one-year anniversary as Coventry boss on Friday
Even the most casual football fan could quickly see the reason for Coventry’s rise to the top of the Championship.
With a free-flowing approach and precision finishing, the Sky Blues have scored 43 goals in just 16 Championship games, 15 more than the next most prolific scorers, Hull City, and 23 more than second-placed Boro.
However, what is most concerning for rivals expecting for a stumble from the runaway leading is how the goals are distributed among the squad.
Coventry began their match against West Bromwich Albion without either of their top scorers, Brandon Thomas-Asante (10 goals) or Haji Wright (8 goals).
As a result, seeing their replacements, Josh Eccles and Ellis Simms, score a goal each to bring them level from 2-0 down will have boosted their confidence even more.
“It shows every player that if you aren’t starting because the team’s winning a lot, you’ve got to keep training and keep going and keep pushing, and Josh and Ellis are big examples of that today,” Lampard told WM of the BBC.
And Victor Torp’s winner, his eighth goal of the season, will persuade Lampard that his resilient team can win from practically any position.
“What I liked was the players never stopped,” he said. “My feeling, even at 2-0, was that we could definitely get back in this, the way we were moving the ball.”
‘Coventry is the biggest challenge’
The two clubs have a lot of recent history, with Coventry winning the majority of it. They won the play-off semi-final in 2023 thanks to Gustavo Hamer’s goal, though Luton Town beat them in the final.
Coventry’s 2-0 victory on the penultimate day of the season denied Boro a play-off position in what proved to be Michael Carrick’s final game in command.
In fact, the Sky Blues have lost none of their previous eight games against these opponents. If that record stands, it will be another step in the right direction as they strive to reach the Premier League.
The rest of the chasers will be hoping that Boro can slow Coventry’s unrelenting early pace.
“Coventry is currently the biggest challenge,” added Viveash. “We’ve got to make coming to the Riverside their biggest challenge.”
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