I think Swansea's clash with Middlesbrough on Monday evening has all the makings of an entertaining encounter, which makes both teams to score an appealing option. The hosts will come into this clash off the back of a barnstorming 3-3 draw with Sheffield United on Friday. While I'm not expecting a similar scoreline here, goals at both ends certainly merits support.  

Swansea have won eight of their last 11 league games at home, so they will be quietly confident of landing a blow against a stuttering Middlesbrough side that have hit a bump in the road at the worst possible time in their promotion push.

As mentioned, Boro head into this clash following a 2-1 home defeat to promotion rivals Millwall last time out. That result means both teams have scored in six of Middlesbrough's last 10 Championship matches. Further encouragement comes from the fact that this selection would have proven profitable in five of the visitors' last seven league games away from home.

Given how reliable they have been from a corner perspective this season, I am more than happy to back Middlesbrough to earn a minimum of five corners on Monday evening. Kim Hellberg’s side have been clocking up impressive corner numbers throughout the campaign, underlined by their league-high average of 6.73 flag kicks per game.

Even more eye-catching, arguably, is the fact that the figure remains almost the same when Middlesbrough are playing away from home. We are asking Boro to fall slightly below their usual output against Swansea. What’s more, Middlesbrough’s recent corner returns only strengthen the case, with Hellberg’s team racking up totals of 8, 11, 9, 11 and 17 across their last five matches.

Therefore, five or more flag kicks for promotion-chasing Boro should be well within reach, especially when factoring in that Swansea are conceding an average of 4.93 corners per game in the Championship this season, with each of the last four sides to visit this venue forcing at least five.

I’m also keen to back Tommy Conway to be fouled at least once during this contest. The Middlesbrough forward is a player who regularly attracts close attention from his markers, which is reflected in the fact that he is drawing an average of 1.58 fouls per game in the Championship this season.

A deeper dig into the numbers shows the Scotland international has earned his side at least one foul in 35 of his 40 league appearances this term. Conway’s ability to draw fouls was evident again against Millwall last time out, where he was brought down on no fewer than six occasions.

Often deployed on the left of a front three or in a left-sided number 10 role, Conway is likely to come up against the likes of Goncalo Franco and Joel Ward. The Swansea pair are committing an average of 1.61 and 1.29 fouls per game, respectively, in the Championship this season, which only adds weight to this selection.

Given his goalscoring output this season, it is difficult to look past Zan Vipotnik in the shots on target market. The Swansea striker, who leads the way in the Championship scoring charts, netted his 18th league goal of the campaign against Sheffield United last time out.

That impressive goal haul is reflected in Vipotnik’s shot numbers, as he is averaging 1.05 shots on target per game, while posting an eye-catching 2.71 shots per 90. A closer look shows the Slovenian has registered a combined total of seven on-target efforts across his last seven Championship appearances at home.

With that in mind, the 24-year-old looks too big to ignore to test Middlesbrough goalkeeper Sol Brynn at least once in this clash. The fact that Boro have failed to keep a clean sheet in 16 of their 20 league matches away from home this season only adds to the appeal of backing the division’s leading marksman to deliver a minimum of one shot on target.

Haji Wright got a bit of a rest on Friday night, as Ellis Simms led the line for Coventry’s 3-2 win over Derby, earning them three points which have really strengthened their chances of clinching the league title. 

Wright is Coventry’s top scorer this season with 16 goals in the Championship. This is particularly impressive as Coventry have quite a lot of firepower, with Wright battling with the likes of Thomas-Asante and Simms week on week for a starting role. 

Wright has taken 86 shots across his 27 starts in the Championship this season (3.40 per 90), seeing 34 of these attempts find the target (1.34 per 90). He should get service here given that Coventry have scored 41 goals across their 20 away matches in the Championship - more than any other side on their travels in the division.

Oli McBurnie has been a reliable performer for Hull City this season, netting 13 goals across his 26 starts - making him Hull’s joint top scorer in the Championship this season, alongside Joe Gelhardt. 

McBurnie has also registered seven assists in the Championship this season, taking his overall goal contribution tally to 20. No player in the Championship has registered more goal contributions than McBurnie this season, with the forward exceeding his xG + xA of 11.6.

He’s achieved this goal tally from 55 shots (2.09 per 90), 27 of which have managed to find the target (1.02 per 90). Hull have scored 32 goals across their 20 home matches in the Championship this season, so we can expect them to carry an attacking threat in this clash as they look to maintain their playoff spot.

Coventry are often an entertaining watch, and their recent clash against Derby was a good example of the end to end nature of their games in the Championship this season. Coventry ran out 3-2 winners over Derby on Friday, with both sides registering an xG in excess of 2.0 (2.21-2.05). 

Coventry have avoided defeat in 15 of their 20 away matches in the Championship this season, but all of these games have been fought in a similar fashion, with Coventry seeing 66 goals across these matches (3.3 per game), including conceding 25 goals. 

I expect Hull to also get on the scoresheet with their scoring output at home this term. They’ve netted 32 goals across their 20 home games, and interestingly have conceded the exact same amount of goals in front of their own supporters. They also saw BTTS in their Good Friday fixture as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Oxford - marking the fourth occasion across their last five games where they’ve seen BTTS.

The initial league meeting between these sides produced 10 match corners, with Coventry doing most of the heavy lifting on that occasion. Frank Lampard’s side forced eight corners as they tried to break the deadlock, but Hull remained resilient and managed to come away with a 0-0 draw - being one of only a few sides that has stopped Coventry scoring at home this season.

Coventry are seeing 9.95 match corners per game in the Championship this season, with this average increasing slightly when looking at their away matches (10.15 per game). Their style lends itself to a high match corner count with Coventry not being afraid to get involved in end to end matches, trusting their scoring power to get them over the line.

Hull are seeing 9.35 match corners per game at home in the Championship this season, a slight decrease on the 10.20 match corners per game they’re seeing in the Championship overall. However, they should be motivated to contribute to the corner count given the situation they find themselves in, with their playoff spot still far from secure.

Viktor Gyokeres has improved as the season has unfolded, netting 17 goals in his 43 appearances across all competitions with 10 of these goals coming since the turn of the year. 

He’s playing with plenty of confidence right now having scored in both games for Sweden over the international break which helped them to secure a spot at the World Cup in the summer. He also marked his return to domestic duties with a goal against Southampton as Arsenal exited the FA Cup.

Gyokeres has scored four goals across his seven starts in the Champions League this season, managing 22 shots across these games (3.57 per 90), with 11 of these efforts finding the target (1.78 per 90). He should be motivated to extend this decent record when he lines up against his former club. 

These metrics are an improvement on his domestic stats, which suggests that Gyokeres prefers playing in the Champions League compared to the Premier League - probably because of the extra time and space he gets in Europe given the slightly slower pace of games.

I think Zubimendi has been brilliant for Arsenal over the course of the season. He’s attracted some criticism recently, but I think you could extend that to the entirety of the Arsenal squad with Mikel Arteta’s side exiting two cup competitions across their last two matches.

Zubimendi only played 11 minutes against Southampton, so should be fit enough to start here, he committed a foul in the cup final just before the international break and has committed 27 fouls across his 30 starts in the Premier League this season (0.93 per 90). 

Zubimendi has also committed a crazy 17 fouls across his eight starts in the Champions League this season (2.25 per 90) - a massive increase on his numbers in the Premier League which I found quite interesting as you’d expect his numbers in the more intense competition to be more inflated. 

This is a good sign for our selection though, and possibly even warrants testing higher lines for Zubimendi fouls. His direct opponent here is likely to be Trincao who has won seven fouls across his nine starts in the Champions League this season (0.81 per 90).

Bukayo Saka is another Arsenal player who has been singled out for criticism over the last few weeks. I think people expect a bit more from Saka, he hasn’t been at his best this season, but some of the criticism he’s getting is unwarranted and skips over his obvious talent.

One of the strongest aspects of Saka’s game is his ability to beat players in 1v1 battles. He’s incredibly hard to stop, and is hauled down to the ground regularly as a result. He’s only won six fouls across his six fouls in the Champions League this season (1.20 per 90), which isn’t reflective of how strong Saka is when it comes to drawing challenges.

Saka has won 51 fouls across his 22 starts in the Premier League this season (2.29 per 90), and has maintained this rate for the last few seasons:

• 24/25: 2.02 fouls won p/90 (20 starts) 

• 23/24: 2.12 fouls won p/90 (35 starts) 

• 22/23: 1.83 fouls won p/90 (37 starts) 

This consistency is very impressive, and shows that his current numbers in the Champions League are a bit of an anomaly. He’s expected to be running at Ivan Fresnada - who is quite highly rated - with his opposite fullback averaging just under 1.0 fouls committed per 90, a rate we can expect to rise here against Saka. 

Arsenal are as vulnerable as they have been all season at the moment and I think Sporting are primed to take advantage. These sides have faced off in European competition before under Arteta’s reign with Sporting knocking Arsenal out of the Europa League at this stage of the competition a few seasons prior. 

Sporting have only failed to score in one of their last 43 matches across all competitions. They’ve taken on the likes of PSG and Bayern Munich in this time, so it’s fair to assume that they can be competitive in the home leg of this quarter final tie. Bodo Glimt were the side to keep them out in the first leg of their Round of 16 clash, though Sporting rallied well in the second leg to come away 5-0 winners and set up this clash.

Sporting have scored 34 goals across their 27 matches against English sides in European competition since 2018, and last welcomed Arsenal in the Champions League back in 2024 - getting on the scoresheet as Arsenal came away 5-1 winners. This game is unlikely to be as one sided with Arsenal struggling at the moment having only kept three clean sheets across their last 10 matches which is uncharacteristic for Arteta’s side. 

Viktor Gyokeres has improved as the season has unfolded, netting 17 goals in his 43 appearances across all competitions with 10 of these goals coming since the turn of the year. 

He’s playing with plenty of confidence right now having scored in both games for Sweden over the international break which helped them to secure a spot at the World Cup in the summer. He also marked his return to domestic duties with a goal against Southampton as Arsenal exited the FA Cup.

Gyokeres has scored four goals across his seven starts in the Champions League this season, managing 22 shots across these games (3.57 per 90), with 11 of these efforts finding the target (1.78 per 90). He should be motivated to extend this decent record when he lines up against his former club. 

These metrics are an improvement on his domestic stats, which suggests that Gyokeres prefers playing in the Champions League compared to the Premier League - probably because of the extra time and space he gets in Europe given the slightly slower pace of games.

I think Zubimendi has been brilliant for Arsenal over the course of the season. He’s attracted some criticism recently, but I think you could extend that to the entirety of the Arsenal squad with Mikel Arteta’s side exiting two cup competitions across their last two matches.

Zubimendi only played 11 minutes against Southampton, so should be fit enough to start here, he committed a foul in the cup final just before the international break and has committed 27 fouls across his 30 starts in the Premier League this season (0.93 per 90). 

Zubimendi has also committed a crazy 17 fouls across his eight starts in the Champions League this season (2.25 per 90) - a massive increase on his numbers in the Premier League which I found quite interesting as you’d expect his numbers in the more intense competition to be more inflated. 

This is a good sign for our selection though, and possibly even warrants testing higher lines for Zubimendi fouls. His direct opponent here is likely to be Trincao who has won seven fouls across his nine starts in the Champions League this season (0.81 per 90).

Kylian Mbappe cut a bit of a frustrated figure over the weekend as Real Madrid lost ground in the title race with a 2-1 defeat to Mallorca on the road. Mbappe was very lively in that game, and should have really scored, with six shots overall - seeing three of these attempts find the target. 

Mbappe walked away with a personal xG tally of 0.59, accounting for a large chunk of the 1.28 xG that Real Madrid generated in the game overall. He’s been brilliant in the Champions League this season, netting 13 goals across eight starts from a crazy 46 shots (5.66 per 90). 24 of these efforts have found the target (2.95 per 90) - giving Mbappe really healthy underlying metrics for our selection.

Unsurprisingly, Mbappe is the top scorer in the Champions League this season which remains the case if you look at his open play goals (10). He’s also pitched in with three penalties, which can act as a route to goal for Mbappe if he doesn’t quite get the opportunities to find the target at least twice from open play.

This looks like it’s going to be a really fun tie. Real Madrid lost more ground in the LaLiga title race over the weekend as they lost 2-1 to Mallorca while Barcelona registered a 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid. This is important because it leaves the Champions League as the most achievable trophy for Real Madrid, a success which is expected at a club the size of Real Madrid despite the turbulence which has hit the club throughout the season.

Real Madrid have seen BTTS in each of their last four matches across all competitions. This includes victories over the likes of Atletico Madrid and Manchester City, so Real Madrid aren’t struggling massively at the moment but it is clear that their defensive solidity is lacking right now. This has been the case all season with injuries and poor recruitment contributing to a backline which is constantly changing and vulnerable to the attacking talent of Bayern Munich. 

Bayern Munich have seen BTTS in four of their last five matches across all competitions, I’d also say they are a bit of a top heavy side in that their attacking talent far exceeds the quality of their backline. With both sides clearly having incredible attacking quality, it’s hard to see how both sides don’t end up on the scoresheet in the first leg of this quarter final clash.