If Bournemouth’s Friday night clash with Watford is a meeting of two of the Championship’s best attacks, Saturday’s early kick-off between Brentford and Middlesbrough will see the Bees do their utmost to breach what is the second-tightest defence in the whole of English football.

Only Southampton have conceded fewer goals than Aitor Karanka’s men in any of England’s top four divisions, and Middlesbrough will arrive at Griffin Park this weekend brimming with confidence having dumped Premier League champions, Manchester City, out of the F.A. Cup in their last game.

The visitors enter the top-four tie on the back of a five-match unbeaten run and have been priced at 6/4 to extend that streak with victory, while Brentford have won their last three games in the Championship and are 19/10 to make it four wins from four, with the draw an outside bet at 12/5.

Unsurprisingly for a team that have conceded just once in their last five league games, the visitors are 9/4 to keep a clean sheet, with 1-0 the favoured margin of victory for an away win at 17/2. Similarly, you can get 10/11 on the game featuring under 2.5 goals, while a 0-0 stalemate – a result that has accounted for two of Boro’s past three results away from home – is priced at a juicy 10/1.

For the hosts, meanwhile, leading scorer Andre Gray is the favourite to find the net first at 5/1 – with the same price available on Middlesbrough’s on-loan striker, Patrick Bamford – and you can get a much improved 7/2 on Mark Warburton’s team winning the game by one goal, a margin that has decided their last four victories in the Championship.

True, the Bees let in four goals the last time the two sides met, but having conceded just once in the league since the start of the year and with fine margins deciding the vast majority of their games this season, they look strong contenders to get the win with a one-goal advantage at prices of 4/7.

All in all then, this looks to be a game that is likely to be settled by one goal either way – and while 1-1 is the bookies’ favoured scoreline at 13/2, those currently sitting on the fence in regards to which team will get the three points are advised to play it safe and simply back either team to win by a one goal margin at 5/4 which, at odds-on, still offers outstanding value given their respective recent form.

5 – Boro have kept a clean sheet in their last five league matches with Brentford, though only one of those meetings has been contested since 2000