Sky Sports EFL pundit David Prutton has suggested that Coventry City and Middlesbrough will not be able to be separated in a tight contest on Saturday and will have to settle for a point.

Coventry City head into the game on the back of their second defeat in the Championship this season last time out with them losing 2-0 away at QPR.

That result leaves the Sky Blues in seventh place in the Championship table with them having collected nine points from a possible 15 so far this season.

Mark Robins would likely have taken that points return at the start of the campaign. They have managed to secure wins in both of their league games at home since returning home to Coventry, against Nottingham Forest and Reading.

The Sky Blues should therefore be in good spirits after their encouraging start to the season. Even in their defeat at QPR last time out they delivered a good performance in the first half of the game at least.

Middlesbrough, meanwhile, head into the game on a run of three matches in the Championship without a win.

That comes after they were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by ten-man Blackburn Rovers last time out at the Riverside Stadium.

Neil Warnock’s side have found wins hard to come by in their opening five matches with just one managed so far and that came at home to Bristol City.

However, Boro have also suffered just one defeat as well which came at the hands of QPR.

There is plenty of room for improvement for Middlesbrough and they managed to conduct some positive late summer transfer window business to bolster their squad further.

That could well play a major role in helping them start to win games on a more regular basis.

Making his latest round of predictions for Sky Sports, Prutton suggested that Middlesbrough will be held to another draw this time out at Coventry. He believes the sides will not be able to be separated and that the game will end 1-1.

The verdict

This is a difficult game to predict with Coventry a side that have been very strong at home so far this season in their opening two matches.

It should not be overestimated how big of a deal it is for the Sky Blues to finally be able to play once again in front of their own supporters after their spell at St Andrews.

Robins’ side seem to be set up to compete closer towards the top half of the table this season than they were last term when it was all about consolidating their Championship status.

This will be another major test over how much they have improved over the summer.

Middlesbrough need to start showing that they can secure three points more consistently now if they want to challenge for a top-six finish this term.

Warnock has had the backing to bring in some extra attacking reinforcements at the end of the summer window. Now it will all be about how quickly he can get the new players adapting to the rest of the squad.

You can see why Prutton believes this will be a tight contest that could end either way and you would not be surprised to see it end in a stalemate.