A huge Friday evening awaits for Middlesbrough as they travel to Blackburn Rovers in the hope of continuing their solid form against a play-off rival.
Boro are currently second in the Championship form table, which is in contrast to the hosts on Friday, who are bottom based on the last six games after a terrible start for new boss Valerien Ismael. Despite that, Rovers remain only five points behind Boro, making the game an incredible opportunity for both sides as far as the race for the top six is concerned.
For Michael Carrick, he’ll be hoping his side can continue where they left off after a much-improved second half performance against Oxford United. With Rav van den Berg returning from the bench in that one, the question now is: Does he come back into the starting line-up? Here’s our predicted team.
GK - Mark Travers - Boro are keen to sign the Irishman in the summer should everything fall into place for them, which says a lot about how successful his loan has been so far. With Sol Brynn not yet back from injury, it’s a no-brainer that Travers starts.
DR - Anfernee Dijksteel - Just seven games remain in the regular season for Dijksteel to do as much as he possibly can to earn a new contract at Boro - with all such talks on hold until the season is decided. Enjoying his best campaign for some time, hopefully that can prove added motivation for the Suriname international to continue his solid form.
DC - Jonny Howson - Though Van den Berg could be fit to start again after a week of training, it feels like an unjustified decision to put the Dutchman back in. As far as replacing Howson would be concerned, it would see Boro lose their skipper at a time when it feels no coincidence that they’ve managed games in tougher spells so much better in recent weeks.
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SkyDC - Neto Borges - As for Borges, he could move back to left-back to accommodate Van den Berg’s return, but he’s done well at centre-back and deserved to keep his place in the side alongside Howson rather than disrupt something that’s working.
DL - Samuel Iling-Junior - The other case for keeping Borges in the middle is that Iling-Junior has stepped up since switching to left-back too. Particularly in the second half against Oxford, he got forward really well and set up both Boro goals.
CM - Aidan Morris - He continues to enjoy an excellent maiden campaign on Teesside and is a huge asset to the Boro side. As well as his aggression out of possession, he can be just as effective on the ball, as he displayed with his inventive backheel to get Iling-Junior into a crossing position for Boro’s winner last weekend.
CM - Hayden Hackney - Enjoying a run of really solid form which makes it no surprise that many Premier League teams are monitoring him closely. That matters little for now, with the Redcar midfielder dreaming of winning promotion with Boro.
RW - Morgan Whittaker - They say don’t change a winning side, and it’s perhaps harsh on Delano Burgzorg. But Burgzorg hasn’t been quite as effective for Boro from the right, while Whittaker came on last weekend and had his brightest showing in a Boro shirt to date. With that in mind, it feels timely to reward Whittaker and hope that pays off with a much-improved performance from his last start at Swansea City.
SS - Kelechi Iheanacho - Having finally got his first goal for the club in a much-improved performance, the hope will be that it proves a springboard for a really strong end to the season for the loanee.
LW - Finn Azaz - When Azaz plays well, Boro tend to play well. And with that in mind, the hope has to be that Azaz continues his recent return to form for the rest of the season. His numbers in terms of goals and assists this term are unrivalled and Boro need him to contribute a few more yet.
ST - Tommy Conway - Boro’s current top scorer (technically still level with Emmanuel Latte Lath) hasn’t netted in the last two. He’ll be hoping to put an end to that on Friday and move clear as Boro’s definitive top scorer while contributing to what will hopefully be a big win in the race for the top six.
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