Middlesbrough meet Sunderland at the Riverside Stadium in a Tees-Wear derby in the race for the Championship Play-Offs.
Victory would move Boro up to tenth in the table, whilst Sunderland can go sixth with a win.
Team News
Riley McGree and Sammy Silvera won’t feature for Middlesbrough despite Australia crashing out of the Asian Cup on Friday.
Alex Bangura, Isaiah Jones (both hamstring), Emmanuel Latte Lath (ankle) and Seny Dieng (thigh) remain absent.
Sunderland could welcome Patrick Roberts back from a calf injury which had kept him sidelined for the past month.
New signings, Romaine Mundle and Leo Hjelde are set to feature but Callum Styles (appendix) is ruled out.
Niall Huggins (knee), Elliot Embleton (thigh), Dennis Cirkin, Bradley Dack (both hamstring) and Corry Evans (ACL) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Boro face Sunderland in a 12pm GMT kick-off at the Riverside Stadium on Sunday 4 February, live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Middlesbrough are unbeaten in four of their last five league meetings against Sunderland (W3, D1, L1).
- Sunderland are winless in their last five league visits to Middlesbrough (D2, L3)
- Boro have scored five goals in their last four home matches against Sunderland in all comptitions without conceding (W4).
- Boro have scored first in three of their last four league matches at home (W1, D1, L2).
- Sunderland have won just one of their last nine away matches in the Championship (W1, D3, L5).
Prediction
With almost two weeks to have mulled over their brutal Carabao Cup semi-final second-leg thrashing at Chelsea and Morgan Rogers’ exit, Middlesbrough now need to reset and focus their efforts on their play-off push but Josh Coburn and Marcus Forss must raise their game up front.
Sunderland meanwhile ruthlessly beat Stoke in a clinical home display but have claimed just three points in their last eight away games with no wins, which adds further fuel to their fire because this local derby is a chance to end that rut on the road.
The fact that both teams are in a tight pack battling for the last play-off spot also means that neither team will want to lose here, but Boro should have enough for a narrow win if they can continue their recent form although Rogers will be a big loss up front.
Prediction: Middlesbrough 1-0 Sunderland
Result: Middlesbrough 1-1 Sunderland
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