Middlesbrough look to boost their promotion challenge in a difficult Championship test against Norwich City.
Depending on results elsewhere, victory could see Middlesbrough climb as high as second in the table.
Norwich meanwhile can move as high as third with a win.
Team News
Middlesbrough have no fresh injury concerns to report after their 3-0 Carabao Cup exit at Crystal Palace, with Jeremy Sarmiento available after he missed their last three matches with an unspecified injury suffered during their win over West Brom in late August.
Norwich have no fresh injury concerns after their 2-1 midweek victory over Birmingham City.
Lucien Mahovo (ankle) and Ali Ahmed (ACL) remain sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
Middlesbrough host Norwich at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday 12 September at 3pm BST, untelevised live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Middlesbrough are unbeaten in their last nine meetings against Norwich (W6, D3).
- Norwich have claimed just one point in their last four visits to Middlesbrough (D1, L3).
- Middlesbrough’s Will Lankshear has converted five of his eight shots on target into goals in five league appearances this season.
- Just one of Mohamed Toure’s three league goals for Norwich this season has been scored away from home.
Prediction
Having rotated his squad at Palace who fielded a surprisingly very strong line-up, Kim Hellberg shouldn’t be too disheartened at the end of Boro’s cup run because he would of learned valuable lessons about the level of his team in case they do get promoted.
Boro though should be back to their full-strength line-up here because this is going to be a tricky test against a team who are capable of a promotion push – likely via play-offs – and have won four of their last five games in all competitions, with Mohamed Toure in particularly looking problematic.
Norwich’s Achilles though is that they’ve not kept a clean sheet in the league this season and haven’t fared particularly well in their last four trips to Boro, but they can’t be underestimated nevertheless with their attacking form.
A draw therefore feels like a fair call between two teams who will expect to be pushing for the play-offs at minimum.
Prediction: Middlesbrough 1-1 Norwich