Middlesbrough will face off with Stoke City in a Championship fixture on Saturday afternoon.
Boro are aiming to avoid a repeat of the last time these two sides went head-to-head.
Stoke City beat Middlesbrough 5-0 in the Carabao Cup last month, though it was a fairly weak Boro side that was put to the sword.
This time around, it is the Teessiders who are slight favourites to pick up the three points.
The Potters have fallen to defeat on four occasions in their first six Championship fixtures of the season compared to Boro’s four.
Sam Parkin has predicted Middlesbrough to beat Stoke this weekend, but only by a small margin.
Speaking ahead of the game, Stoke manager Narcis Pelach has told Middlesbrough his side’s biggest weakness that they can exploit, but Michael Carrick will be well aware that even if his team should win the game on paper, their early season form means victory is far from certain.
Middlesbrough team news for Stoke City
Ahead of the game, the Teessiders still have a number of long-term absentees who will miss out at the Riverside.
Alex Bangura is yet to kick a ball this season and is once again out of action for this fixture.
Marcus Forss has returned to Middlesbrough training but the game will come too soon for the forward.
Elsewhere, Carrick provided an injury update on Rav van den Berg and Jonny Howson in his pre-match press conference on Thursday afternoon.
The Dutchman is closing in on a return and could be in contention to make an appearance versus Stoke but the Boro captain is expected to miss out once more.
Carrick said: “Rav’s been in and around the group quite a bit. He’s pretty close to being in contention, which is great. Jonny’s a little bit behind him.”
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Middlesbrough predicted XI vs Stoke City
We expect a couple of changes from the eleven that lost 1-0 to Sunderland last weekend.
With Van den Berg potentially fit enough to feature, George Edmundson will likely be the man to drop to the bench.
Edmundson has been dubbed ‘faultless’ previously and has done little wrong in his two appearances for Middlesbrough to date.
But Van den Berg is one of Boro’s best players and Carrick will no doubt be keen to have him back as soon as possible.
Elsewhere, Isaiah Jones has been in poor form and it is likely Ben Doak will make his first start for the North East outfit on the right wing.
Finn Azaz has been stifled by Carrick, who has started playing the former Plymouth Argyle man out on the wing.
And after struggling in recent matches, Riley McGree could now come back into the starting line-up in place of the Irishman.
Here’s how we think Middlesbrough will line up against Stoke on Saturday…
Dieng (GK)
Ayling
Van den Berg
Clarke
Borges
Hackney
Morris
Doak
Conway
McGree
Latte Lath