One Middlesbrough star is currently playing some of the best football of his career.
Michael Carrick will have mixed feelings over how his Boro side have started the 2024/25 season.
Middlesbrough beat Swansea City 1-0 at the Riverside Stadium to kick off the campaign.
This was followed by a 3-0 hammering of Leeds United in the Carabao Cup just a few days later.
However, the Teessiders then suffered a shock 1-0 defeat against Derby County before drawing with Portsmouth a week later.
A 2-0 win over Cardiff City last time out has seen Middlesbrough climb up to seventh in the Championship table after four games but Carrick may have expected more.
Part of the reason for the Reds struggling somewhat in August was the mammoth injury crisis they have been dealing with.
Centre-back is the main area impacted by the problem, with Matt Clarke currently the only senior stopper available right now.
Middlesbrough defender Matt Clarke is one of the highest-rated Championship players
Clarke joined Boro in 2022 from Brighton and Hove Albion as a backup defender but injuries to Dael Fry and Darragh Lenihan in the previous campaign saw the 27-year-old handed a more prominent role in the first-team squad.
The Englishman formed an excellent partnership with Rav van den Berg in Boro’s back four and with the Dutchman currently sidelined, he has been leading Boro’s backline for most of 2024/25.
Clarke was praised heavily when Middlesbrough beat Cardiff at the end of August after he scored his second goal of the season in the 2-0 win.
Now, somewhat unsurprisingly, the centre-backs ranks among the best players in the Championship via WhoScored.
After four Championship fixtures, Clarke has earned a rating of 7.63. Only Queens Park Rangers’ Karamoko Dembele (7.68) and now ex-Sunderland man Jack Clarke (8.31), have a higher rating in the second division so far this season.
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Who will start alongside Matt Clarke for Middlesbrough vs Preston North End
Boro’s first game back after the current international breaks sees them taken on Preston North End at the Riverside in a 3pm BST kick-off on Saturday, September 14th.
Carrick called Clarke ‘fabulous’ recently and is expected to start the defender this weekend. But who the ex-Manchester United man will choose to play alongside him remains up in the air.
Van den Berg, Fry and Leninhan all remain doubts as they continue their comebacks from injury.
Right-back Luke Ayling has played out of position next to Clarke in Middlesbrough’s last three matches.
But after completing a move on deadline day, the Teessiders could now give a debut to Ipswich Town loanee George Edmundson.
Carrick has been told how to get the best out of Edmundson already and the Preston tie seems like a great opportunity for the 27-year-old to make his first start.
Alternatively, young centre-backs Harley Hunt and George McCormick could be in contention but the Boro boss will likely want to go with a more experienced name.