Middlesbrough may find it hard to pick up points in their upcoming run of games.
Boro headed into the international break having picked up seven points from their first four Championship fixtures of 2024/25.
Middlesbrough beat Swansea City 1-0 on the opening day before losing to Derby County, drawing with Portsmouth and earning a 2-0 win over Cardiff City.
That run leaves the North East outfit seventh in the Championship table ahead of the weekend’s action and five points adrift of league leaders, Sunderland.
Middlesbrough’s next fixture after the international break sees them face off with Preston North End at the Riverside Stadium on September 14th.
After that, Michael Carrick will take his side to the Stadium of Light for a 12:30pm kick-off against bitter rival Sunderland on September 21st.
This is followed by a home clash with Stoke City on September 28th, an away meeting with West Bromich Albion on October 1st and another away fixture against Watford on Saturday, October 5th.
Middlesbrough set ‘serious’ target ahead of next five Championship fixtures
On paper, Boro’s upcoming run of games is much harder than the one they had pre-international break.
Derby and Portsmouth are both newly-promoted teams but the above five sides are all well-established Championship outfits, with several getting their 2024/25 off to a flying start.
Sunderland are top of the division having scored 10 and conceded just one in their first four games.
Away fixtures against West Brom and Watford should also prove tough with said duo currently sitting second and third in the Championship.
However, talkSPORT pundit Phil Spencer has told Middlesbrough they need to pick up 10+ points from their next five matches.
He wrote: “Middlesbrough’s next 5 games will be a real test of how serious we are about challenging for promotion and not just the play-offs.
“We play Preston (H), Sunderland (A), Stoke (H), West Brom (A) and Watford (A).
“I think we need to be targeting 10+ pts from the 15.”
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Have Middlesbrough already blown their chance at promotion
Middlesbrough finished eighth in the Championship last term, four points outside of the top six.
Part of the reason Boro failed to crack the play-offs in 2023/24 was due to their awful start.
The Teessiders did not win any of their first five league games, earning just two points from said matches.
Carrick has already bettered that record in 2024/25 with seven points picked up from four games so far.
However, the loss to a struggling Derby and draw with Portsmouth may prove costly in their promotion charge.
If the Reds wanted to fight for an automatic promotion place they should have realistically beaten both of those recently promoted teams.
However, they have instead dropped five points and now have to beat the likes of Sunderland and Watford to keep their hopes of a Premier League return alive.
Should Boro fail to do so, it will be the Derby and Portsmouth results that will be looked back on with even more disappointment than they already, as victories in those ties would have afforded Carrick room for error against the top sides.