Middlesbrough will be looking to get back to winning ways when they face off with Stoke City this week.
After beating Swansea City on the opening weekend of the campaign, it has been something of a rough 2024/25 for Boro so far.
Middlesbrough lost 1-0 to Derby County at Pride Park in their second league outing of the campaign.
It was a shock loss and after dominating the tie, Boro were expected to fare much better in their most recent Championship clash.
However, Middlesbrough drew 2-2 with Portsmouth over the weekend thanks to some major defensive errors.
Michael Carrick will be hoping to regain some much-needed confidence in midweek though, when Boro take on Stoke City in a 7:15pm League Cup tie.
The Teessiders trashed Leeds United 3-0 in the first round of the competition and will be looking to repeat their run from 2023/24, which saw them make it all the way to the semi-final.
Middlesbrough team news for Stoke City
Middlesbrough are once again set to be without a plethora of players for their League Cup clash with Stoke on Tuesday.
Jonny Howson, Riley McGree, Dael Fry, Darragh Lenihan, Sonny Finch, Law McCabe, Marcus Forss, Tommy Smith, Alex Bangura and Rav van den Berg were all absent against Portsmouth due to injury.
And when providing a fresh injury update recently, Carrick confirmed that Van den Berg will be out again in midweek, though there is a chance McGree could feature, as per Teesside Live.
He said: “Rav just wasn’t ready for today. He won’t be ready for Tuesday either. There is no point in rushing him or risking him on Tuesday, so we’ll just see how he is this week and make a decision before Cardiff.
“Riley we’ll see. We need to manage that and perhaps be patient. The make up of the squad right now means we don’t need to rush that and don’t need to push him. Whether he is back for Tuesday or Saturday, we’ll see. But certainly no need to push him for Tuesday.”
Middlesbrough predicted XI vs Stoke City
Carrick made a lot of changes to his Boro team for their League Cup meeting with Leeds in the first round.
And owing to the injury issues at the Riverside, even more changes are likely to be made this week.
Sol Brynn is expected to come back in between the sticks and will likely have a makeshift backline in front of him.
Harley Hunt may be given his first taste of senior action from the off and McCormick will have to come in at left-back to give Lukas Engel a much-needed rest.
Further forward, Dan Barlaser will start in midfield while a first start for Micah Hamilton and Tommy Conway should be on the cards as Carrick aims to rotate his threadbare squad as much as possible.
Here’s how we think Middlesbrough will line up against Stoke on Tuesday…
Brynn (GK)
Dijksteel
Hunt
Clarke
McCormick
Hackney
Barlaser
Hamilton
Azaz
Burgzorg
Conway