Middlesbrough will be looking to get back to winning ways when they face off with Portsmouth this weekend.
Boro kicked off their campaign in superb fashion, seeing off Swansea City at the Riverside Stadium to pick up their first win on the opening day in 10 years.
Michael Carrick then took his men to Elland Road for a League Cup first-round tie where Middlesbrough beat Leeds United 3-0.
That impressive result also ended an unwanted record of the Teessiders not beating the Whites in any competition for six years.
Just as things were looking up though, Boro were swiftly brought back down to earth. Middlesbrough lost 1-0 to Derby County last weekend.
They now face another newly promoted side, Portsmouth, in a 3pm BST kick-off on Saturday, August 24th.
Middlesbrough team news for Portsmouth
Middlesbrough have a disastrous injury list ahead of facing off with Portsmouth this weekend.
Marcus Forss, Tommy Smith and Alex Bangura are all long-term absentees for the club.
Elsewhere, Jonny Howson, Riley McGree, Dael Fry, Darragh Lenihan, Sonny Finch and Law McCabe missed the defeat to Derby.
Rav van den Berg picked up a knock in that game and Carrick has confirmed he will be assessed ahead of the match, as per Teesside Live.
He said: “Rav finished the game last week but did have a little issue towards the end of the game. We’ve managed him this week and we’ll then see how he is tomorrow in terms of moving forward with that one. We’re hopeful.
“Jonny is similar and Riley is similar too. Darragh [Lenihan] and Dael [Fry] are a little bit further down the line.”
Middlesbrough predicted XI vs Portsmouth
The mounting injury list on Teesside is expected to force Carrick into several changes this week.
Matt Clarke may be the only fit centre-back, meaning we could see a first start for young centre-back Harley Hunt, who has been on the bench for Middlesbrough’s last few games.
Further forward, after a nightmare showing against Derby, Isaiah Jones could be dropped in place of Micah Hamilton on the right.
And with Portsmouth expected to sit very deep at the Riverside, Carrick may choose to deploy Tommy Conway in a slightly deeper role behind Emmanuel Latte Lath – as he did with Chuba Akpom and Cameron Archer.
Here’s how we think Middlesbrough will line up against Portsmouth on Saturday…
Dieng (GK)
Ayling
Hunt
Clarke
Engel
Hackney
Morris
Hamilton
Conway
Burgzorg
Latte Lath