Birmingham City face promotion chasing Middlesbrough at St Andrews on Friday evening in a huge clash in the Championship.
While The Blues will be looking for a solid end to the campaign, the match is a must win encounter for visitors Middlesbrough to ensure that they go into their final day potential ‘winner takes all clash’ with Brighton & Hove Albion at The Riverside Stadium with an advantage over The Seagulls.
The home side are expected to go into the match without experienced goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak who has a broken nose while defender Paul Caddis is struggling to beat a calf problem in time to face Boro. Dutchman Maikel Kieftenbeld is set to return to the side.
Premier League hopefuls Boro arrive at St Andrews sweating over the fitness of George Friend with the defender set to face a late fitness test. Manager Aitor Karanka has no other new injury concerns.
Middlesbrough travel to the Midlands in excellent form with the Teessiders having drawn two and won six of their last eight league matches since Aitor Karanka declared that he would be staying on as manager after a high profile fall out last month. St Andrews has become something of a bogey ground for Boro with the club winning on just one occasion in their past 15 visits to the home of Birmingham City.
