Middlesbrough will be without several key members of the squad at the weekend, when they face Peterborough at the Riverside in the FA Cup Third Round, Tony Pulis has confirmed.
Middlesbrough manager Tony Pulis has given fans an update on several players suffering from injury. The likes of Ryan Shotton, Dani Ayala and Aden Flint are all set to miss the FA Cup clash with Peterborough on Saturday afternoon, leaving the Teesider’s short on numbers in defence.
“The game tomorrow, we’ve picked up some injuries” confirmed Pulis.
“One really disappointing one is Flinty, he looks like he’ll be out for a few weeks. Ayala has also picked up an injury. We’re a little bit concerned.”
With Middlesbrough’s first choice centre-back pairing out of the side, it is expected that Danny Batth, Dael Fry and youngster Nathan Wood will be competing for a starting berth against the League One side.
“Tomorrow we’ll have the youngest player who’s ever played for the club in the squad and the oldest – Woody (Nathan Wood) and Dimi (Dimitrios Konstantopoulos).”
Pulis tends to give youngsters a chance in cup competitions, and showed this in Boro’s cup run in the Carabao Cup this season, often giving first-teamers a rest. This will be well needed given the hectic run of fixtures over the festive period.
“Ayala, Shotton and Flint definitely won’t feature. Flint is a major concern for us” he said.
It is not known the extent of the injuries or whether Ayala, Flint and/or Shotton will return to the squad for next week’s Championship fixture against Birmingham at St. Andrews.
