Middlesbrough predicted team vs Preston North End with one debutant and two changes
With the dreaded international break finally over, we can finally look forward to Middlesbrough's return to action on Saturday as they host Preston North End at the Riverside.
Last time out, Boro beat Cardiff City 2-0 in South Wales, with two new players signed the day before and are now eligible to make debuts in this one. Both George Edmundson and Ben Doak are expected to make the match-day squad for Preston's visit.
By way of an injury update, Michael Carrick said on Thursday that Riley McGree would be back for the game, though he's decided he's not going to risk Rav van den Berg or Jonny Howson. With that in mind, here's our predicted Boro team.
READ MORE: Middlesbrough injury update with McGree and Forss boosts and Van den Berg and Howson close
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GK - Seny Dieng - Dieng played one full 90 minutes while away on international duty with Senegal and returned to Boro injury-free. Well-established as Boro's number one for the time being, he already has two clean sheets this season and will be hoping to gain a third in this one.
DR - Luke Ayling - Helping the side out at centre-back of late, Ayling barely put a foot wrong while also captaining the side too. While Carrick might opt to keep his defence unchanged as a reward for the Cardiff clean sheet. But with Anfernee Dijksteel travelling to South America and back during the break while Edmundson stayed behind, we're going with Ayling back at right-back.
DC - George Edmundson - Edmundson's arrival on transfer deadline day on loan from Ipswich allows Carrick to go with a back four of players fully familiar with the role they'll be asked to play. Edmundson hasn't been around long, but he already knew Matt Clarke after a spell together at Derby County, while all four of the prospective starters here all stayed behind during the break and would therefore have had time to work together in training.
DC - Matt Clarke - Clarke has had an excellent start to the season and will be almost certain to start the game regardless of what Carrick decides to do with Dijksteel and Edmundson. The one potential issue with our Boro back four is the lack of pace. But in this game in particular, Preston's attack doesn't appear to be blessed with the kind of pace that should concern any of the Boro defenders.
DL - Neto Borges - Borges hadn't even been through the door a week when he was needed for his debut at Cardiff. And what an impressive debut it was. Quite where Borges is physically after the last two weeks is not known but the hope will be that, now at home, he will be capable of adding more attacking elements to his game in this one.
CM - Aidan Morris - Morris's excellent start to the season continued during the break as he enjoyed another two caps for the USA and even earned an assist. The good news for Boro is he returned injury-free and only started one of those two games. That should hopefully mean, even after the travel, he's fine for this one. Carrick's decision that he doesn't have to risk Howson suggests he's confident Morris will be fine.
CM - Hayden Hackney - Hackney played more minutes for England's under-21 during the break. Positively, from a Boro perspective at least, he didn't start the second of those games either and should therefore be fresh enough to continue in the Boro side as they search for a third win of the season.
RW - Isaiah Jones - Having travelled to South America and started two international games, it will be interesting to see if Jones is deemed capable of starting this game. Having scored twice for Guyana though, the hope will be he can take that lift and transform it into his Boro form too. He needs a big performance because many other players will be pushing in the weeks ahead - notably Doak, who won't be quite ready to start this one.
AM - Tommy Conway - Conway continues to be used in the role behind the striker by Carrick, even at Cardiff in the absence of Emmanuel Latte Lath. Having played well at Cardiff and then not played much for Scotland, it feels likely he can retain his place in this one.
LW - Finn Azaz - Carrick will have a couple of options for this game, with McGree back from injury and Delano Burgzorg hoping to keep his place in the team. Azaz played in this roaming left-sided role at Cardiff as Burgzorg played at the head of Boro's attack. Even in the role change, Azaz continued his influential start to the season as far as general play in concerned and he deserves to keep his place for this one where he can hopefully add more of an end-product by way of some of those shots being converted into goals.
ST - Emmanuel Latte Lath - The deadline day drama is considered consigned to the history books, with Latte Lath looking full of smiles once more as he returned to Rockliffe after international duty. He was ultimately twice unused by the Ivory Coast during the break so will hopefully be hungry to get back to action, and hopefully goals, against Preston.