Michael Carrick sends warning to Middlesbrough players ahead of Birmingham City clash

Michael Carrick has warned his Middlesbrough players ahead of their clash with Birmingham City.

Boro have been surging towards the playoff spots over recent weeks, with Carrick enjoying a solid start to life in first-team management. Heading into today’s (Monday) clash with Blues, the North-East side are two points off the top six, and they can move into the play-off spots with a win.

Meanwhile, hosts Birmingham are in 16th after back-to-back defeats, six points off the play-offs and six points off the drop. Still, there is positivity surrounding John Eustace’s men with significant improvements made from last season.

And that’s something Boro boss Carrick has recognised in his pre-match comments, warning his team over the ‘tough’ battle that awaits them at St Andrew’s.

“It will be a very tough game, one of the toughest games,” said Carrick. “John has done an amazing job this season and made them into a really good team, a tough team. I watched them against Burnley and they were really unlucky. It will be a big challenge for us, it’s not an easy place to go. We’ll have to be at our best.”

Blues will be desperate to get back to winning ways, or at least to get points amid a baron festive period so far, following defeats to Burnley and Hull City. In contrast, Boro come into this one on the back of back-to-back wins, beating Blackburn Rovers and Wigan Athletic over Christmas. In fact, they have only failed to win two of their last eight Championship outings, losing only once.

When the two sides met at The Riverside back in early October, Boro came out on top with a 1-0 win thanks to Chuba Akpom’s first-half strike, though that was, of course, with a different manager in charge of Boro, with Carrick since replacing Chris Wilder.