Middlesbrough travel to league leaders Bristol City on Tuesday night as they look to extend their unbeaten run in the Championship to five games. 

Boro did the Robins a favour by holding second-place Reading to a goalless draw on Saturday and now head to Ashton Gate in what is the second of three league games in a week.

Under new head coach Dean Holden, City have made a fantastic start to the season and only a controversial penalty converted 12 minutes into second-half injury time has stopped them from picking five wins from five in the Championship.

After failing to win on Saturday, the hosts will be raring to go in midweek and Neil Warnock will know that getting a result won't be easy against one of the league's in-form sides.

With that in mind, we've highlighted two threats that Boro and their boss must be wary of ahead of tomorrow evening's game...

Chris Martin

The signing of the 31-year-old has looked a masterstroke through the first part of the season, with Martin proving an assist king and setting up four goals in the Championship already.

City signed the towering striker as a free agent after he left Derby County in the summer and he has become a key man in Holden's side, with his link-up play proving integral to the threat they offer in the final third.

Warnock will need to ensure that his defenders limit Martin's influence on the game and that they don't try and counteract him as they would a normal target man because the threat he offers is very different.

Do these celebrities support Sunderland, Middlesbrough or Newcastle United?

 

Wing-backs bombing into the box 

One of the key traits of Holden-ball through the first five games of the 41-year-old's first season as City's permanent head coach has been the number of bodies that pour into the box when they attack.

In their front two and their more attack-minded midfielders, likely to be Jamie Paterson and Andi Weimann, the Robins have four players that are real goal threats but it has been the late runs of their wing-backs that have caused problems for opposing defences in recent weeks.

Right wing-back Jack Hunt arrived in the box to smash home City's opener against Barnsley on Saturday, while it was the man on the opposite flank Tommy Rowe that did the same to tap in their go-ahead goal against Sheffield Wednesday last month.

The way they bomb into the penalty area often makes them hard to pick up and means they pose a real danger to Warnock's side on Tuesday evening.

Given Boro also play with three centre-backs and two wing-backs, it's going to be very interesting to see how they look to deal with the danger.