Leeds United make the trip to Teesside tonight to face an out-of-form Middlesbrough side, looking to consolidate their position in the automatic promotion places with a third straight win.

The Whites have recently recorded back-to-back wins at the perfect time to restore their lead in the race for the top two along with West Brom, as they saw off Bristol City and Reading 1-0 in narrow, yet dominant, victories.

Goals from Luke Ayling and Pablo Hernandez in those games, respectively, have seen Leeds get well back on track to achieving their goal after a woeful run.

Up next, they face Jonathan Woodgate’s Middlesbrough at the Riverside who are in a desperate run of form at the moment. Back in late November, Boro visited Elland Road and were swiftly handed a thumping as Patrick Bamford opened the scoring four minutes in, setting the Whites on their way to a resounding 4-0 win, with Mateusz Klich scoring twice either side of a Helder Costa strike.

It seemed to kickstart a solid run for Woodgate’s side as they went on to win five out of their last seven games to climb away from the relegation zone. However, their last win was a 2-0 away win over Preston North End on New Year’s Day, seeing them plummet back towards the bottom three in the last two months.

A victory for Leeds could see Middlesbrough level on points with 22nd-place and out of the relegation zone only by the skin of their teeth, while Leeds would restore at least a five-point gap to third, permitting the Fulham result against Swansea City.

With Marcelo Bielsa’s men putting Boro to the sword last time out, we take a look at two weaknesses that they should look to exploit as they make the trip to Teesside…

Exploiting the wide areas

It’s clearly a strength of Leeds to work the ball into the wide areas as they look to exploit the less-trafficked zones around the penalty box, with most teams packing out the centre of the pitch to stop chances being created.

Helder Costa and Jack Harrison are typically two of the most active players in the final third for Leeds as they look to whip crosses in towards Patrick Bamford and co.

As they face Middlesbrough, they will be coming up against a side that are particularly weak in those areas, so it could play into Leeds’ hands to move it out wide as much as possible.

Boro typically play three at the back and could leave a lot of gaps in behind the wing-backs for Leeds exploit.

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Dominate the midfield

A lot of Middlesbrough’s most talented operate in midfield and they can hurt teams when they spring counter-attacks, with the likes of Lewis Wing, George Saville and co. showing their prowess going forward for both Boro and elsewhere.

If Leeds can get a hold of the midfield and stop their creativity going forward, they will be able to dominate the game in a really good area.

Last time out, Woodgate’s side were comprehensively beaten by lowly Barnsley side at the weekend, with the Tykes running the show in good areas of the pitch, stopping Boro from registering a shot on target for the second game running.

Leeds’ midfield have been very strong since the return of Kalvin Phillips and he will be vital in how the away side look to take control of proceedings.