Saturday afternoon presents the ideal opportunity for Middlesbrough to get back to winning ways, as Tony Pulis' men prepare to host Blackburn Rovers at the Riverside Stadium this weekend.

Boro dropped out of the automatic promotion spots after a 3-0 home defeat to Aston Villa last week - only Boro's second home defeat of the campaign.

Despite their loss to Villa, the North East club still sit fourth in the Sky Bet Championship table, as they prepare to host a Blackburn side looking to mount a promotion push of their own.

Former Boro boss Tony Mowbray is in charge of Rovers and his men sit five points off the play-off places after a 4-2 home win over Sheffield Wednesday last weekend.

Sky Sports pundit David Prutton has had his say on the game, and the former Sheffield Wednesday man has predicted a surprising 1-0 home defeat for Boro.

He said: "Middlesbrough have the best defence in the Championship but they were absolutely blown away by Aston Villa last weekend. It was the first time they had conceded three goals in a league game all season and I'm sure Tony Pulis would have had a few words to say to his team afterwards."

"Blackburn got back to winning ways against Sheffield Wednesday and Bradley Dack, their key man, looks to be right back on top of his game. Rovers haven't been great on the road this season but I have a feeling they could sneak this one!"

Prutton's prediction is likely to raise a few eyebrows, and here, we take a look at THREE reasons why his prediction will turn out to be completely wrong...

They may have succumbed to a very disappointing home defeat last time around, but for large parts of this season, the Riverside has been a fortress for Middlesbrough.

Before the clash against Villa, Boro had lost only once at home all season, conceding only three goals in the process, which shows just how solid they can be on their day.

Pulis is likely to have given his side some very choice words after the Villa result, and I doubt they'll fold over that easily again.

As alluded to before, Boro very rarely lose games and when they do lose, they bounce back very well.

After succumbing to their first home league defeat of the season, a 2-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest back in October, Boro then went on a run of seven games unbeaten.

With Leeds and West Brom overtaking them in the race for automatic promotion, Pulis' men will be hungry to right their recent wrongs.

Rovers have struggled away from home this season against much weaker opposition, so it'll be an ever bigger test for them this weekend.

Boro boast the best defensive record in the division having conceded only 13 goals in 20 league matches this term, so the likelihood of them finding the back of the net is quite slim.

Having won only three out of ten games away from home this term, it's going to be a uphill battle for Mowbray's men.