Jonathan Woodgate has backed his Middlesbrough team to pull off a shock result when they take on Leeds United on Wednesday night.

The Teessiders are without a win since New Years Day when they secured a 2-0 victory over Preston to cap off an excellent run of form over the festive period.

However since then things have gone dramatically downhill with Jonathan Woodgate's side now just three points above the relegation zone.

The clash with Marcelo Bielsa's side will be another big test but the Boro boss is hoping that his side can recreate the sort of display that saw them topple the likes of West Brom and the Lilywhites earlier this season.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Woodgate said: “Leeds are an exceptional team and they’ve proved that for the majority of the season, but we can beat them.

“I know that a lot of Boro fans think that we can’t but I think that we can and the players think we can.

“So why can’t we? We beat West Brom, we beat Preston, we drew with Bristol City, we drew with Fulham.

“We’ve played a lot of the bigger teams and done okay against them.

“Okay, against Leeds we got a whooping but hopefully it’ll be different this time.”

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The verdict

The clash with Leeds United will be a huge test for Middlesbrough.

After such a poor run of results the Teessiders are in desperate need of a good result to pull them away from danger.

Marcelo Bielsa's side are one of the toughest opponents that they could face at this point, but like earlier this season the hope will surely be that Jonathan Woodgate's side can do enough to get a shock result.

If not, it could be an incredibly nervy end to the season.