MANCHESTER CITY v MIDDLESBROUGH EARLY TEAM NEWS
Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate will allow key strikers Mido and Tuncay Sanli the maximum amount of time to prove their fitness.
The Boro physios are working overtime on Egypt international Mido, who has a back-related hamstring strain, and Turkish team-mate Tuncay, who has severe bruising on a leg injury, though he is the closest of the pair to passing a fitness test.
Rookie front man Tom Craddock is on standby to make his first Boro start after Lee Dong-Gook became the fourth forward to be struck by the club's injury curse.
Assessing his players' chances of being passed fit, Southgate said: "Mido looks like he will struggle for the weekend but we've still got another 24 hours.
"Tuncay has trained extensively with the medical team and the pair of them will be assessed again before we travel.
"Dong-Gook's got a slight problem with his back but again that's one we will look at again over the next 24 hours."
Number-two keeper Brad Jones is receiving treatment on his sore thigh, though efforts to recall Ross Turnbull from his season-long loan at Cardiff as cover have so far ended in failure.
Manchester City striker Rolando Bianchi is not fit to return for the Barclays Premier League clash.
The £8.8million summer signing missed last weekend's win over Newcastle and is still unable to take a full part in training.
He will sit out the Boro visit along with two other strikers in Darius Vassell and Valeri Bojinov.
Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson admits he is unsure who his best goalkeeper is but Joe Hart looks set to continue ahead of Kasper Schmeichel.
Manchester City (from): Hart, Schmeichel, Corluka, Onuoha, Sun, Dunne, Richards, Garrido, Ball, Geovanni, Dabo, Fernandes, Hamann, Johnson, Ireland, Petrov, Elano, Samaras, Mpenza, Etuhu.
Middlesbrough (from): Schwarzer, Young, Taylor, Wheater, Woodgate, Boateng, Rochemback, O'Neil, Downing, Tuncay, Mido, Lee, Craddock, Jones, Steele, Davies, Riggott, Hines, Owens, Cattermole.
By Bettingzone.co.uk
Used with permission.
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