Middlesbrough will travel to South Wales to take on Cardiff City at the weekend. Who will Boro boss Michael Carrick be able to call upon for the game?

Four first team players may miss out on the Cardiff clash. They are Aaron Ramsey, Rodrigo Muniz, Matt Clarke and Darnell Fisher.

Of the four, only one of them is in with a chance of playing – Ramsey. The on-loan youngster is recovering from a knee injury, but could be fit to play against the Bluebirds on Saturday.

On Ramsey’s injury, Carrick said via the Gazette Live: “AJ is a terrific young talent, and a really good lad as well. He’s fitted in so well. He’s enthusiastic and I spoke a lot about how important it was to me to bring good people into the group, which is already a good group.

“We’ll be patient with AJ. He is obviously here to play, and to have minutes. But he’s had that slight injury that he’s coming back from. So we just have to manage that and balance things with that in mind. We’ll get him back to his best and in and around it as soon as we can.”

The other three are not quite so lucky. Muniz has made the most progress out of them, but the game at the weekend will come too soon for him.

On Clarke and Muniz, Carrick had this to say: “We’re as was, injury wise. Clarkey is going to be out a little bit longer. He’ll be out for a little longer, but hopefully, we will have a little bit more information on that soon. We’re still trying to do some work because he’s having problems with his back. We’re working hard to fix that.

“Rodrigo, meanwhile, is probably back in amongst it in the next week or two, so we’ll be delighted to have him back and have that option again.”