Garry Monk’s Boro opened their campaign with a 1-0 defeat at Wolves on the opening day, while newly-promoted Sheffield United picked up a narrow 1-0 victory at home to Brentford.
Boro have lost their last four games in all competitions, while United have won their last six, making for an intriguing meeting on Saturday evening.
TV CHANNEL & LIVE STREAM
In the UK, the match will be available to watch live on television on Sky Sports Football, Sky Sports Main Event, and by stream via Sky Go and NOW TV.
If you live outside of the UK, you will be able to stream all of your club’s non-televised matches live through the Football League’s new iFollow service this season.
A subscription to the platform costs £110 for the 2017-18 campaign and will grant you full access to up to 46 games. For more details, see the EFL’s website.
SQUAD & TEAM NEWS
While the Boro back five almost selects itself, Monk may opt to tweak the team he selected for last weekend’s visit to Wolves.
Forshaw may come in for De Roon, who has joined Serie A side Atalanta, while Patrick Bamford is an option to replace Ashley Fletcher up front.
Possible line-up: Randolph; Christie, Ayala, Gibson, Friend; Howson, Clayton, Forshaw; Bamford, Braithwaite; Assombalonga.
Blackman will continue in goal as Moore continues his recovery from knee surgery.
Evans is in contention to start on Saturday, having made an appearance in the midweek EFL Cup tie against Walsall, though Clarke is likely to partner Sharp up front.
Possible line-up: Blackman; Basham, Stearman, O’Connell; Freeman, Coutts, Carruthers, Fleck, Stevens; Clarke, Sharp.
BETTING & MATCH ODDS
Middlesbrough are heavy favourites to claim the three points in their first home league game of the season, with Dabblebet offering odds of 19/20 for a Boro win.
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Should you wish to bet on Sheffield United registering a second win in as many games, you can gets odds of 3/1.
GAME PREVIEW
Boro were the early title favourites before Saturday’s defeat to Wolves and Monk will be demanding a reaction from his players to ensure they do not start their campaign with back-to-back defeats.
A mistake from Daniel Ayala against Wolves allowed Leo Bonatini to open his account for the Molineux club, with Boro’s new-look squad unable to recover anything from the game.
Britt Assombalonga will be expected to find the net on Saturday following his £15 million transfer from Nottingham Forest in the summer, though United’s three-man backline of Jack O’Connell, Richard Stearman and Chris Basham proved solid last weekend.
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Again it was Sharp who was the match-winner for the Blades, scoring the only goal of the game against Brentford in the first half.
United are riding a wave at present, with Sharp at the head, but will have their work cut out if they are to overcome the might of what many consider the strongest squad in the division.
