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Burnley go into the game in 11th place in the Championship whilst Middlesbrough are down in 18th place - a far cry from those pre-season predictions that had Gordon Strachan's 'Boro set to win the title with Burnley, under the management of Brian Laws.
For Burnley there is still hope but anything but a win tonight would surely end those hopes. That one win on Saturday has given the place a lift; Leeds could only draw and we do have a chance still to make the top six.
It's not a good chance and we'd have to come fairly close to having a 100% record in the last remaining five games of the season, but whilst it's possible we can still hope it can be done.
To do it we'll need to beat Middlesbrough at home, and for those looking back to the last time it happened I can confirm it was as far back as 1975 for a league game although we did beat them in a League Cup tie in 1982.
Middlesbrough have not been regular visitors and this will only be their third league game here since that win in 1975 when Peter Noble scored three and Ray Hankin netted in a 4-1 win.
Nothing but a win will suffice tonight as we cling on to those last hopes.
In their second season in the Championship, Middlesbrough were clear favourites to win the league. They'd finished last season in a disappointing 11th place during which they sacked manager Gareth Southgate and replaced him with Gordon Strachan.
Strachan made a lot of changes to the squad, bringing in a number of players from Scotland, but things didn't work out as he or Middlesbrough had hoped and he himself was sacked back in October after just eight days short of a year in the job.
Strachan, just two days ago, said management is all about decision making and the more you get right the better manager you are. He admitted, at Middlesbrough, he'd got more wrong than right.
They were just above the drop zone then and the following week appointed former Middlesbrough player Tony Mowbray who, like Strachan, had been at Celtic with his previous job.
There was no early improvement, in fact they slumped before Christmas into the relegation positions, but since the New Year there has been a steady improvement as they've pulled away from any real relegation fears and they are now 10 points clear of the bottom three.
Scott McDonald is their leading goalscorer in the league with nine goals and scored the late equaliser in their 1-1 draw against Barnsley on Saturday.
There are likely to be changes in the 'Boro side from that which drew with Barnsley.
They are certainly without Marvin Emnes who is suspended but they do welcome Leroy Lita back after injury. Also in the squad is Adam Reach who has earned his call up with a reserve team hat trick.
Justin Hoyte and Merouane Zemmama are both out with hamstring injuries and former Charlton midfielder Nicky Bailey is also on the sidelines. However, Julio Arca and Matthew Bates are available again and Jonathan Franks and Luke Williams, both returning from injury could be available.
One player looking certain to play is Rhys Williams who just two years ago was caught up in our promotion chase, playing at right back through to the last league game of the season. Another former Claret, Danny Coyne, is expected to be named as a substitute.
Middlesbrough's line up against Barnsley was: Paul Smith, Tony McMahon, Andrew Davies, Stephen McManus, Joe Bennett, Barry Robson, Rhys Williams, Kevin Thomson, Andrew Taylor, Scott McDonald, Andy Halliday. Subs: Danny Coyne, Maximillian Haas, Jonathan Grounds, Mickael Tavares, Tarmo Kink, Richard Smallwood, Willo Flood.
There have been no reported problems in the Burnley squad and it seems unlikely there will be many if at all any changes to the squad from Saturday.
Marvin Bartley sits out the second of three games suspended following his sending off in training whilst for Shane Duffy, expected to be named as a substitute again, it is his last game with Burnley before he returns to Everton.
Should there be any changes I would suspect it will be in attack where Chris Iwelumo could be preferred to Nathan Delfouneso.
If that's the case the team would be: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Michael Duff, Andre Bikey, Danny Fox, Jack Cork, Dean Marney, Wade Elliott, Chris Eagles, Jay Rodriguez, Chris Iwelumo. Subs from: Lee Grant, David Edgar, Clarke Carlisle, Shane Duffy, Brian Easton, Graham Alexander, Ross Wallace, Steven Thompson, Nathan Delfouneso.
Burnley's last home game against Middlesbrough was a league encounter a week before Christmas 1994. Middlesbrough were already top of the league and heading for promotion whilst Burnley, newly promoted that year, were already sliding back down the league and were hovering just above the relegation four places.
The season had opened with a 2-0 defeat at Ayresome Park with John Hendrie scoring both goals. This time, in a game televised live by Granada, they and Hendrie went one better with him netting a hat trick in a 3-0 win against us.
It was a poor day for Burnley who also had Wayne Dowell sent off, the second of a run of four red cards in successive games.
The teams were;
Burnley: Marlon Beresford, Gary Parkinson, Steve Davis, Mark Winstanley, Wayne Dowell, Jamie Hoyland, Alan Harper (John Gayle), Adrian Randall, David Eyres, Adrian Heath, Liam Robinson (John Mullin).
Middlesbrough: Allan Miller, Neil Cox, Curtis Fleming, Steve Vickers, Derek Whyte, Nigel Pearson, Bryan Robson, Robbie Mustoe, Paul Wilkinson, John Hendrie, Alan Moore.
Previous 20 Seasons | |||||
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
1994/95 | 1 | a | 0-2 | 22,343 | |
h | 0-3 | 12,049 | |||
2010/11 | C | a | 1-2 | 15,033 | Bikey |