Preview: Middlesbrough away

Wolves head to the North-East to face Capital One Cup quarter-finalists Middlesbrough in the Championship this weekend. Our last two results have given fans a little bit of pre-Christmas cheer, with our 4-1 hammering of Bristol City followed on by success in the West Midlands derby with Birmingham City. However, such is the nature of the Championship that these two results have only moved us up 3 places to 16th - albeit we're only 5 points off the Play-Offs. A win tomorrow could see Stale Solbakken's men move into the top-half of the Championship for the first time since November 3rd.

Emnes scores the winner in the FA Cup meeting

However, previous meetings show Wolves should not expect that run to continue. Wolves haven't won away against this weekend's opponents since April 1951 in the Old First Division. Wolves have travelled to Teeside another 21 times without tasting victory. Indeed, out of those 21 games, Boro have won 12 and scored 34 goals (Wolves have only scored 13). That's a serious case of travel sickness! Our last meeting with Boro was in the FA Cup at Molineux back in our promotion season. Back then, goals from Afonso Alves and Marvin Emnes helped Boro to a 2-1 win in the 4th Round. Our last visit to the Riverside, however, goes back much further. It was in our first Premier League season in 03/04 where Gaizka Mendieta and Juninho condemned Wolves to a 2-0 defeat - made worse when Alex Rae was sent off late on for clashing with Danny Mills. Wolves got revenge though, beating Boro 2-0 at Molineux the following April - although the joy was shortlived as Wolves were relegated before the end of the season.

A foggy Riverside in Boro's shock 3-1 defeat to Bristol City

Middlesbrough's current Championship position won't do much to warm Wolves' hearts either. The Teesiders sit 3rd in the table, 6 points off top spot. However, their recent form has been of concern to their fans. Boro only have 2 wins in their last 5 games and have recently suffered defeats to Bristol City and Birmingham City - the 3-1 defeat to Bristol coming at a stunned (and very foggy) Riverside. However, bar that slip-up they actually have a good home record against bottom-side clubs - winning 5 out of 7 games. They've also won 4 out of their last 5 home games, scoring an average of 2.2 goals a game and conceding an average of just 1 goal a game. Boro have the 5th-best home record in the division, with an average of 2.2 points per game gained at home. One thing we have going for us is that Boro don't score first that often. In their 21 games this season, they've scored first just 10 times. However, their record when scoring first is impressive. They've won 8 out of those 10 games and lost 2. They've conceded first in 10 games too but their record for coming back is fantastic. They've come back to claim 13 points (4 wins, 1 draw) despite the opposition scoring first. So the key message for Stale Solbakken's side is - score at least twice!!

In terms of their team selection, Boro are facing late fitness tests for Grant Leadbitter, Faris Haroun, Andre Bikey, Andy Halliday and Seb Hines for various injuries, while it is expected that there will be some tired legs after a long trip and tough game away at Swansea City in midweek. Scott McDonald and former Coventry man Lukas Jutkiewicz are Boro's main goalscoring threats, although goals come throughout the team. One player who will be on a mission tomorrow is former-Wolves man George Friend. The left-back is a popular figure on Teeside and is regarded as one of their most consistent performers. He's been quoted as saying that, whilst moving to Wolves was the right choice for him but promotion to the top flight came too quickly for him and he would've wanted more time in the Championship to find his feet. But he's proving he can do it now and good luck to him - he's a really decent lad and someone who deserves a second shot at the top flight.

Kevin Thelwell (left) will be working even closer with Solbakken now

As for Wolves, well for once it's been a relatively quiet week in these parts. There's been no Twitter drama, no paint jobs and no destructive headlines. The only big news out of Molineux this week is the appointment from within of Kevin Thelwell to the Director Of Football post. I must admit, it's one I was a little surprised about - and perhaps a little disappointed with (I would've wanted someone with a greater grasp of European first-team football) but Dan Ashworth was an unknown who'd worked with Albion's academy and look at him now. Looks like we might be (finally) picking up some tips from our 'friends' down the road. Either way, there's no doubting the stellar work Thelwell has done with the Academy so the very best of luck to him in his new role. Hopefully it will see the football decisions taken out of Moxey's hands - something I think has needed to happen for quite a while now. 

Ebanks-Blake is set to make his 250th appearance for Wolves

On the footballing front, Wolves have quietly gone about their business, preparing for the long trip north and easing players into a Christmas period which will be new for a lot of them. We're looking to get 3 wins in a row for the first time since the 29th September. The signs are there though that performances are getting better. Last Saturday was the first time we'd not conceded in the second-half since our success at Blackburn in October. As mentioned, the trick for us is to score at least twice to have any hope of success against Boro. We haven't lost a game in which we've scored more than 1 goal this season, picking up 17 points in total. However, when we only score once we don't do so well - picking up only 11 points out of a possible 42 (the irony being that Boro have only picked up 4 points out of a possible 24). In terms of selection, there are no fresh injury worries for Wolves, with Stale Solbakken set to name an unchanged line-up from the derby win over Blues. This would mean that Sylvan Ebanks-Blake will make his 250th appearance in Wolves' colours - quite an impressive milestone when you consider his lack of action in the Premier League at times.

With Boro looking a little bit shaky recently and a Wolves side with confidence behind them, tomorrow's game is the first in a while that could break our poor record on Teeside. If we can, it'll set us up very nicely going into a tricky-looking Christmas period. It's a great chance to show just how far the last two games have taken us in terms of confidence too, and hopefully the players will produce another performance for the fans to be proud of after such a long journey there and back.

Prediction: Middlesbrough 1-1 Wolves

In Stale We Trust