The impending £5 million arrival of Gary O'Neil into the Boro first team will leave Gareth Southgate with a quandry.

O'Neil will slot into the right side of midfield which will leave Fabio Rochemback and Julio Arca sweating on their places.

The two South Americans have formed an effective partnership in central midfield - they again excelled in the comfortable 2-0 win over Birmingham - but there appears little doubt George Boateng will be back in his more accustomed central role at West Ham in a fortnight.

The skipper has been merely filling in on the right prior to O'Neil's arrival much in the same way as Lee Cattermole - another desperate for a first team start - did earlier in the season.

It's a headache Southgate will only be too happy to have with competition for places necessary if Middlesbrough are to challenge at the top half of the Premier League.

How he keeps his players happy will be a measure of how Southgate the manager has developed in his first year in charge at the Riverside.