MIDDLESBROUGH'S progress on three separate fronts has given Steve McClaren plenty of selection dilemmas but he believes the gruelling fixture schedule is the envy of the rest of the Premiership.

Since the turn of the year Boro have already played 16 matches and have a further five, possibly six, remaining in March.

The first of those is the trek to Charlton tomorrow, a domestic league game that is sandwiched between the two legs with AS Roma in the UEFA Cup's last 16.

Having gained the slender advantage in the European tie, ahead of Wednesday's trip to the Stadio Olimpico, McClaren knows the only way to approach the trip to The Valley is to make changes.

The likelihood is that Mark Viduka, the unfortunate man to make way on Thursday night despite scoring the weekend winner over Birmingham, will be one of a number to be drafted in to the starting line-up again.

Juggling a European and Premiership campaign is a situation that, following the exits of Chelsea and Liverpool in the Champions League, only Arsenal and the Teesside outfit will have to contend with.

And it is for this reason, knowing there is a still a hurdle to climb in Italy next week, that McClaren insists he would not have the fixture pile-up any other way.

"It's tough playing all these games but it's a great position to be in," said McClaren.

"I'm sure there are a lot of managers in the Premier League who would like to be in this position because they would be in a lot of competitions and that's how we want it. Long may it continue, we want the fixtures to keep coming.

"The amount of games we have had this season, as it did last season, has contributed to injuries but that's the price you pay for the success we have had in getting into Europe. We have to freshen things up to make sure we cope."

The trip to Charlton will be Boro's 45th game of the season and they return to south-east London to face the Addicks in the FA Cup quarter-finals later this month.

The well-disciplined display against Roma has also given them every chance of making it through to the last eight of the UEFA Cup, but McClaren has warned of being distracted from domestic duties.

Victory over Birmingham has opened the gap between themselves and the relegation zone to 11 points, but he said: "It's very difficult to focus after being on such an emotional high and that's what we have to guard against on Sunday. What pleased me was the strength of the bench against Roma. It gives me pleasure to see that we can bring the likes of Viduka, Ehiogu and Parlour in."

Read more about Middlesbrough here.