MIDDLESBROUGH aren't so much a striker light as an entire attacking line absent at present, but Jeremie Aliadiere finally provided Gareth Southgate with some good news last night when he targeted a comeback against Chelsea on October 20.

Having finished last weekend's 2-0 defeat at Everton with a strike-force comprised of Tom Craddock and David Wheater, Southgate faces an anxious three days as he ponders his starting line-up to face Manchester City this weekend.

Mido is currently nursing a niggling hamstring problem which is also affecting his back, while Tunçay Sanli is a doubtful starter on Sunday as he continues to suffer severe bruising around his ankle.

Aliadiere has already been ruled out of the trip to the City of Manchester Stadium as he recovers from the hamstring tear he sustained at West Ham last month.

But having received the all-clear to step up his rehabilitation following a scan on Monday, the Frenchman is confident of being fit enough to face Chelsea in Boro's first game after the forthcoming international break.

"I expect to be back and available for the Chelsea game," revealed Aliadiere, who has made six senior appearances for the Teessiders since a £2m move from Arsenal in the summer. "That's my target and, at the moment, I'm fairly confident of hitting it.

"I'm feeling much better. I had a scan on Monday morning and it showed the damage I had is now back to normal and repaired.

"That means I can start to push things forward a bit more now, and I'm hoping to be back in training in a week or so.

"With the international break coming around then, that should mean I have at least a week of full training to get myself in shape for the Chelsea game."

While Aliadiere is still to score his first goal in a Middlesbrough jersey, his return will represent a major boost given the side's recent failure to find the target.

The Teessiders haven't scored in three of their last four games, a sequence has seen them tumble to 14th in the Premier League table and crash out of the Carling Cup.

Aliadiere's arrival this summer was indicative of Southgate's desire to introduce a more energetic attacking style, a change of approach that may have to be tempered if the club's current injury problems do not begin to ease.

Prior to the 24-year-old's injury, however, there were signs that Southgate's re-modelling work was having the desired effect, and Aliadiere is confident of picking up where he left off when he returns to the team.

"It's been a difficult period because a lot of our players have been injured at the same time," he said. "The problems seem to have really hit the strikers. Not only have I been out, but Tunçay and Mido have had their problems as well.

"We started the season off quite well, but we haven't been scoring enough goals recently. It hasn't really been a lack of chances - I think we've been playing well enough in the majority of the games - it's just that none of the strikers have been fit enough to play a full 90 minutes.

"We're going to have battle our way through the Manchester City game at the weekend, but hopefully things will be back to how they were after the international break."