MIDDLESBROUGH are sweating on the fitness of Hayden Hackney ahead of Saturday's trip to Championship leaders Leicester after the midfielder was forced off in the final stages of Wednesday night's defeat at Preston.
Boro could also again be without Dael Fry against the Foxes, with the defender having missed the Preston game because of a pelvic injury.
And in a third injury blow, Michael Carrick admits Josh Coburn is "struggling" with his ongoing groin issue that has forced the striker to miss the last two games.
There is more promising news on Emmanuel Latte Lath, who is closing in on a return, but Carrick admits he has to tread carefully and doesn't want to risk rushing the striker back too soon.
Carrick is yet to make a decision on whether Latte Lath could feature at Leicester and the head coach will today be anxiously awaiting an update on Hackney.
"I haven’t spoken massively to him about it but I think he twisted his knee," said Carrick after the midfielder had to be replaced in the last minute of the Preston defeat.
"Sometimes they can be alright, other times they can be a little bit nasty once they stiffen up a little bit. We’ll have to wait and see on that one too.
“Dael has picked up a bit of a pelvic/groin issue. We’ll have to see how that settles down between now and Saturday."
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The defeat at Preston once again highlighted the importance of Boro getting their strikers back fit and available but while Latte Lath is nearing a return, the picture doesn't look as positive for Coburn as things stand.
Carrick said: “Manu is touch and go for Saturday, but he’s been out for a long time so we have to be a little bit careful with him.
"It’s the same issue for Josh. It’s been a bit of a struggle for a number of weeks now for Josh and we’ve tried to manage it as best we could but he’s struggling a little bit.
"We don’t know at this stage how long. We hope it won’t be long-term, and we hope it will settle down at some stage with a bit of time off. We’ve been trying to manage it over a period of time now. We were getting away with it a little bit, but then it got a little bit worse, so we’ve had to take a step back and wait and see."
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