MIDDLESBROUGH will take on three of their fellow promotion hopefuls in the next two weeks, but Michael Carrick insists his side will not be taking their eye off the ball when they entertain Swansea City this afternoon.

After taking on the Swans, Boro’s next three matches pit them against Hull City, Ipswich Town and Leeds United.

That trio of games is likely to be prove decisive when it comes to the Teessiders’ promotion hopes, but the results could be largely irrelevant if they fail to take all three points against 15th-placed Swansea.

Carrick accepts as much, and is adamant there is no chance of him or his players overlooking the importance of today’s game in order to focus on the other fixtures that lie just around the corner.

The Boro boss said: “We certainly can’t look beyond this game. We know we need to perform. We’ve got a game to play, so as much as there might be a week to plan for from a certain perspective, that certainly doesn’t mean we’ll be taking our eye off Saturday. Saturday is the most important game, bar none.

“I just think any team in this league, at any point, can be a dangerous proposition if you’re not right. If we’re not quite at our level, then we know what will happen.

“They’ve got good players, and they’ve got that style of play where playing in a relaxed frame of mind could make them quite dangerous.

“We know that, but it’s about us. It’s about us finding our level. We’ve got the right motivation because that comes anyway, but in terms of everything that goes into the game, we’ve got to be top. That’s the time of year it is, and we know that.”

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Swansea are one of the few Championship clubs with nothing really to play for in the final six games of the season. They are 17 points off the play-off positions, but also a fairly comfortable seven points clear of the bottom three.

Their only win in the last five games came in the South Wales derby with Cardiff City, but Carrick is respectful of the threat they will pose at the Riverside.

He said: “They’re (Swansea) a good footballing team. I think the next three games we’ve got next week are very similar styles of games. Swansea have always been that, they play in a certain way and it’s difficult to get the ball off them.

“They’ve always been that for as long as I’ve played against them. They’re very similar now. We know what type of a game it’s going to be, and it’s going to be a challenge.

“We’ll have to be good without the ball, and certainly good when we have it, like we were last week (against Sheff Wed) and down at Southampton. We need to get the mix right.”