Middlesbrough are in dire straits and they have four matches left if they want to survive in the English football elite. Positioned 19^th with 31 points from 34 matches, they are three point from 17^th placed Hull City and this fixture with Manchester United could not have arrived at a worse possible moment. Then again, should they extract something from this match, it could just give them the spirits to reach for greater things until the end.
 
Meanwhile, United are chasing the Quadruple and they must re-focus their attention on the Premiership after their European antics in midweek. Tuesday’s second leg of the Champions league semi-final against Arsenal at the Emirates must be put on the shelf for the moment, as United need to concentrate on maintaining their lead from Liverpool pursuing in second place. The Red Devils need to bag 10 more points – that’s all that’s needed of them to get the second hattrick of Premier League titles, and the first three of those 10 points could come from Riverside.
 
Victory would place Ferguson's side six points ahead of second placed Liverpool. They would then have played the same number of games, ahead of the Merseysiders' home match with Newcastle on Sunday lunchtime.
 
Rio Ferdinand is a major doubt for the match - the scan on his rib injury might dispel the fears he will miss next Tuesday's Champions League match at Arsenal.
 
Ferdinand suffered the injury in the 1-0 semi-final, first-leg win over the Gunners at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
 
Ferguson is most likely to leave Ferdinand out of the squad for Middlesbrough to ensure that he has a fighting chance to recover in time for the Arsenal clash. Defensibly, the United manager should not be too worried, as Middlesbrough are a team that has the worst offensive record in the Premiership: they have scored the least goals and have not penetrated the defence of the opposition in 16 Premier League games.
 
On the last occasion that the Teesiders registered a win over their illustrious opponents in the Premier League, was the 4-1 victory at the Riverside on 29 October 2005.