So Stoke come to the Riverside in what could prove to be a physically demanding game but do you expect a win? I do yes.

Stoke may have just come back over a good result against Aston Villa last weekend but hey, so what? How many times do you see a team that has been promoted win their first game and pundits galore saying ‘ooo they could stay up’ not many by my reckoning. I’m afraid to say it but Bolton have beaten us in terms of metaphorically saying the words ‘welcome to the premiership’ and then booting them out of next week - from our perspective we can just shout the words ‘yeah!’ and then give them a good beating ourselves. Tony Pullis of course will be aware of that and with Stoke will be fielding a physically strong team.

Not long to go till the January transfer window of course but ironically we are in the market for a keeper whilst Stoke are in the market for a striker, and yes they may have Ricardo Fuller and Dave Kitson but do you really see them going past our back line…No.

It looks as if Hoyte will be getting his Premiership debut so if that’s the case he would have to reshuffle the pack by moving Wheater in and Poggy on the left, missing out Andrew Taylor and yes he can’t not play Taylor because he is our only natural left back but you can’t please everybody.

Midfield I’m itching to see Digard play, as unfortunately I couldn’t get the opportunity to go on Tuesday but the power of Youtube made me see that we could have a very good player on our hands. Aliadiere will start on the right no doubt but he will have to be careful……Wheaters not protecting him now but we can only keep our fingers crossed that our new right hand side is as stable as previous in Young and O’Neil (of course more attacking as well).

Strikers…Well we are all itching for Alves and Tuncay to find the net and whilst we scratch away (Ed, stop using that Lynx you got for Xmas then) Mido seems to be filling the goal scoring void. 3 in 3 he has and hopefully he can spring us back to life if we need it.

I’d expect us to be strong at the back and we will have time to attack but because of the way Stoke play and their away they will sit deep so the first goal for us might be a little late. If it’s not and it’s within the first 10-15 minutes a rout could be on the cards.

2-0 Boro but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s more.

Come on Boro!!!

MarkA