‘There’s been an uplift’: Blackpool boss Michael Appleton assesses early impact of Manchester United legend Michael Carrick on Middlesbrough

The Manchester United legend brings his side to Bloomfield Road off the back of a solid four-point haul from his opening three games.

While it might not sound like much, Boro were clearly struggling under previous boss Chris Wilder prior to his sacking, losing six in 10 games at one point.

The Riverside outfit, who were tipped by many to challenge for promotion before a ball was kicked, remain in a lowly 20th place, one point above the dropzone and one point behind Blackpool in 18th.

That makes it a pivotal encounter for both sides, with the Seasiders looking to arrest their recent back-to-back losses against West Brom and Luton Town respectively.

Assessing tonight’s opponents, Appleton said: “They’ve changed shape a little bit since he’s taken over, because they’ve gone with a four in recent weeks.

“We’re potentially having a look at that and thinking they might stick with the same, but we’re prepared if they go back to a back three.

“They’ve done alright, they’ve done what you would expect when a new manager goes in. There’s been an uplift.

“They beat Hull and they’ve picked up a couple of decent points since, so it’s going to be a tough fixture.

“They’ve got a lot of quality players in a squad people expected to be in and around the top six. Like this division can do to you, if you get on a good run there’s no reason with the quality of players they’ve got they can’t do that.

“But as it stands at this moment in time their first focus is to pull away from the bottom three and we’ve got an opportunity to stop them doing that.”

Middlesbrough are due to be backed by over 2,500 fans tonight, with pay on the gate also available to visiting supporters.

This fixture was originally due to be played in September but was postponed as a sign of respect following the death of The Queen.

Boro have confirmed tickets purchased for the original fixture remain valid.