English Championship side,
Middlesbrough are expected to arrive back in England later this week for their
Championship play-off semi final first leg match against Brentford at Griffin Park.
Kenneth Omeruo and his compatriots traveled to Spain on Monday for warm weather training
ahead of the first leg on Friday, 8 May.
Aitor Karanka’s Boro side are
favourites to advance to the play-off finals at Wembley after they finished
fourth in the Championship. They lost out narrowly to automatic promotion to
Bournemouth and Watford respectively. While Brentford
just squeezed into the play-off spot on the last day of the Championship
regular season last weekend.
Middlesbrough had the upper hand when both sides
met during the regular season. Winning 4-0 at the Riverside Stadium, and 0-1
away at Griffin Park in January.
Kenneth Omeruo, who is on a season
long loan from Chelsea was an unused substitute
in Middlesbrough’s last match against Brighton
when they played out a goalless draw at home having secured their play-off
spot. The Super Eagles defender has been plagued by injuries for most of the
season, and he has had to play behind first choice duo Daniel Ayala and Ben
Gibson for much of this season.
However, the AFCON, 2013 winning
defender would want to finish the season with a flourish, as Middlesbrough
aim to play in the Premier League next season. Speaking ahead of the match, out going
Brentford manager Mark Warburton concedes that Boro are a formidable side. “They
are a formidable opponent, well-organised, with many talented players” he said.
While Bournemouth and Watford have been promoted to the Premiership by
finishing first and second in the Championship respectively, the battle to join
them starts on Friday. Apart from the match between Boro and Brentford coming
up on Friday, Ipswich and Norwich
will slug it out in the other semi finals, as the four teams bid to seal the
last remaining Premiership spot.
Middlesbrough have received plaudits
for their defensive display this season as they finished with the best defence
in the English second tier, conceding just 37 goals in 46 league matches.
However, they will have to dig deep to overcome a Brentford side that finished
the season in high spirit after they secured their play-off spot on the last
day of the regular season.
Photo Credit: Teesside Gazette
