Coca-Cola Championship
Saturday November 21 2009
Middlesbrough v Nottingham Forest
Kick-off 3pm

THE two teams meet for the 61st time in the league and the second this season, after Boro lost 2-1 after extra-time in a Carling Cup second round tie at the City Ground in August.

The last league encounter was 10 years ago in the Premier League, with the last meeting at this level a year earlier, in the 1997/98 season.

Since goalkeeper Lee Camp joined Forest permanently in the summer, following a 15-game loan spell at the end of last season, he is yet to be on the losing side in any game away from the City Ground - a run that stretches 15 matches.

Dave Kitson scored for Stoke against Nottingham Forest in a pre-season friendly at the City Ground. If he plays he will be the 28th player used by Boro this season.

Injuries and suspensions

Emanuel Pogatetz has returned to training after having surgery on a fractured cheekbone almost three weeks ago. Boro have asked the Football League for permission to play him wearing a protective mask in tomorrow's game.

Caleb Folan, on loan from Hull City, has returned to light training after tearing a hamstring in late-September.

Chris Riggott is well on the comeback trail, having made one 70-minute and two 90-minute Reserve appearances in the last month as he returns from a double ankle operation.

Andrew Taylor has also played plenty Reserve minutes after an ankle ligament injury.

Jeremie Aliadiere is still some way off being back in training after undergoing an operation on an ankle injury.

Forest are hoping to be able to call on the services of striker Dexter Blackstock after he missed the last three games with a knee injury.

Chris Gunter, above, has recovered from a virus that forced him to miss Wales' comfortable win over Scotland on Saturday, but Billy Davies is without Nathan Tyson who was forced off with calf problems during Forest's 1-1 draw away on the same Cardiff pitch on November 1.

Guide to the opposition

Nottingham Forest need no introduction, but the once European giants are very much in the process of building their way back to the top.

Forest have been out the top flight for a decade but with no less than nine new recruits this summer will be looking to return for the first time this millennium.

Manager Davies took over on the first day of this year and ended up securing Championship status with only two weeks left of the season.

They sit eighth with 25 points, two places and two points better off than Boro.

One to watch

Radoslav Majewski scored his first goal in English football with a cracker in the Carling Cup meeting with Boro this season. He quickly followed up with an even better strike in their next game, one which will have meant a whole lot more to Forest fans, a 3-2 home win over Derby County.

Majewski, 23 next month, is a Polish international midfielder on loan from Groclin Grodzisk. He was in action for his country on Wednesday evening when replacing goalscorer Maciej Rybus for the last 13 minutes of a 1-0 win over Canada in Bydgoszcz.

He was an unused sub for the Poles' 1-0 defeat against Romania in Warsaw the previous Saturday.

Through the window

Boro

In: Mark Yeates (Colchester United - undisclosed), Danny Coyne (Tranmere Rovers - free), Leroy Lita (unattached), Sean St Ledger (Preston North End - three-month loan), Caleb Folan (Hull City - three-month loan), Marcus Bent (Birmingham City - two-month loan), Isaiah Osbourne (Aston Villa - two month loan), Dave Kitson (Stoke City - six-week loan).

Out: Ross Turnbull (Chelsea - out of contract), Stewart Downing (Aston Villa - £12m), Mido (Zamalek - year-long loan), Robert Huth (Stoke City - £5m rising to £6m), Tuncay (Stoke City - £5m), Afonso Alves (Al Sadd - undisclosed), Josh Walker (Northampton Town - loan).

Nottingham Forest

In: Dexter Blackstock (Queens Park Rangers - undisclosed), Joel Lynch (Brighton & Hove Albion - £200,000), Radoslaw Majewski (Polonia Warsaw - loan), Chris Gunter (Tottenham - £1.75m), Paul McKenna (Preston North End - £750,000), Lee Camp (Queens Park Rangers - undisclosed), David McGoldrick (Southampton - undisclosed), Dele Adebola (Bristol City - free), Paul Anderson (Liverpool - £250,000).

Out: Matt Thornhill (Brighton & Hove Albion - loan), Mark Byrne (Rushden & Diamonds - loan), Hamza Bencherif (Macclesfield Town - free), Shane Redmond (Burton Albion - loan), James Reid (Rushden & Diamonds - loan), Joe Heath (Lincoln City - loan), Brendan Moloney (Notts County - loan), Liam Hook (released), Ryan Whitehurst (released), Richard Tait (released), Tom Sharpe (released), Emile Sinclair (released), Adam Newbold (released), Patrick Gamble (released), Ian Breckin (released).

The Form Book

Nottingham Forest haven't lost away from home since the middle of March, a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Ipswich Town.

Davies' men are unbeaten in their last eight matches, having drawn their last three after five straight wins.

In fact Forest have lost just one of their last 13 matches in the league and have failed to score in just three of 18 games this season.

Before the international break Boro were defeated at home to Plymouth in Gordon Strachan's first game in charge, then away at Crystal Palace - their first back-to-back defeats of the season.

Last time out

August 25 2009

Carling Cup

Nottingham Forest 2 (Chambers 60, Majewski 103)

Middlesbrough 1 (Johnson 43)

For the second time in four seasons Boro exited the Carling Cup in round two at the hands of a Nottingham team, after squandering a lead away to Forest.

Nottingham Forest: Smith; Gunter, Morgan, Chambers, Davies (Tyson 66), Anderson (McGoldrick 79), Majewski, McKenna (Capt), Cohen, Earnshaw (Adebola 79), Blackstock. Unused subs: Camp (gk); Garner, Fairclough, Mitchell.

Middlesbrough Coyne; Hoyte, Wheater, Huth (Capt), Taylor, Yeates, Williams, Arca (Bennett 105), A Johnson, Emnes (Lita 65), Aliadiere (Franks 83). Unused subs: Steele (gk); McMahon, Hines, Grounds.

Referee: Kevin Wright

Bookings

Nottingham Forest: Gunter, 74, ungentlemanly conduct.

Middlesbrough: None

Attendance: 8,838 (1,721 Boro)

Conditions: Warm and dry with no breeze.

Website Boro Man of the Match: At times an average team performance, but David Wheater won most things at the back.

Referee:

Lee Probert

This is Mr Probert's first visit to the Riverside since the visit of Chelsea at the end of January.

This season five of his nine games have been in the Premier League. In those nine games he has shown 32 yellow and two red cards.

Weather

A humid day with light rain is forecast. Temperature are expected to peak at 15, dropping to eight at night. A 23mph south-south-easterly wind is expected, with 94% humidity.

Tickets

Tickets are available for a game which will see the largest travelling contingent this season at the Riverside with Forest brining in excess of 3,000 fans.

Click here for all your ticket news.

Full coverage of the game will be available on Boro World. Right now on Boro World we have audio interviews with Gordon Strachan, new signing Dave Kitson, Marcus Bent and Julio Arca.