Chris Wilder still believes Middlesbrough are one of the Championship's 'oustanding teams' and expects a tough game for his Sheffield United side on Wednesday evening at Bramall Lane.

The former Boro boss guided his Blades side to second in the league on Saturday with a 2-1 victory over Portsmouth. They host Boro while sitting 22 points above them in the table, having played just one game extra.

That's despite Boro beating his side at the Riverside back in October - one of just five defeats Wilder's side have suffered all season. Boro travel to Bramall Lane with just two wins in nine games and desperately need to change the narrative as they face a battle to even make the play-offs now.

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Offering his verdict on his former side though, Wilder insisted: “It was a tough game up there and I’ve said they are one of the outstanding teams in the division, who are well coached and managed and a good group of players. I know a few of them obviously.

“They are really difficult opponents with controlled possession who create big chances - a really good side and I think it will be a really interesting game between two of the teams fancied to have really successful seasons.

"It was a tight game up there and we had opportunities to get ourselves in front and started quite well, but they managed to wrestle back that control and they were the better side in the second half and it was a tight game won by a fabulous pass and great finish."

The two sides were two of the busiest in the recent January transfer window. Boro added six new players during the window, while Sheffield United added seven. Wilder felt that upheaval contributed to his side's performance on Saturday.

Though they beat Pompey, he called his side 'unrecognisable' after the game and admitted he felt they didn't deserve anything from the game as he promised a 'big review' ahead of Boro's visit. Having mellowed slightly in the days since, however, he admits it's perhaps to be expected, in a point on a busy transfer window that could have similar implications for Boro too.

“Sometimes, when you do review a game from a manager and a coaching point of view, you look back and think it was okay and we played okay," Wilder said. "And sometimes, maybe emotionally after a roller-coaster of a game - which it was and I should imagine from a neutral, it was a decent game to watch.

“One of the biggest things I have looked at over the weekend is when you look at the team and what the players have done - to win the most games of football in the division and have points total that we do - we are still building.

“This is a team who were basically chucked together in pre-season and maybe I need to chill out a little bit and look at it from that point of view. There are a lot of clubs who are a lot deeper into their build and deeper into transfer windows as well.

“We are trying to integrate players and still win games of football and we’ve done that really successfully so far this season. I wouldn’t have wanted to bring this amount of players in at this stage of a season and it was never the plan at the start of the season, but it was a needs-must thing after losing Blaster [Ollie Arblaster] and [Harry] Souttar. So maybe we should expect one or two games like this [Portsmouth]. The magic thing about it is we are winning games of football."

In terms of availability for the game, Ollie Arblaster, Kieffer Moore and Femi Seriki miss out. With six loan players in their squad, they have to leave one out each match-day too, with Chelsea's Alfie Gilchrist the man to miss out at the weekend.

“Alfie’s attitude has been absolutely superb," Wilder said. "He needed to come out of the team. It was a tough gig for him for maybe two or three games. He’s a young player coming into Championship football and he’s played the majority of games and we knew we are slightly disadvantaged in terms of the loan ruling and six available slots, so we had to make a decision.

“We are getting back to a fully fit squad. Keiffer is not far away. Tom [Davies] will be involved on Wednesday night and Kieffer will be on Saturday and Femi is only a week or two away. Shacks [Jamie Shackleton] is back in full training, so we have only got Ollie Arblaster missing long-term.

“We have got 21/22 players to fit into 20. There’s going to be disappointed players not even getting on the bench. I’d rather have it that way and I’ve been consistent all the way through."