Daniel Farke's 'top class' Middlesbrough verdict and Leeds United warning

DANIEL Farke has warned his Leeds United players they'll face a "highly motivated" Middlesbrough at the Riverside on Monday - and has been enormously impressed by Michael Carrick's side in recent weeks.

Leeds head for Teesside in desperate need of three points after a three-game winless run that has left them needing snookers in the race for automatic promotion.

Leicester's win over West Brom on Saturday left Leeds four points adrift of top spot and Farke's side also trail Ipswich by a couple of points. They need to win at Boro but having studied Carrick's side, Farke knows that won't be easy.

"It's a side which in recent weeks has had really good performances and an unbeaten run, many good wins and top-class performances," said the German boss.

"They're a side who at the beginning of the season would have spoken about wanting to finish in the top six and there's still a chance so I expect them to be highly motivated and perhaps to play with a bit less pressure because they have nothing to lose any more, they can just win something.

"It's a pretty local game and they will be highly motivated for an outstanding performance and a good result so I expect a really tough game for us.

"We know we have to be at our best to give ourselves a chance to win the points."

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Farke tried his best to ease the pressure on his players ahead of the Riverside trip.

"The pressure we have is we're in a privileged position and we want to use it," he said.

"We're playing a top-class season in many terms. our points tally is remarkable, goal difference is remarkable, we are by far the best team in the second half of the season, our defensive record is remarkable so in many statistics we are more or less leading this league.

"The lads are playing a fantastic season so far.

"We do it step by step and it's brought us into the privileged situation that we will definitely finish this season in the top four and once you are capable of this you want to take the last step for a perfect season.

"We want to be promoted and we have two chances - if we finish in the top two or if not by using the play-offs.

"We know we've had a fantastic season but we want to use it to have the perfect season and be promoted back to the Premier League. We want to do this.

"We're all highly motivated. It's more like intrinsic pressure we have."