Middlesbrough will be favourites to kickstart their 2025 with a victory when they visit relegation-threatened Hull City this evening, but boss Michael Carrick has warned the Tigers will be no pushovers after a recent revival under new boss Ruben Selles.

The former Reading boss replaced Tim Walter at the start of January and has guided Hull out of the relegation zone with two wins from his five games in charge. The most recent of those victories came on Sunday when they did Boro a favour by beating in-form top-six rivals Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park, while they also recorded a draw against Watford earlier in the month.

Boro head to Humberside with no win in three games - though all three were draw, and the most recent was a respectable goalless battle with automatic promotion contenders Burnley at the Riverside.But asked about the next challenge at Hull, where Carrick will hope to maintain the defensive solidity while adding more attacking quality to dominate the game, the Boro boss insisted they can’t afford to take their hosts lightly.

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Carrick said: “They’re on a good run. That’s not really a surprise because they’ve got some good players. I think it was probably a matter of time before they turned their results around, so no surprise they’ve managed to. It will be another tough game going down there.”

There’s a better feeling at the MKM Stadium since Selles’ arrival last month. They’ve won two of their last three games and the Blackburn victory saw them record their first clean sheet since August 24 to win the game 1-0. The Spanish head coach is hoping it proves a big moment in their disappointing season to date.

He said: "We are really happy, of course. It's always a very difficult place to come; they were in good form. I think it was massive. We performed as good as the opponent, and I think we took our chances. The league is competitive, but we have also proved now in five games that we can compete against any team in the league, so I expect the team to compete in every single game."

Boro are likely to be without ten first-team players for the game, if you include Alex Bangura, whose long-term injury meant he wasn’t registered in the EFL squad for the first half of the season. They’ll welcome Rav van den Berg back from suspension, but Carrick wasn’t expecting any other absentees from Sunday to return on New Year’s Day.

The Boro boss said: “Tommy [Conway] will be out for a little bit – it’s probably more weeks than days. That’s not ideal, but it’s something we’ve got to deal with. In terms of other lads that are out, right now, we’re not expecting anyone new back for Hull.”