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Middlesbrough v Aston Villa: Irresistible force and the immovable object

What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?

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The answer may well arrive tomorrow evening at the Riverside Stadium, when Villa’s red-hot attack takes on Middlesbrough’s mighty defence.

Albion might still hold the crown as the Championship’s top scorers but Dean Smith’s men are closing in fast, having plundered 12 goals in the last three games, including nine over the course of the past week.

A Boro defence which has conceded just 10 league goals to this point will now pose by some distance the toughest challenge yet.

“It should make for a really good game,” said Smith yesterday, before pointing out the irresistible force-immovable object paradox was supposed to have been answered on Wednesday night, when Villa put five past a Nottingham Forest outfit who arrived with the division’s second-best backline.

The head coach and his staff spent yesterday morning trying to make sense of the madness from that particular 10-goal thriller.

For all Villa’s undeniable defensive frailties, there is also no disguising the fearsome power of their frontline.

“I certainly wouldn’t want to be a defender playing against us at the moment,” said Smith.

“There is certainly a lot of attacking intent from ourselves and we will hope to shut up shop the other side.

“We will be working on that and hopefully getting the performance we need.”

On that point, Smith believes the surgery needed on Villa’s defence is not major.

He continued: “There is not a lot of fixing that needs doing. I know we have conceded five goals at home and I can look stupid saying that.

“But as I’ve said before, we have gone to Derby and kept a clean sheet. We have kept clean sheets against Swansea and Bolton.

“I think my first five games we conceded only three goals. All of a sudden, there is a local derby and you never know what you are going to get. Wednesday night was a bit of a cuckoo game.”

The presence of Tony Pulis’s Boro in the top six is perhaps the most predictable element of a division which is otherwise proving to be anything but.

Smith, who has faced Pulis only once before in the dugout, is a huge admirer of the Welshman.

“I have met him a few times and he is a really nice guy. Very down to earth and humble,” said the Villa boss.

“He is very good at what he does. We drew the match 1-1 with Boro at Brentford last season and they were a really good test.

“It is great to pit your wits against these coaches who have amassed so many games.”

Boro’s defence, for all its brilliance to this point, has been breached by both Preston and Brentford in the past week.

Villa’s backline will feature a change, with Alan Hutton sitting out after picking up his fifth booking of the season against Forest. Ahmed Elmohamady is the Scot’s ready-made replacement.

An ankle injury will, meanwhile, deny Albert Adomah the chance to face the club he nearly rejoined in the summer. Anwar El Ghazi could start on the wing.

Likely line-up:

Likely line-up

Subs: Hourihane, Doyle-Hayes, O’Hare, Bolasie, Hogan, Blackett-Taylor, Bunn (gk).

Boro (4-3-3): Randolph, Fry, Flint, Batth, Friend, Howson, Clayton, Besic, Downing, Hugill, Braithwaite.