Friday night's contest on matchday 19 in the Championship is a battle between two of the division's top seven as Ipswich Town host Middlesbrough at Portman Road.

Both sides were in the playoffs last year and both fell to Norwich City, Ipswich in the semi-finals and Boro at Wembley in the final.

Ipswich

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Mick McCarthy's side seem to be back to their best after a barren spell of just one win in 10 league games which saw them slump from the top of the pile down to mid-table.

The Tractor Boys have won three of the last four, scoring 10 goals in those victories, to climb back up to seventh and only out of the playoff places on goal difference.

Friday's game will be the second week in a row that they have played in a televised game and they will hope to emulate last Saturday's win at Charlton Athletic when they put three past the Addicks at The Valley.

Daryl Murphy, last season's Championship top-scorer, has been key to the Blues' recent upturn in form. The Irishman, who failed to score in his first 13 games this term, netted a brace in South London to take his tally to six in three games.

Murphy also scored in both matches against Middlesbrough last season, so will be confident of extending his scoring streak.

The Blues will be wary of David Nugent playing against them - the Boro striker has scored 14 goals in 13 games against the Suffolk side and every time he has been to Portman Road - but captain Luke Chambers is confident that they can nullify his threat.

Ipswich, along with Boro, had the best home record of any team in the Championship last season, but this term they have won just three of nine in Suffolk and only one of the last seven.

Recent form: DDWWDW

Boro

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Five wins in six and four clean sheets in five - Boro are flying high in the Championship and currently occupy second place behind still-unbeaten Brighton & Hove Albion, who they will overtake if they win at Portman Road and the Seagulls fail to beat Charlton at home tomorrow.

Last weekend Aitor Karanka's men used one early and one late goal to see off Huddersfield Town and keep their place in the top two after 18 games of the season.

Unlike Ipswich, the Smoggies have been in midweek action and fell to Premier League side Everton in the Capital One Cup quarter-finals after memorably knocking out Manchester United on penalties at Old Trafford in the previous round.

Two goals in nine first-half minutes from in-form duo Gerard Deulofeu and Romelu Lukaku gave Everton the lead and they never gave it up, becoming the first side to score more than one at the Riverside in 34 games.

Emilio Nsue's 84th-minute goal against Huddersfield last week was Boro's league-high ninth in the final 15 minutes of Championship matches this season - Ipswich have scored the fewest in the closing stages of matches with only one.

Recent Championship form: WWWLWW
Recent form (all competitions): WWLWWL

Team News

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McCarthy has said that David McGoldrick will be back in the squad on Friday, but that he will only come on for a quarter of an hour or so if Ipswich need a boost up front in the closing stages.

It could be an unchanged lineup for the home side after their big away win at Charlton, with Kevin Bru and Larsen Toure still sidelined.

Aitor Karanka made some changes for the midweek visit of Everton and could revert to the same lineup that won at Huddersfield last weekend.

Nugent, for one, is sure to return given his remarkable record against the Blues, while further back goalkeeper Dimitrios Konstantopoulos and left-back George Friend are likely to come into the backline.

Ipswich possible starting lineup:
Gerken; Chambers, Smith, Berra, Knudsen; Maitland-Niles, Skuse, Douglas, Sears; Murphy, Pitman

Boro possible starting lineup:
Konstantopoulos; Nsue, Ayala, Gibson, Friend; Leadbitter, Clayton; Stuani, Downing, Fabbrini; Nugent

Head To Head

Ipswich are unbeaten in their last nine home league encounters against Middlesbrough, winning the last three in a row.

The Smoggies did claim victory in the last contest in March, though, winning 4-1 at the Riverside to claim revenge after being outplayed by the Blues at Portman Road last December.

We say: Ipswich 1-1 Boro

Boro will start as slight favourites, but given that they played in midweek, Ipswich will fancy causing an upset. It is hard to separate the two and a 1-1 scoreline could be on the cards - the last 10 times Ipswich have drawn against a top-six side at home it has finished a goal apiece.

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