Michael Carrick confirms significant Middlesbrough injury setback ahead of QPR clash | OneFootball

Middlesbrough will be without defender Rav van den Berg for their trip to QPR on Tuesday.

Middlesbrough will be without Rav van den Berg until after the international break due to a knee injury which prevented the defender from playing against Coventry City on Saturday.

The 21-year-old has been an impressive figure for Boro since his arrival from Zwolle in the summer of 2023, but he has suffered from a few issues this season, which has caused van den Berg to miss five games.

The latest of those was on Saturday, as ten-man Boro were comfortably beaten by Coventry at the Riverside Stadium.

Rav van den Berg injury latest

Boro had been waiting for further tests before discovering the extent of van den Berg’s injury, but those results have now come, with Carrick telling the Northern Echo that he will be without the youngster until later in the month.

“Rav’s not available unfortunately, and he’s going to be out for a number of weeks because he’s twisted his knee. He literally just planted his knee in training, and there’s a bit of a twist there.

“The international break will help us, in terms of him missing games. Hopefully, we’ll get him back at some point after that, but it’ll probably be a number of weeks.”

Middlesbrough prepare for QPR test

Therefore, George Edmundson and Matt Clarke are likely to continue in central defence against the R’s, although Dael Fry is now an option after returning from injury.

It wasn’t all bad news for Boro though, as Carrick confirmed that the exciting Ben Doak could be available for selection after he missed the Sky Blues defeat due to a minor hamstring issue.

“Ben’s in and around it. It was a fatigue thing really, as much as anything, and he just felt a tight hamstring. We’ll make a call on Ben as we travel down and see how things are looking tomorrow. Other than that, we’re alright.”

The Teesside outfit will be without Hayden Hackney for the trip to the capital, as the midfielder picked up two bookings last time out, so he will serve his one-game suspension.

Middlesbrough need to find consistency in promotion race

This is a frustrating blow for Boro, as van den Berg is a quality player, and he could certainly have made a difference as Carrick’s side look to find some consistency.

Generally, Boro have played well this season, and it could be argued that they deserve more points than they’ve picked up.

However, at the end of the day, they’re sitting 11th in the table, and whilst they’re only three points away from the play-off places, they trail the automatic promotion spots by eight.

There’s enough in the Boro squad for them to be aiming high, but they must show more consistency, and Carrick will be targeting back-to-back wins going into the break with fixtures against QPR and then Luton, with the two sides currently in the bottom four.

So, this feels like a great opportunity, and all connected to Boro will be desperate to bounce back from the disappointing defeat to Coventry on Saturday.