Hull City are the visitors to the Riverside as Boro aim to return to winning ways in the Sky Bet Championship.
Ahead of the early kick-off on Saturday, here is a closer look at the Tigers...
The background
Hull have been a Championship club since 2021, when they returned to the second tier after a one-year stay in League One.
The Tigers, who have spent five seasons in the Premier League and reached the FA Cup final in 2014, narrowly missed out on a play-off place last term, finishing seventh.
This campaign has been more challenging, with Hull sitting inside the relegation zone ahead of their trip to Teesside, on 15 points from 17 games.
Their away record is respectable, with eight points collected from eight matches on their travels, but their last outing saw them beaten 2-0 on home soil by Sheffield Wednesday in midweek.
The boss
Tuesday's defeat to Wednesday marked the end for Tim Walter as Hull's head coach, with the German leaving his post after 17 league games in charge.
Walter replaced Liam Rosenior in the summer and a run of three straight victories in September and October appeared to put the Tigers on the right track, but they were unable to continue that momentum.
Andy Dawson, who spent a decade at the MKM Stadium as a player, is now in interim control of the team having previously been on the coaching staff.
This is Dawson's second spell in temporary charge of Hull's first-team.
Key players
Hull signed Italy international Joao Pedro in the summer, and he could prove vital to their fortunes in the remainder of the season. The experienced frontman has two goals to his name so far and will hope to regain the form which saw him hit double figures in three consecutive Serie A seasons between 2019 and 2022.
The team is captained by right-back Lewie Coyle, who has been a dependable figure since his arrival in 2020 while the club was in League One.
Regan Slater has also been a regular since the Tigers’ League One days, with his technical qualities vital in midfield.
Croatian goalkeeper Ivan Pandur, who joined from Fortuna Sittard in the summer, has plenty of potential, as does midfielder Gustavo Puerta, who made seven appearances in the Bundesliga for champions Bayer Leverkusen last season before moving on loan.
Xavier Simons is another player growing in stature at senior level, while England Under-20 international Abu Kamara, Canada forward Liam Millar and defender Alfie Jones are also important figures.
Past meetings
Last season's fixture between the sides at the Riverside went the way of Hull, who came from an Emmanuel Latte Lath goal behind to win 2-1.
The reverse fixture was an entertaining 2-2 draw, with Boro doing the double over the Tigers in the previous campaign.