Tony Mowbray’s Championship side pulled off a surprise result at the Stadium of Light just over a week ago when they held their in-form Premier League neighbours to a 1-1 draw when Barry Robson’s first half volley for Boro was cancelled out by fit-again Black Cats hitman Fraizer Campbell in the second half.

However, while Boro might have felt they had a great chance to finish the job in front of their own fans this week, circumstances have cruelly gone against the Teessiders over the past 10 days with Mowbray admitting his squad is now “down to the bare bones”.

Robson, fellow midfielder Faris Haroun, goalkeeper Danny Coyne and strike duo Scott McDonald and Marvin Emnes, who all started the original tie, have picked up injuries and look set to miss out to add to the costly absence of influential midfielder Nicky Bailey and striker Bart Ogbeche.

Boro do have first-choice goalkeeper Jason Steele back fit, while Julio Arca is available to face his former club having served a three-match suspension and 19-year-old striker Curtis Main (8/1 First Goalscorer) is set to be handed his first start alongside January signing Lukas Jutkiewicz (15/8 Anytime Goalscorer) in attack.

The form book is not too good for Boro as Saturday’s goalless draw against Crystal Palace was their third successive stalemate in all competitions, while they have not won a league game since the 1-0 Boxing Day home victory against Hull City.

Boro have struggled for Championship wins at home all season as they have drawn eight times at the Riverside, while they have not scored more than one goal on home soil in their last seven outings.

On the other hand Sunderland make the short trip down the A19 from Wearside still brimming with confidence from a magnificent run of form inspired by the arrival of new boss Martin O’Neill in December.

The Northern Irishman has guided the Black Cats to seven Premier League wins in 10 games at the helm, while Saturday’s 1-0 success at Stoke means they have won four of their last five on the road.

O’Neill also has selection problems to contend with as loan signings Wayne Bridge and Sotirios Kyrgiakos are ineligible, while skipper Lee Cattermole’s hamstring injury will again deny him a run out against his former club.

Nicklas Bendtner, Wes Brown, David Vaughan, Matt Kilgallon and Titus Bramble all remain on the sidelines.

However the original tie’s goal hero Campbell (11/2 Last Goalscorer) is set to feature and O’Neill is likely to stick with young winger James McClean (9/4 Anytime Goalscorer), who scored the winner at Stoke and caused plenty of problems for Boro at the Stadium of Light.

In recent meetings at the Riverside, Boro have not beaten their local rivals since a 3-0 win in September 2002, while there have been two draws and a Sunderland victory in the following three fixtures.

The two sides have met four times in the FA Cup over the years with the record standing at two wins apiece.

Following the original tie, we anticipated another close encounter between the two sides with even the prospect of extra times and penalties (23/10 Draw 90 Minutes).

However, while both teams have further depleted squads to select from, we now feel the loss of at least five regular first-team players will leave Boro too short to pull off an upset and fully expect Sunderland to get the job done within 90 minutes.

Prediction: Sunderland Away 90 Minutes @ 21/20
Value Bet: Campbell 1st Goal Sunderland 2-0 Scorecast @ 33/1

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Miroslav Klose

The Germany striker is set to spend the next three weeks on the sidelines at Bayern Munich after aggravating a thigh muscle injury in training.

Klose was originally injured playing for his country and he was enjoying a superb run of form for the national side, with six goals in four games this season leaving him only 10 away from equalling Gerd Mueller’s all-time record of 68 in a Germany shirt.

But his domestic record has not been impressive for a while, failing to notch in six Bundesliga appearances this term following on from his most meagre year when he bagged three times in 25 league appearances for the double-winning Munich club.

Having sat out Tuesday night’s 2-1 win over Werder Bremen in the German Cup with ‘flu, Klose pulled up in training and a scan revealed the damage.

Van Gaal will turn to Mario Gomez again tonight with Tony Kroos and Thomas Muller in support as the champions bid to stop a run of results which has seen them take just four points in the last four games.

Injuries can easily be blamed with wingers Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben out for long spells, the latter not having played all season.

The key duo have now been joined on the sidelines by captain Mark van Bommel, defenders Diego Contento and Breno as well as midfielder David Alaba.

With Klose out and fellow striker Ivica Olic still required to wear a facemask to protect a broken nose, Gomez is Bayern’s only fit all-out striker – and he has only scored three times – a hat-trick against hannover a fortnight ago.

Bayern’s lowly tally of eight goals represents the worst return from any club in the Bundesliga this season and they sit 12 points behind pacesetters Mainz going into this weekend’s matches, in 11th place.

Muller, a star of the World Cup who bagged a hat-trick against England, has now failed to score in nine matches for club and country and looks to be struggling in the elevated expectations  of him post-South Africa.

Freiburg are not expected to get much from their Friday night trip to the Allianz arena but can at least boast an in-form striker in Papiss Cisse.

The 25-year-old has scored eight times in nine Bundesliga matches this season and bagged in their shock midweek Cup defeat to second division Energie Cottbus.

Freiburg, however, have lost their last three away matches by a 2-1 scoreline (Bayern 2-1 7/1 in Correct Score) and will be expected to go down again on Friday.

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