Bates out for Boro

Middlesbrough will be without suspended midfielder Matthew Bates for tomorrow’s Barclays Premier League trip to Stoke.

Bates will serve a one-match ban after being sent off for two bookable offences during the 1-1 draw with Portsmouth last weekend.

Skipper Emanuel Pogatetz will undergo a late fitness test on a knee injury which forced him out of the Pompey game, while Jeremie Aliadiere is also a doubt with an unspecified knock.

Gary O’Neil and Justin Hoyte (both groin) are back in training, but Didier Digard (knee and thigh) and Chris Riggott (knee) remain on the sidelines.

Provisional squad: Jones, Turnbull, Hoyte, McMahon, Taylor, Pogatetz, Wheater, Huth, Arca, O’Neil, Downing, Aliadiere, Walker, A. Johnson, Tuncay, Emnes, King, Alves, Franks.