Two of the Championship's top three teams go head to head this weekend as Bournemouth welcome Middlesbrough to Dean Court in the early Saturday kickoff.

The hosting Cherries have occupied an automatic promotion spot for much of the season but now find themselves third in the standings with eight games remaining, two points adrift of both Boro in second and leaders Watford.

Plenty more twists and turns are sure to come in the final pages of a thrilling battle for automatic promotion, with Norwich City and Derby County still in the mix just three points further back from Bournemouth.

Eddie Howe's side loosened their grip on the title with a five-match winless streak in February, but they seemed to be back to their best at the start of March as they began the month with three consecutive wins that saw them score 11 goals.

They dropped valuable points on Tuesday night, however, as Cardiff City came from a goal down to rescue a 1-1 draw in South Wales, handing Watford and Boro the initiative in the title race.

The Cherries have the chance to wrestle that back from Boro at least this weekend, and they will be glad to return to their own turf having gone six matches without defeat at Dean Court and lost just one of their last 15 in front of their own fans.

Ipswich Town are next up after Middlesbrough, but from then on the run-in has been relatively kind to Bournemouth, with their final six matches all coming against teams currently in the bottom half.

That could end up being a telling advantage considering many of the other promotion candidates have a difficult end to the campaign, and victory on Saturday would only strengthen Bournemouth's position further.

Brett Pitman's rich vein of form in front of goal dried up against Cardiff, but he still has five goals in his last three outings and could again be preferred to Yann Kermorgant up front.

He will be joined by Callum Wilson, who was harshly denied just a second goal in his last eight during the week after blocking a goalkeeper's kick and sliding the ball into the empty net.

Harry Arter's stunner did count in that match, however, and the midfielder is expected to continue in what could be an unchanged lineup for the hosts.

Boro also have a man in form in the shape of Patrick Bamford, who got the only goal of the game to beat Derby at the iPro Stadium on Tuesday and make it four in his last four appearances.

That victory saw Boro successfully negotiate a second successive difficult hurdle in their tricky end to the season, having cruised past another playoff contender in Ipswich Town just three days earlier.

In addition to Bournemouth, Aitor Karanka's side still have Watford, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Norwich to play before the end of the season, which could prove to be either a blessing or a curse depending on the results.

The victory over Derby was their first in five matches on the road, and things won't get any easier in the coming weeks, with the games against Watford and Norwich also coming on away turf before a match against a Fulham side who could be fighting for their lives at the other end of the table.

Boro do have a very good record against teams in and around them in the standings, however, winning six and losing just two of their 10 games against sides currently in the top eight, conceding only six goals in the process.

Another victory this weekend would open up a five-point gap between themselves and third place, which would be every bit as valuable to the team as climbing back to the top of the table.

Karanka will assess the thigh injury suffered by Daniel Ayala in the win over Ipswich before Saturday's match, but should the Spaniard miss out then club captain Jonathan Woodgate could be in line for his third appearance in the space of eight days having only managed one game all season before last weekend.

The visitors have no new injury concerns to worry about, but Ryan Fredericks does remain sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Bournemouth:

Recent form: LDWWWD

Possible starting lineup: Boruc; Francis, Cook, Elphick, Daniels; Ritchie, Arter, Surman, Pugh; Pitman, Wilson

Middlesbrough:

Recent form: WLWLWW

Possible starting lineup: Konstantopoulos; Kalas, Woodgate, Gibson, Friend; Leadbitter, Clayton, Tomlin, Vossen, Adomah; Bamford

Sports Mole says: 1-1