Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka has insisted that his side have to maintain their level of form through the hectic festive schedule.

The North-East outfit went top of the Championship briefly last week following their win over Ipswich Town, but are dropped down to second behind Brighton & Hove Albion as a result of the Seagulls' victory over Charlton Athletic.

Karanka has called on his players to retain their focus to keep their charge for promotion on course through a tricky month, starting against Birmingham City at the Riverside Stadium.

He told the club's official website: "It's especially tough for us this month because we have a lot of games and all of them are against teams at the top of the table so they're all direct promotion rivals so we have to keep going.

"We're going good. Our last game against Ipswich was a good way to start this run of games and now we have Birmingham which is going to be difficult."

Boro face Birmingham on Saturday.