Third from top meets third from bottom in the Championship on Good Friday as Middlesbrough welcome relegation-threatened Wigan Athletic to the Riverside Stadium.

Their respective goals for the season currently lie tantalisingly beyond them, but that could all change over the Easter weekend as the Championship campaign enters its final seven games.

Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough go into Friday's match only outside the automatic promotion places on goal difference and just one point adrift of leaders Bournemouth in a fascinating battle at the top of the table.

Victory over Wigan would send them back to the summit for a few hours at least, with Bournemouth and Watford not in action until later in the day and both facing matches against fellow promotion hopefuls.

It is an opportunity they can ill afford to pass up, with three members of the top eight awaiting them in their next four matches after this one. That run begins on Monday away to Watford as Boro cap off what could prove to be a decisive Easter weekend in the title race.

Their last four matches have all been against members of the top nine too, and it may come as some relief to Aitor Karanka to be out of such a high risk, high reward scenario against the Latics.

As his side are fully aware due to their current position, however, goal difference may be crucial in such a tight race, and as a result a narrow victory may not be deemed good enough in some quarters.

Boro have comfortably the best defensive record in the division this season, conceding 10 fewer goals than any other side, but no team in the top seven has scored fewer.

That goal difference took a rare hit before the international break, which made their 3-0 defeat at the hands of Bournemouth doubly damaging as the Cherries displaced them in the automatic promotion places.

Karanka's men have now won just four of their last nine games in the league which, while far from being a shabby record, may not be good enough if those around them begin stringing together a run of form in the closing stages of the campaign.

Home form is not an issue, however, with eight wins from their last nine matches at the Riverside and only one defeat in 16, a run that stretches back to August. Unsurprisingly, no team in the Championship can top that record.

Recent form: LWLWWL

Wigan

On paper, this match may seem like a banker home victory, but Wigan are scrapping for their lives at the bottom of the table and are not giving in without a fight.

It has been a turbulent season for the Latics. Expected to push for automatic promotion, they have instead spent most of the campaign camped in the bottom three, with off-field issues exacerbating matters.

Malky Mackay has not given up on launching a great escape just yet, however, and only five points now separate them from 21st-placed Rotherham United with seven matches of the season remaining.

Wigan have picked up three wins in their last six outings - the same number as they managed in 29 games prior to that - and with Rotherham having lost seven of their last 10 games, there is still scope for Mackay's side to turn things around.

One of those Rotherham defeats came at the hands of Wigan, but that is the Latics' only triumph in their last four games. Their last outing before the international break may have felt like a win, however, as Martyn Waghorn scored in the 94th minute to rescue a point against local rivals Bolton Wanderers.

Wigan's main cause for optimism going into this match will be their magnificent away form of late, with four wins in a row on their travels having managed just two all season before that. They have picked up seven more points on the road than they have at the DW Stadium this term, and a victory at the Riverside would give them five on the bounce for just the second time in their history.

Goals have been the major concern for the Latics all season, though, with only two teams scoring fewer and their tally of 35 being the same as Boro have managed in the second half of matches alone.

Recent form: WWLWLD

Team News

The hosts will be without defender Kenneth Omeruo after he suffered a groin injury while on international duty with Nigeria that could see him sidelined for the remainder of the season.

Karanka could welcome club captain Jonathan Woodgate back into the squad, however, after the veteran defender insisted that he was fully fit despite being left out entirely against Bournemouth last time out. He may be forced to settle for a place on the bench, though, with Daniel Ayala expected to return to the starting lineup.

New loan signings Dwight Tiendalli and Fernando Amorebieta could also come into the backline for their debuts, with Emilio Nsue being forced to play out of position in defence against the Cherries. Patrick Bamford, who has scored five goals and assisted another in his last six games at the Riverside, is expected to lead the line again.

Wigan, meanwhile, could bring Waghorn into the starting lineup following his late heroics last time out, with Marc-Antoine Fortune - who has scored just one goal in 28 appearances this season - the most likely to make way.

James McClean is back available from suspension and could take the place of Josh Murphy in the side, while Mackay must decide whether to stick with his recent formation of two up front away to one of the league's top teams.

Middlesbrough possible starting lineup:
Konstantopoulos; Tiendalli, Ayala, Gibson, Friend; Leadbitter, Clayton, Reach, Tomlin, Adomah; Bamford

Wigan possible starting lineup:
Al Habsi; Boyce, Maguire, Pearce, Bong; Pennant, Perch, Kim, McClean; Waghorn, Clarke

Head To Head

Bamford cancelled out a Shaun Maloney strike in the reverse fixture between these two sides back in November as Wigan pulled off something of a surprise by holding Boro to a 1-1 draw at the DW Stadium in Mackay's first match in charge.

That was the fourth consecutive meeting between these two sides in which the spoils have been shared, and Wigan have not beaten Middlesbrough since a Premier League clash in 2007, when Antoine Sibierski got the only goal of the game.

The Latics have failed to even score on their last three visits to the Riverside and are without a win there since 2006, when Neil Mellor's late strike handed them a 3-2 victory after second-half goals from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Yakubu had seen Boro come from two behind.

Video Preview

Hit play below to see what the Sports Mole Sofa had to say about this encounter:

We say: Middlesbrough 2-0 Wigan

Middlesbrough's league-leading home record and Wigan's impeccable recent away form makes this one tougher to call than it might appear at first glance. The Latics are fighting for their lives but come up against a superior side who also have plenty to play for here, so we're going for a home victory.