The young Blues surrendered top spot in the u18 Premier League when they lost 2-1 to Everton at Finch Farm last time out, but they sit just a single point behind the Toffees in the table – and with two games in hand on the Merseysiders.
Since then, a number of Jason Wilcox’s young squad have been handed the opportunity to shine on the international stage.
Olivier Ntcham netted for France u18s in their impressive win over Germany, while Ashley Smith-Brown and Brandon Barker featured for England u18s against Croatia, Tom Holland turned out twice for Ireland u17s as they continue to prepare for the Elite Round of European Championship qualification.
Last time City met Boro, the Blues triumphed 4-1 with an excellent performance in the North East back in December. A brace from striker Thierry Ambrose, who has been in prolific form all season, plus strikes from Smith-Brown and Jorge Intima saw the boy Blues recover from a goal down to take all three points back to Manchester.
Boro will be aiming to seek revenge for that defeat on Saturday, although they have struggled for form recently and have won one of their last five league fixtures.
The match kicks off at 1pm at Platt lane (M14 7UU). We’ll have updates on twitter as well as a full match report right here on mcfc.co.uk after full time.
