The Foxes visit the Riverside still looking for their first away win of the season after defeats at Charlton, Blackburn and Wolves. But it will be a tough test for City, who face a Boro side with a 100% home record.
Manager Tony Mowbray is set to ring the changes after making 11 for the win at Preston in the Capital One Cup in midweek.
However, there are doubts over Jason Steele and Grant Leadbitter (both calf), Justin Hoyte and Jonathan Woodgate (both hamstring) and Ishmael Miller (groin), while Rhys Williams and Curtis Main are definitely ruled out.
City manager Nigel Pearson, returning to the club where he spent four years as a player and captained them to two promotions, three cup finals and a relegation, has no new injury concers and will pick from an unchanged squad. Richie Wellens is the only absentee as he continues to recover from knee surgery.
Should Pearson want to change his line up, then he can call upon fit again defender Zak Whitbread, midfielders Andy King and Lloyd Dyer and strikers Martyn Waghorn, Jeff Schlupp and Marko Futacs who were all on the bench against Hull.
Middlesbrough manager Tony Mowbray: “Hopefully we can pick a team that can be ready and up for the challenge and keep our good run of form at home going. It’s a game we are looking forward to and we go into it in a confident mood but we will have to be at our best to take all three points.
"They’ve had a similar start to the season as us. They’ve won some games and dropped some points along the way
"Having studied them this week, I would have to say they are dangerous opposition with some very good players"
Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson: "We’ve put in some decent performances away from home and we’ve not yet perhaps had the rewards we have deserved. We’ve been either careless or unfortunate and it’s a combination of the two.
“But we need to start winning away from home because we’re in touch with the top teams and it illustrates how tight things can be in this league.
"They’ve had a reasonable start themselves and they have some good players, but it’s about what we do in terms of our own performance and if the players show the right spirit and the right qualities, as we did last week, we go there with a good chance"
Match odds: Middlesbrough (17/10) Draw (12/5) Leicester (6/4)
Middlesbrough to win 2-1 (17/2) Leicester to win 1-0 (15/2)
Marvin Emnes to score anytime (7/4) David Nugent to score first (7/1)
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