Aitor Karanka is facing a striker crisis with Middlesbrough's problems in front of goal showing no signs of improvement.
The Spanish boss did not know that £6million January signing Rudy Gestede has now gone a Premier League record of 36 matches without being involved in a win.
Karanka is also considering dropping Alvaro Negredo for Saturday's trip to Stoke after substituting him at half-time during last weekend's 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace.
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But it is unlikely that Patrick Bamford will feature after Karanka held a meeting with the £9m forward this week in which he outlined the reasons why he has been left out of recent squads.