Manchester United vs Middlesbrough LIVE: FA Cup latest score and goal updates tonight

Manchester United have only lost once in 10 games under interim manager Ralf Rangnick. They are through to the knockout stages of the Champions League but are 19 points behind Premier League leader Manchester City. This competition is probably United’s best chance of silverware this season and they’ll want to put in a commanding performance to reignite their season after a few lacklustre outings.

Middlesbrough have lost only once in their last 10 games across all competitions. Although that defeat came against Blackburn on the 24th January. Boro managed to squeeze past League Two side Mansfield in the third round of the competition but they’ll face a more difficult proposition against Man Utd this evening. Luckily they are in decent form and could cause the Red Devils some trouble.

Jesse Lingard has denied Ralf Rangnick‘s claim that he requested time off after failing to secure a loan move away from Manchester United during the January transfer window.

The 29-year-old, who was keen to secure first-team football away from Old Trafford last month only to ultimately stay put, has insisted that the club advised him to take leave which will see him miss Friday’s FA Cup tie against Middlesbrough.

Rangnick said that Lingard needed the time in order to “clear his mind”, though the England international has now refuted that version of events.

Middlesbrough boss Chris Wilder has backed his team not to get overawed at the prospect of playing at Old Trafford or potentially coming up against some famous names like Cristiano Ronaldo.

He says that his players will be focused and are hoping to make it a ‘dangerous night’ for Manchester United. Wilder said:

Both sides had difficult fixtures in the previous round of the FA Cup. Manchester United hosted Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa and went ahead in the eighth minute courtesy of a Scott McTominay goal. United were then outplayed by Villa but the visitors couldn’t take advantage of their dominance and the Red Devils snuck through to the fourth round with a 1-0 win.

Middlesbrough meanwhile thought they had an easy tie as they travelled to Mansfield in their last FA Cup match. That belief seemed to have paid off as they went two goals up inside of the first 15 minutes but the home team fought back well. Two second half goals for Mansfield drew the game level at 2-2 in the 85th minute and Boro were saved by a 95th minute own goal from Elliott Hewitt to send them through.

Paul Pogba has returned to training for Manchester United and may be in line to play for the first time since November after a period on the sidelines recovering from a thigh injury.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka (illness) and Luke Shaw (injury) are fit again with Jadon Sancho back in the squad after missing the West Ham game for personal reasons.

Manager Ralf Rangnick confirmed that Victor Lindelof, Edinson Cavani and Jesse Lingard won’t be involved this evening and Eric Bailly only returned from the Africa Cup of Nations this week and isn’t expected to play a part.

For Middlesbrough new signing Riley McGree won’t be able to make his debut at Old Trafford, with the midfielder testing positive for COVID-19 while away with Australia on international duty.

Aaron Connolly and Folarin Balogun both arrived on loan from Brighton and Arsenal respectively and could feature but Sammy Ameobi, Darnell Fisher and Marc Bola are out.

Follow all the latest updates from the FA Cup fourth-round match between Manchester United and Middlesbrough.