Steele wary of Palace threat (From The Northern Echo)

Steele wary of Palace threat

8:00am Saturday 4th February 2012 in Sport By Steph Clark

THEY have already met Crystal Palace twice this season, but Jason Steele has warned Middlesbrough today's game at the Riverside won't be a foregone conclusion.

Boro made two trips to Selhurst Park in the space of four days last September when they came away with three points in the Championship before being knocked out of the Carling Cup by Dougie Freedman's side.

The sides lock horns again when Palace visit the Riverside this afternoon, but Steele, who returned to action in Wednesday night's draw with Leicester, insists familiarity between the sides won't give anyone an advantage going into the game.

Steele is expected to retain his place in goal despite suffering stiffness after making his premature return with Danny Coyne still sidelined with a calf injury.

He said: "We've played them a couple of times already this season, but there's no stick on three points in this league.

"We've already seen some surprise results this week with West Ham conceding five at Birmingham and Southampton have lost a few as well, so you can't expect to win any game easily in this league.

"They could quite easily turn up at the Riverside and give us a right good game. If we don't turn up, we'll get punished so we've got to make sure that whichever team the gaffer puts out, we've got to make sure we're all on form.

"They've got some very good players, who we have to be wary of. In the games we've played (Wilfried) Zaha caused us a lot of problems. I thought he might have moved in the transfer window, but he hasn't and he'll be a big threat.

"They've got a very good squad, Chris Martin has done very well on loan from Norwich, Glen Murray up front is a hard working player so we'll have out work cut out to get a result."

With Boro in the middle of a hectic period, which includes six games in 18 days, boss Tony Mowbray will pray he doesn't suffer anymore injuries to his squad.

Scott McDonald is the latest player to be ruled out after he suffered a medial knee ligament injury at Leicester City and Steele admits the current run of games is taking its toll on the injury-hit squad.

"It is a shame when you play six games in 18 days, because it's a big shift for the lads.

"Juke played 90 minutes last Sunday and 90 on Wednesday and I don't think he had played for a few weeks before, I'm tired watching the lad run around!

"It's tough, but we just have to roll ourselves out and make sure we're ready to go against Crystal Palace."