AITOR KARANKA has warned his Middlesbrough players not to under-estimate Cardiff City when the two teams go head-to-head on Tuesday night.

The pair had contrasting Saturdays with Cardiff losing 4-2 at home to Norwich City at the same time as Boro secured three points by winning at Huddersfield Town.

Middlesbrough are a point better off than their Welsh counterparts going in to the fixture and a fourth victory of the season would see Karanka’s men climb in to the top six.

But the Spaniard thinks Cardiff will be among the promotion contenders come the end of the campaign, as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer attempts to lead the Bluebirds back to the Premier League at the first attempt.

“The most important thing is to start well, always, and that will be the same at Cardiff,” said Karanka. “Against Norwich they were defeated so they will want to show everybody the kind of team that they really are.

“For this we have to be prepared, we can’t think it is going to be an easy game. If we think it will be easy then we will make a very big mistake.

“The Championship is a very difficult division and I don’t have doubts that Cardiff will be high in the division. They have a very good squad, a very good group and a good coach.”

Karanka has reported no fresh injury problems ahead of the trip to South Wales. Tomas Mejias still has a back problem, so Dimi Konstantopoulos will keep his place between the posts and Jamal Blackman will be on the bench. Left-back James Husband remains sidelined with a calf problem.

He hinted that he could freshen things up against Cardiff, although he does not think it is time to hand first starts to new signings Jelle Vossen or Patrick Bamford.