AITOR KARANKA is set to restore Gaston Ramirez to Middlesbrough’s starting line-up for Saturday’s tea-time kick-off at Everton.

Ramirez was left on the substitutes’ bench for last weekend’s 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace, with Karanka having been concerned at the midfielder’s fitness levels following his international exertions with Uruguay.

However, his replacement, Viktor Fischer, failed to impress as Boro crashed to their first Premier League defeat of the season, and Karanka will shuffle his pack again when his side visit Goodison Park at the weekend.

Ramirez is set to return in the ‘number ten’ role, with Stewart Downing and Cristhian Stuani expected to retain their places on the flanks.

Karanka’s other selection dilemmas come in attack, where he has to decide whether to stick with Alvaro Negredo ahead of Jordan Rhodes, at the base of midfield, where Marten de Roon is available again after recovering from injury, and in the back four, where Calum Chambers will be hoping to make his first appearance after moving on loan from Arsenal.

Negredo was not at his best last weekend, wasting a decent first-half chance by shooting straight at Palace goalkeeper Steve Mandanda, but the Spaniard remains Karanka’s preferred striking option and it would be a major surprise if he was not to start at Everton.

Rhodes’ position in the pecking order has not really changed since the closure of the transfer window, and while Karanka opted to keep the Scotsman on Teesside despite interest from a number of Championship clubs, there is still no sign of him handing the £13m forward a regular place in the team.

Rhodes was an unused substitute last weekend, and with Boro having crashed out of the EFL Cup at Fulham, it is hard to see him getting too much game time provided Negredo remains fit.

De Roon is likely to be more heavily involved, although Karanka continues to put considerable faith in Adam Forshaw, who has produced a string of consistent displays since coming off the substitutes’ bench in the opening game of the season.

Chambers’ position is harder to gauge, with Karanka considering the Arsenal loanee as a more natural centre-half than right-back.

The Boro boss will be understandably reluctant to split his established centre-half pairing of Daniel Ayala and Ben Gibson, even though the pair looked unusually shaky in last weekend’s defeat.

Antonio Barragan is less well-established at right-back, although the fact Karanka selected the Spaniard ahead of Emilio Nsue last weekend is telling. Barragan has proved an able deputy in a number of positions already this season and has clearly impressed on the Rockliffe Park training ground since making a summer move from Valencia.

Meanwhile, Under-23 boss Paul Jenkins has backed Dael Fry to have a long-term future at Middlesbrough despite being sent out on loan to Rotherham last month.

Fry signed a season-long loan deal at the New York Stadium, but Jenkins expects him to return to Teesside next summer ready to challenge for a place in Boro’s senior squad.

“It’s a good move for Dael,” said Jenkins. “He has had a taste of first-team action, and everybody at the club thinks very highly of him.

“There’s high hopes that, in the future, he will be a first-team player at Middlesbrough. His pathway is probably blocked at the moment, in terms of the amount of game time he would get this season, so the manager felt it was the right thing to let him go out and play football.”