AITOR KARANKA is confident his Middlesbrough players will overcome both the threat of complacency and the worst pitch in the Championship when they take on basement boys Blackpool at Bloomfield Road tonight.

Boro head to the Lancashire coast knowing that, with league leaders Bournemouth hosting second placed Derby County, a win will guarantee them claiming one of the two automatic promotion positions.

The Teessiders will start as strong favourites given that Saturday’s 4-0 defeat at Norwich City means Blackpool are nine points adrift of safety, having lost 17 of their 29 matches so far this term.

But having watched his side produce one of their limpest displays of the season as they drew 1-1 at home to the Seasiders in September, Karanka is determined to ensure they are not similarly lacklustre tonight.

“It would be our biggest mistake to go to Blackpool thinking that it will be an easy game,” said the Boro head coach, who has seen his side suffer just one defeat in their last 18 matches in all competitions. “We suffered in our game here against them, and now they have changed a lot of players.

“They need to fight for the points because they need the points to stay in this league, and we have to go there thinking it is going to be a very difficult game on a very difficult pitch. But we have to win.”

As well as taking on a Blackpool side who desperately need a victory to have any chance of staving off the threat of relegation, Boro will also have to contend with a Bloomfield Road playing surface that is comfortably the worst in the whole of the Football League.

Even Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston has admitted the pitch is a “shambles”, and Lee Clark has switched a number of his side’s training sessions to their stadium in an attempt to get his players used to a rutted surface that is largely bereft of grass.

As one of the slickest passing sides in the Championship, Boro hardly look well-suited to a pitch that is not conducive to attractive football, but having spelled out the potential problems to his squad at length this week, Karanka insists it should not be used as an excuse should things go awry.

“I’ve been analysing Blackpool’s games, and the pitch is awful,” he said. “But that is not an excuse, and if we lose the game, I will not be saying that we have lost because the pitch is bad.

“My main concern is that we could get some injuries, and that will be a worry for every team in the league that plays there. It is a difficult situation, and I think that every team should take care with their pitches.

“We might have to change a few things in terms of the way we play, but the players know exactly what they are going to be dealing with. We have a certain way that we like to play, but one of the good things about my squad is that the players are ready to play anywhere, and do anything they need to do to win.

“They are ready, and they know exactly what kind of pitch they are going to find to play on. All of them are ready to play on that surface.”

In order to avoid similar situations in the future, a number of Football League clubs have begun to discuss a possible change in the rules that would permit the use of artificial pitches.

The Scottish league introduced such a change a few years ago, but Karanka would not like to see a move away from grass, even if it means having to tolerate more surfaces like the one Boro will encounter tonight.

“I wouldn’t want that,” he said. “I prefer to play on grass, and I don’t like artificial pitches. I played on them in Madrid because in the early rounds of the Copa del Rey, we played against Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.

“I also played on those kind of pitches in the USA, and it is different. Maybe the players are growing up now with that kind of surface. But for me, I prefer to play on normal grass.”

Karanka’s main selection dilemma comes in defence tonight, with Daniel Ayala returning after a two-game suspension.

In Ayala’s absence, Kenneth Omeruo and Ben Gibson combined to produce a pair of impressive displays against Brentford and Charlton, and Karanka must decide whether to restore a player who had been one of his few ever-presents for the majority of the campaign.

“It will be a hard decision, but I aimed at the start of the season to arrive at February with all of the players ready and we have got there, apart from, unfortunately, Rhys (Williams),” said the Spaniard, who will be keeping Mustapha Carayol in the development squad rather than promoting him to the first-team group as he completes his rehabilitation following knee surgery.

Middlesbrough (4-2-3-1): Konstantopoulos; Fredericks, Ayala, Gibson, Friend; Leadbitter, Clayton; Adomah, Tomlin, Reach; Bamford.