DANIEL AYALA is having a scan this morning to determine whether he is able to line up in tomorrow’s play-off semi-final second leg at Villa Park.

Ayala injured his knee during Saturday’s first-leg defeat at the Riverside, and was forced to hobble off shortly after the hour mark.

He was given 24 hours of rest yesterday to allow the swelling around his knee to go down, but will be assessed this morning to determine if there is any serious damage.

Middlesbrough boss Tony Pulis is hoping the Spaniard will be available to play tomorrow, but if he misses out, Ryan Shotton is set to partner Ben Gibson at centre-half with Fabio da Silva starting at full-back.

Pulis said: “He’s (Ayala) going for a scan today, so we’ll see what the scan says - if there’s any chance of Dani playing, he’s going to play. We’ll wait until he comes back from the hospital and then take a view then.”

Having lost the first leg to Mile Jedinak’s header, Boro will have to win at Villa Park to have any chance of making it to Wembley.

Steve Bruce’s home side will start as strong favourites to qualify for the final, but Pulis insists the tie is far from over.

He said: “We’re ready to go. The players were in yesterday and had a good talk about the game and their preparation. Everybody is still very positive. Villa have the upper hand, and will go in as strong favourites. We’ve got to make sure we know what we’ve got to do.

“Generally, the team played well (on Saturday). We got beat by a set play which was really disappointing. There’s all facets of the game that wins and lose games, and you’ve got to do the basics right.

“We needed a break and I don’t think we got one. We got in the final third quite a few times, but our final pass or movement wasn’t as fluent as you would hope. But I thought the players really worked hard and gave it their best.”

Pulis was in no mood to reveal his team selection at this morning’s pre-match press conference, but the Boro boss admits he is considering a couple of changes for the second leg.

The most likely switch would see Patrick Bamford start in attack ahead of Britt Assombalonga, although there is an outside chance that Pulis could pair both forwards together.

He said: “I’ll have a look at it today and have a chat with the staff. If I decide to make changes, it’ll be the players that know first.”