CAN they do it on a wet Wednesday evening in Stoke?

With the heatwave having given way to thunderstorms, Middlesbrough might face one of the ultimate footballing examinations when they head to the Potteries this evening, but while the bet365 Stadium might still be a challenging place to visit, Chris Wilder feels times have moved on since a visit to Stoke was the footballing equivalent of a trip to the Colosseum.

No longer in the Premier League, and in the midst of their latest rebuild as they tackle their fifth season in the second tier, Stoke have become ‘just another Championship club’. A decent one, admittedly, with ambitions to feature in the promotion shake-up come the end of the season. But hardly the snarling, defiant outfit that once put the fear of God into Arsene Wenger, and plenty of other top-flight bosses too.

“I don’t think it’s a cauldron to go to anymore, not now,” said Wilder, whose side head into tonight’s game still looking for their first win of the season. “I think they had that in the Premier League under Tony (Pulis).

“I’m not being disrespectful to Stoke - they’re a huge club in this division and they’ve got really passionate supporters. I should imagine it’s been the same here in the period when Boro were in the Premier League, I should imagine this was a cauldron and teams wouldn’t have liked coming up to Middlesbrough.

“I think it’s a little bit different for Stoke now in the Championship, and Michael (O’Neill), who is a fabulous manager, will be trying to recreate that, like we are trying to recreate that. Do I think we’ll get that if we get promoted to the big league? Yeah, I do.

“It’s a great club, great facilities and down-to-earth supporters at Stoke. I’m sure, when they get the ball rolling and find some momentum, then it might turn into a cauldron.

“But I think there’s a difference between ‘difficult’ and ‘a cauldron’. At the moment, it’s still a difficult place to go because of the manager and the players and the support, but it’s not an impossible place to go and get a result. We have to believe we are good enough to go and get that result.”

While Stoke were victorious in their only home game this season, seeing off Blackpool 2-0, they have lost their opening two Championship away games against Millwall and Huddersfield and were also knocked out of the Carabao Cup as they lost on penalties to League One side Morecambe.

They are going through another period of transition, and while they might boast the likes of Phil Jagielka, Sam Clucas, Nick Powell and Dwight Gayle, they are similar to Boro in that they are trying to rebuild with their Premier League parachute payments having been long since spent.

“Once they (parachute payments) drop, you have to start letting players go and balancing your books,” said Wilder. “It’s similar to what’s happened here. With moving players on, I should imagine Michael is just trying to find some consistency, but we know we’re up against a really good side and a good manager.

“Our approach will be the same in terms of going to get a win and doing so by trying to dominate the game, keep the ball, while still understanding that there might be periods where we have to go through the pain and we have to suffer. What we have to make sure is that during those periods the ball doesn’t go in the back of our net.”

Chuba Akpom is set to continue leading the Boro attack, with his two goals in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Sheffield United having marked a remarkable turnaround.

At the start of the summer, Wilder was freely admitting he did not envisage Akpom having any part to play this season, but having been restored to the fold ahead of the final pre-season game against Marseille, the 26-year-old striker has won his manager round.

“We’re delighted because, in a way, it has come from leftfield,” said Wilder. “He’s shown his desire to get his head down and shown he wants to work with us. He’s had to do the impressing, and he has impressed us.

“There are certain players I totally shut the door on because I know they won’t take us forward, and there are others that you are always a little bit open-minded to seeing what happens. That was the case with Chuba, and he’s taken his opportunity. I think you could see with his reaction and the reaction of his team-mates to his two goals how much it meant. He’s worked hard, done well and deserved his opportunity - and he’s a big bonus for us.”

Middlesbrough (probable, 3-5-2): Steffen; Dijksteel, Lenihan, Bola; Jones, McNair, Howson, McGree, Giles; Akpom, Forss.