MICHAEL Carrick says Middlesbrough are fully prepared for the upcoming January window, with the focus on tweaking the squad but with the club ready to act if any appealing curveballs present themselves.

Boro's head coach works closely with the recruitment team and plans have long been in place for the winter window, with a defender and striker understood to be the priority.

Boro, who look to close the gap on the Championship's top six when they host West Brom today, have identified primary targets but are also aware of the need to be flexible in a window that is often unpredictable.

“There are definitely plans in place," said Carrick, whose squad has been stretched to the limit by injuries in recent weeks.

"They do have to evolve all the time. We’ve been planning for quite some time now, but you always have to be conscious that situations change. Sometimes that’s things that are out of hands, other times our ideas change a little bit for whatever reason.

"But there are certainly plans in place and work going on to see what the best moves for us are, if any.

"Sometimes it needs to be exactly the right thing for us, and there are a lot of things that need to fall into place to get it over the line."

January is never the time for a squad overhaul, not that that's required on Teesside, with Boro having been forced into something of a revamp in the summer after several loan players returned to their parent clubs and Chuba Akpom left for Ajax.

With so much work to do in the summer, head of football Kieran Scott recently admitted Boro didn't quite get as many signings as they hoped for over the line, with the focus quickly turning to January. Boro, said Scott recently, are "good to go" ahead of January with strengthening in "a couple of key positions" the priority.

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Boro want to add a striker to bolster the forward line and provide competition for Emmanuel Latte Lath and Josh Coburn. Carrick is pleased with the contribution of both frontmen so far this season, but it's Latte Lath's first campaign in England and Coburn's first as a Boro regular, so the head coach is keen to ease the load.

Boro will also look to strengthen a backline that has been rocked by injuries. Tommy Smith and Darragh Lenihan are out for the season, while Paddy McNair is also currently sidelined and the Northern Ireland international's future is uncertain with his contract due to expire next summer.

Carrick said: "It will probably be more tweaks (in January) than anything too busy, but it’s difficult to say.

"It depends what pops up - sometimes things you might not expect get thrown at you or an opportunity presents itself because someone comes knocking on your day. We’ll assess that, but for sure, we definitely have got plans to know what we want it to look like by the end of January."

Boro host West Brom today before successive away games next week. The players will have Christmas morning off before meeting at Rockliffe late afternoon for a late session and will then travel to Rotherham ahead of the Boxing Day fixture at the New York Stadium.

The Baggies head for Boro today fifth in the table but having won just one of their last four games.

Carrick said: "They’re a very good team. We’ve played a couple of games against them since I’ve been here and they’ve been tough games. They’re really well organised, very compact, good defensively.

"They have very good players at this level. They’re dangerous. I’m not surprised they’re up there. Their team and squad shows they’ll be up and around it most of the season.

"Carlos has got them really well organised. You can see the amount of coaching and work that’s gone into them playing the way they are. That’s credit to the coaches for that work."

MIDDLESBROUGH PROBABLE XI: Glover, Dijksteel, Fry, Clarke, Engel; Howson, Barlaser; Jones, Crooks, Greenwood, Latte Lath