Suspended Manchester United duo Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ander Herrera will be joined on the sidelines at Middlesbrough by injured midfielder Paul Pogba.

Ibrahimovic and Herrera are serving domestic bans as Jose Mourinho's men arrive at the Riverside Stadium on Sunday for a match Pogba will miss with a hamstring injury sustained in the midweek Europa League win against Rostov.

United are bidding to become the first team in Premier League history to claim their 600th victory in the division, a result which would see them maintain their top-four bid.

Boro, meanwhile, begin life without Aitor Karanka following his departure this week, with interim head coach Steve Agnew taking charge.

The Teessiders are without a win in their last 10 Premier league outings, a dismal run which has seen them plummet into the relegation zone.

Team news

Agnew is hoping to have Bernardo Espinosa and Rudy Gestede available for his first game in charge.

Defender Espinosa and striker Gestede limped out of last Saturday's 2-0 FA Cup quarter-final defeat by Manchester City with hamstring problems, but both have resumed training with the latter closer than the former to making himself available.

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Midfielder Adlene Guedioura is available after being cup-tied last weekend, but Boro will once again have to do without injured defensive trio George Friend (calf), Daniel Ayala (hamstring) and Calum Chambers (foot).

Daley Blind is a doubt for Sunday after sustaining a bump to the head and captain Wayne Rooney's availability is unclear after sustaining a training ground knock.

Anthony Martial, Luke Shaw and Bastian Schweinsteiger will be hoping to be selected after training away from the main group ahead of the Rostov game.

Opta stats

Middlesbrough are winless in their last 12 meetings with Man Utd in all competitions (D5 L7), although they did progress via penalties in their League Cup clash in October 2015.

The Red Devils have scored in each of their last 14 away league games against Middlesbrough; their longest active streak against a single opponent.

United have won four of their last six Premier League trips to the Riverside (D1 L1).

Wayne Rooney has been directly involved in six goals in his last five Premier League games against Middlesbrough (two goals, four assists).

After losing successive Premier League games against promoted sides in December 2015 (vs Bournemouth and Norwich), Man Utd are unbeaten in their last seven (W5 D2), keeping five clean sheets.

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Middlesbrough's next loss in the Premier League will be their 1000th defeat in the English top-flight and they would become the 14th team to do so.

This game will see the team who averages the fewest shots on target (Middlesbrough - 2.4 per game) face the team who attempts the most per game (Manchester United - 6.3 per game).

United are currently on the longest unbeaten run in the Premier League (17 games), while opponents Middlesbrough are on the longest current winless run in the competition (10 games).

United will be missing the suspended Zlatan Ibrahimovic for this match. The Swede has 15 goals in the Premier League this season; nine more than any other player for the club (Juan Mata - six goals).

Ibrahimovic has attempted nearly a quarter of Manchester United's shots in the Premier League this season (109 - 24.3 per cent).

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Merson's prediction

Something has got to change now with the manager having gone. I find it surprising that it was done so late - I do not like to hear of managers getting sacked, but it is not like they have just lost two on the trot and they cannot score goals. You are doing it before Man Utd at home, which I find extraordinary in my opinion, and the timing is terrible.

However, the advantage that they have got is that Man Utd played Monday, Thursday and Sunday morning, which is a big ask, so if they have any chance, that could be it.

But I am going to go for Man Utd, who I think will just have too much pace for them and I think they will just win this one 2-1.

PAUL PREDICTS: 1-2 (15/2 with Sky Bet)

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Betting

Middlesbrough are up against odds of 5/1 with Sky Bet, who make Manchester United 8/13 favourites while pricing the draw at 13/5.

The hosts headed into the weekend as the 1/3 second favourites to face relegation, while Jose Mourinho's men are 7/4 to secure a top-four finish.

Marcus Rashford heads the first goalscorer betting at 4/1 in Ibrahimovic's absence, while Alvaro Negredo is rated the hosts' main threat at 9/1 to net first.

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