Middlesbrough will seek to finish 2025 strongly at the Riverside as they welcome Blackburn on Friday (15:00 GMT).
Boro lie second, six points behind leaders Coventry and five ahead of third-placed Ipswich after seeing a four-match winning streak under Kim Hellberg ended by a 2-0 defeat at Bristol City last time out.
Valerien Ismael's Blackburn moved six points clear of the drop-zone after picking up their first win in six games with a 2-0 home win over Millwall last Saturday, and have an impressive recent record on the road in Teesside.
Middlesbrough won their last league game against Blackburn 2-0 in April but haven't won consecutively against Rovers since doing the double over them in 2012/13.