AITOR KARANKA has arranged a behind-closed-doors friendly with Sunderland on Thursday to try to keep his players primed for the Championship battle ahead.

Boro’s chances of a return to the top-flight next season were enhanced by a 2-0 win over Fulham on Saturday, when Adam Reach and Albert Adomah’s second half goals sealed the points.

It extended Boro's unbeaten run to six matches and lifted them back in to the top six, just a point behind the automatic promotion places.

But the break in the Championship’s fixtures means Middlesbrough do not return to competitive action until October 18 when they travel to Brighton.

Karanka has taken the step to agree a friendly with Sunderland when he will look to give the majority of his first team players a run out if they are not on international duty.

“We have played a lot of games already so it will be nice for us to have two weeks for my players to have a rest,” said Karanka. “We have the game with Sunderland on Thursday, but that’s it and it will be nice for a number of my players to get a rest because they have played a lot.”

A bug swept through the squad last week, with seven members of the playing staff struck down with it. Patrick Bamford, the Chelsea striker on loan on Teesside, missed out completely because of the illness and Karanka believes his options will improve ahead of the Brighton test.

“They have been playing a lot of games and it’s good we have two weeks to recover, not just because of the bug that some of players have had,” said Karanka.

“But the whole team is improving every single day. We didn’t play well in the first-half, though, because we are a team that need the ball. But I’m very happy with our position in the table and pleased because our performance was very good.

“We played against a very good team in Fulham, who are working well with the new manager and will be in a high position at the end of the season. They have been winning so it was a difficult game for us but we came out of this strongly.”

Karanka, however, is keen to ensure his players try to hit the same heights of performance he demands week in and week out, having been frustrated with the standards set against Blackpool last Tuesday.

Middlebsrough drew at the Riverside that night; had two victories from the back-to-back home games arrived then they would have entered the international break in an automatic promotion spot.

Karanka said: “The team is up and running now and I’m satisfied. The concern is when we lose the performance, like we did against Blackpool. We wanted to be in the highest position we could and to do that we have to win games like Blackpool. That’s why it was a big win for us against Fulham.”