West Ham v Boro preview

Middlesbrough will be hoping to put a 13-game winless streak in the Premier League behind them when they travel to Upton Park for their FA Cup fifth-round tie. Boro are in extremely poor form, with victories over Barrow and Wolves in the FA Cup providing rare highlights in a dismal few months for the Teessiders.West Ham on the other hand have risen to eighth in the league and recorded strong wins over both Barnsley and Hartlepool in the previous rounds during a purple patch.The two sides last met in the FA Cup in the 2005/06 season when a late goal from Marlon Harewood sent West Ham through to the final - but neither side has progressed so far since.Team newsRecent signing Savio could start for the first time since joining West Ham, as could loan acquisition Radoslav Kovac.Valon Behrami and James Collins both missed midweek international action, but should be available for the tie.James Tompkins could be involved at some point despite a recent recovery from a minor hamstring injury.However, Dean Ashton, Danny Gabbidon and Kieron Dyer all remain out of Gianfranco Zola's plans.Middlebrough have lost Chris Riggott to a knee ligament injury suffered against Manchester City last week, which will serve as a huge blow both for this game and for the coming weeks.Former on-loan Hammer Jeremie Aliadiere and Andrew Taylor are missing for Gareth Southgate with ankle problems.On-loan Wigan striker Marlon King will not feature as he played for Hull City earlier in the competition.

Source: SKY_Sports