Middlesbrough boss Jonathan Woodgate believes Nottingham Forest deserve to be challenging for promotion to the Premier League.
The Reds are currently in fourth place in the Sky Bet Championship table, and take on Boro in their next match on Monday night.
Six points separate Forest from the automatic promotion places, and are six points ahead of Bristol City who are seventh and just outside the play-offs.
Boro are battling relegation, and are currently in 21 place and above the drop zone on goal difference – by the time Monday’s match arrives, Woodgate could find his side in the bottom three.
The Boro boss aims to take advantage of the extra days to prepare his side to face Forest, and reckons they deserve to be challenging for promotion to the top flight.
“It gives you more days to prepare, that’s the big thing, they come thick and fast, we have Friday Saturday and Sunday to prepare,” said Woodgate, in his pre-match press conference.
“We have a few more days so that is a lot better for us.
“Forest have done well. From a solid base we played well there, drew 1-1. They deserve to be there or thereabouts, challenging. They have excellent players, good team.
“It will be similar. They don’t play with same intensity as Leeds, even though we matched them. They tend to sit in and let you have the ball. We did match Leeds stats wide."
