MIDDLESBROUGH could go top of the Championship with a win at Wolves tonight, but head coach Aitor Karanka insists he will ignore any of the hype surrounding his team’s promotion chances.

Saturday’s 2-1 win at Brighton stretched Boro’s unbeaten run to seven games and they sit one point off the top.

A win at Molineux could see the Teessiders reach the summit depending on other results, but with four points separating the top seven Karanka insists he won’t be getting carried away even if his side go into Saturday’s game against Watford on top.

“For me, it is easy to ignore,” the Spaniard said. “I have been here for 11 months, but I have learned a lot about this competition.

“I can understand our crowd. They are excited and I understand that 100 per cent. I am happy with these feelings.

“It is good for them and also for us, but for me it is easy to focus on the next game only and not where we might end up.

“I think there are a lot of good teams in the league this season. If you take Wolves for example - they have come up from League One and they are in a very good position. They have started the season very well.

“You have teams like Watford and Derby and teams like Brighton, Fulham and Cardiff. There are a lot of teams in positions now that aren’t a true reflection on where they will probably be at the end of the season.

“It’s very tight at the top and for this I don’t like to get carried away. We are playing well and we are organised and focused, but we have to keep going in the same way.”

While Karanka was pleased with Saturday’s result, the Boro boss admitted his side were not at their best on the south coast.

The Spaniard will demand more from his players this evening and pinpointed a need to pressurise teams better than they did at the Amex Stadium.

He said: “We were organised, but I would like us to defend with more intensity. In the first half we defended well, but I wanted more intensity and in the second half we were better.

“It wasn’t our best performance. It’s difficult to win games when you are playing well so imagine how difficult it is to win when you are not playing well. That was very pleasing.”

Lee Tomlin and Albert Adomah are available despite limping out of Saturday’s win. Tomlin was forced off at half time with a leg injury, while Adomah hobbled off complaining of cramp late on.

It isn’t good news for Adam Clayton, though, who is likely to miss out after suffering a head injury with Dean Whitehead primed to come in and partner Grant Leadbitter.

Jonathan Woodgate is still around three weeks away from a return, while Karanka also gave an update on Mustapha Carayol and Rhys Williams.

Carayol tore his anterior cruciate ligament at Bournemouth in March, while Williams suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in January.

It was hoped the defender would return by the end of next month, but Karanka revealed the Australian had suffered a slight set-back in his recovery.

“Muzzy is doing very well,” Karanka said. “Rhys is a little bit worse. He had to stop this week. It was nothing specific, but he had to stop. With his type of injury one week he can train, but the next he might have to stop.

“Muzzy is doing well and I think we are looking at maybe six to eight weeks.”

George Friend is no stranger to Molineux having spent two years in the West Midlands.

Although the defender had four spells out on loan, he admits it will be special going back to the place his career really began to kick off.

“It was my first move, it was a really big move for me,” Friend said. “I was a little farmer from Devon going off to the Midlands I didn't really know who Wolves were.

“To be completely honest I didn't know many football teams outside the south west because I didn't come from a footballing background.

“It was a good place to be. I have some regrets, I wish I'd grown up a bit more quickly and played more but I like to go back there to prove I could have played 100 games for them like I'm doing at the moment for Middlesbrough, I'd like to go back and prove myself.

“It would be nice to get a good win over them and I think they are doing better that many people thought they would this season.

“It's a good club but if I score I won't not celebrate, I'll be sprinting around celebrating!”

Middlesbrough: Konstantopoulos; Fredericks, Ayala, Omeruo, Friend; Leadbitter, Whitehead; Adomah, Tomlin, Reach; Kike.