Aitor Karanka says he will assess his players' fitness ahead of the game against Leeds on Saturday at the end of a physically demanding week.





Boro drew 1-1 with Birmingham on Wednesday night - their second game in four days - and the Head Coach admitted he will have a difficult selection decision to make this weekend.





"Leeds is going to be a very difficult game," he said. "I have to think a lot about my starting XI because we ran a lot in the second half against Birmingham.





"I'll have to see how the players are because most of them are going to be very tired, but it's not a problem because I have other players."





A total of 1,258 fans made the trip to St Andrews on Wednesday night and Karanka was delighted for them that his side were able to go top of the table again.





Leeds visit the Riverside this Saturday, followed by Bolton next Tuesday, and Karanka added it's now paramount the team win these two home games.





"The fans are the first people who deserve to see us in this position and I would like to spend as much time there as possible," he said.





"At Blackpool they were all there and in another midweek game against Birmingham all of them are supporting us again.





"Now we have two games at home and it's then that we have to win the games in front of everyone."



