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Tony Pulis says he’ll make a lot of changes for the Carabao Cup tie against Crystal Palace.

Middlesbrough hosts the Eagles at the Riverside Stadium on Wednesday night (kick-off 8pm) with a place in the quarter-finals awaiting the victors.

So far in the competition, Pulis has tended to play fringe first team squad members and young players from the club’s development squad.

The prospect of a last eight tie will appeal to the Boro boss but his main focus is the Championship promotion race and a tough teatime clash with Stoke City on Saturday.

So there’s every possibility that the likes of Marcus Tavernier, Nathan Wood, Danny Batth, Grant Leadbitter and Lewis Wing will have a role to play against Palace.

“The Palace game, I’ll make a lot of changes, I’ve got to do that,” he said

“The players have had so many games and people forget about the international break, some players have played for their countries in the heart of Europe.

“I’ll be looking at the team carefully although we want to do well and want to win the game.”

Boro overcame Notts County in the first round on a night when four players made their competitive debuts for the club.

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The match ended 3-3 and was decided on penalties, as was the third round tie at Preston North End, which was tied 2-2 after 90 minutes.

Sandwiched between those games was the 2-1 win over Rochdale.

If Boro do eliminate Palace, they will be in quarter-final action the week commencing Monday, December 17.

But before then, Pulis’s men face to crucial league encounters including trips to Stoke, Brentford and QPR plus visits from Aston Villa and Tony Mowbray’s Blackburn.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

Looking ahead to a return visit to the Bet365 Stadium, a venue Pulis knows intimately from his time in charge of Stoke, he said: “I've obviously got a lot of affection for Stoke-on-Trent and the football club but we’ll be looking to put a performance in.”

Roy Hodgson could also ring the changes for Wednesday’s tie.

Against West Brom in the fourth round he made 10 changes from the team that had played the previous Premier League fixture but still returned from the Hawthorns with a 3-0 win under his belt.

He also made nine changes for the 1-0 second round win at Swansea.

Palace drew 2-2 with Arsenal on Sunday and are three points clear of the Premier League drop zone.