Chris Dunlavy
A FRESH TAKE ON FOOTBALL

LEEDS have got the firepower. Burnley have got the squad. Sheffield United are practically impenetrable. But there’s a fast-improving team from the northeast that looks better equipped to win the Championship title than any of them - and it isn’t Sunderland.
Middlesbrough have barely troubled the top six this season. Every leap forward has been followed by a frustrating step back.
Back-to-back wins immediately undermined by back-toback defeats; a disciplined 1-0 victory over the Blades followed within days by a second-half collap...