Boss Mick McCarthy says his Town side will have to replicate the performance which saw them beat Championship leaders Watford 1-0 at Portman Road in November to take anything from Saturday’s game against the Hornets at Vicarage Road.
Tommy Smith’s 83rd-minute goal saw the Blues take all three points against a Watford side McCarthy rates highly.
"They’re excellent,” he said. "I thought they were good down here. We had a really hard, tough, physically demanding game here and it was a really good technical game as well. We had Jonny Williams carted off in the end and he’s not played since.
"But that was a great game, I thought, and a really big victory for us. We’ll have to play equally as well to get anything there.”
He added: "They’ve got good players, that’s a really good starting point - Troy Deeney, Matej Vydra, Almen Anya, Daniel Pudil. They played well here. They’ve put together a good side and quite clearly the head coach at Watford [Slavisa Jokanovic] is doing very well.
"I saw Troy Deeney’s header the other day [in the 2-0 win at Wigan], it was a fabulous header, it took everybody out.
"And there’s Vydra up front as well, but they’ve also got very good midfield players. Ben Watson’s there, they’ve got Adlene Guedioura, who I signed at Wolves and has been at Palace, they’ve got him on loan. They’re doing well. They’re just a really good football team.”
In what’s been one of the closest Championships ever Watford and Middlesbrough have emerged as the teams to beat in the final eight matches. McCarthy expects the current incumbents to claim the top two spots but is looking to inflict a setback on the Hornets on Saturday.
"There are only eight games to play and everybody keeps asking me whether it’s the tightest I’ve ever known it,” he added. "I don’t know but I can’t remember it being any tighter.
"I think the results against us and against Derby have put Boro in pole position, and Watford. But we’ve got them on Saturday so we’ll try and put a dent in their hopes.”
Town are taking a sell-out 2,200 following to Vicarage Road - with many bringing along inflatables as was the case for the corresponding fixture last season - and McCarthy has been impressed with the club’s travelling support.
"It’s fabulous,” he added. "The away support is amazing because we’ve got nobody really that close. The support is really appreciated by us all.
"I thought Fulham was amazing, it was great. We had great support at Watford last year actually, that was a great day.”
With Dean Gerken not being risked until after the international break having been knocked unconscious at Middlesbrough last week, Bartosz Bialkowski will continue in goal.
McCarthy will stick with his usual back four with skipper Luke Chambers at right-back, Tyrone Mings on the left and Tommy Smith and Christophe Berra at the centre of the defence.
In midfield, Kevin Bru will join Cole Skuse in the centre with Teddy Bishop ruled out with painful shins.
On the right, Jonny Parr is a doubt having taken a kick during Tuesday’s 1-0 victory over Bolton and could be replaced by either Richard Chaplow or Paul Anderson.
Jay Tabb is likely to continue on the left with 23-goal Championship top scorer Daryl Murphy alongside Freddie Sears up front.
David McGoldrick continues to be hampered by his thigh niggle but is expected to be available after the international break, while Luke Hyam has returned to training following his knee injury. Darren Ambrose is still sidelined with his hamstring problem.
Mings and Skuse are both on nine bookings for the season and will face a two-match ban if they pick up a 10th before April 11th.
"I spoke to Ty and gave him the challenge ‘Can you get through to that second Sunday in April?’. It’s a big ask to do it,” McCarthy said.
"It is a challenge. I remember when I was playing myself and lasting months needing one booking before getting suspended and going without it.
"You just have to be careful. You can’t afford that lazy one, just tripping somebody up, a casual one.
"If you’ve got five left to get sometimes you can get lazy and risk it and it doesn’t really matter, you’re not going to get suspended.
"But at this moment they need to be very careful and let’s hope they don’t get suspended.”
Watford signed Cardiff defender Matthew Connolly on loan for the rest of the season earlier in the week and the 27-year-old could make his debut.
Midfielders Almen Abdi and Sean Murray remain sidelined with hamstring and knee injuries respectively.
The teams last met at Portman Road in November when Tommy Smith smashed home his second goal of the season from close range seven minutes from time as the Blues won 1-0 to climb to fourth in the Championship.
The central defender was first to a loose ball after a Kevin Bru shot had been blocked following a well-worked freekick.
In the second half then-Town loanee Jonny Williams was forced off with a groin injury - from which he is still to return - following a wild Joel Ekstrand lunge which might well have led to a red card rather than the yellow the Swedish defender was shown.
In April last year at Vicarage Road, Town’s 2013/14 play-off hopes suffered a blow as they were beaten 3-1 by Watford.
The Hornets, who were outsiders for the top six themselves at that stage, were ahead through Albert Riera at the break, but Anthony Wordsworth equalised five minutes after the restart.
However, two goals in three minutes from Gabriel Angella and Lewis McGugan sealed the three points for the home side.
Historically, the sides are very well matched with the Blues having won 26 games (23 in the league) and Watford 26 (25 in the league), while 17 (17) have ended in draws.
Watford goalkeeper-coach Alec Chamberlain was a youth player with the Blues but never made a first team appearance, while Town youth development coach Steve Foley spent time coaching at Vicarage Road earlier in his career. No current player from either squad has represented the opposition.
Saturday’s referee is Andy D’Urso from Billericay in Essex, who has shown 85 yellow cards and five red in 29 games so far this season.
D’Urso’s most recent Town match was the 2-2 home draw with Bournemouth in April last year in which he kept his cards in his pocket throughout.
Squad from: Bialkowski, Kenny, Chambers (c), Mings, Berra, Smith, Clarke, Skuse, Bru, Parr, Tabb, Chaplow, Anderson, S Hunt, Connolly, Henshall, Stewart, Benyu, Murphy, Sears, Wood, Varney.