Middlesbrough warned to be cautious of "scary" Bristol City star on Friday night | OneFootball

The Robins’ striker can be a handful to deal with, and Boro arrive to Ashton Gate in poor form

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Bristol City take on Middlesbrough at Ashton Gate next up in the Championship.

They’re in one of the Friday night spots this week against Boro, live on Sky Sports+, so there’ll be plenty of eyeballs on the Robins.

The Robins enter in mixed form, and meet a Michael Carrick-led side who have lost their last four encounters.

We asked our Bristol City Fan Pundit, Tom Rawle, which Robins’ player the visiting side need to look out for on Friday.

Sinclair Armstrong singled out as key Bristol City threat

Speaking to Football League World, Tom said: “Players to look out for? Sinclair Armstrong.

“The past two/three games he's really come into his own, the way he's holding up the ball at the moment is something I've not seen for years at Bristol City. His power and his pace; it's scary.

“Certainly if you're a centre-back as well. You don't want him running at you. So, he'd probably be my one to watch this weekend.

“And in fact, if I was a Middlesbrough defender, I'd certainly be trying to man-mark him out the game.”

A slow yet promising start for Armstrong at Ashton Gate

Three goals in 24 Championship appearances, as Armstrong has managed, is not blistering form, but the striker is clearly showing enough promise on the pitch for excite fans like Tom.

What must be remembered in Armstrong’s case is that he is still just 21 years old, so even the fact that he’s regularly appearing and scoring in the second tier is notable.

The Robins are doing the right thing in giving Armstrong time on the pitch to develop.

Should his performances click into gear, coupled with his physical attributes, the £2.5million that City are reported to have paid will look like a drop in the ocean.

And as Tom mentions, in terms of hold-up play, strikers often carry out greater duties than headline stats allow proper appreciation for.

Armstrong could be extremely valuable for Bristol City this season

The Robins, perhaps somewhat unexpectedly, find themselves among the genuine play-off contenders as we head into the business end of the season, just two points behind West Brom in sixth.

Stripped to its basics, football is not rocket science: goals, more often than not, mean points, and points send you further up the table.

So far, only Anis Mehmeti has entered double figures for goals on 11, with veteran striker Nahki Wells a little further back on seven.

In Armstrong, it feels like the Robins have some slightly untapped potential on their hands.

If the forward can begin contributing even just a handful more goals, it could prove to be crucial in bagging City a few extra points, which, if the table stays as it is now, could well be the difference between fighting it out in the play-offs and missing out.

Tom shows that there are plenty of fans at Ashton Gate fully behind Armstrong as he continues to adjust to his new side — if they can unlock his full potential and sneak a chance at promotion to the Premier League, any talk of his transfer fee will soon disappear.

It’ll be interesting to see, as Tom predicts, whether Armstrong does indeed prove to be a handful for this out-of-sorts version of Carrick’s Middlesbrough.