Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate is happy to be playing on Sunday as it gives his international players the chance to recuperate.Boro travel to London to face Chelsea after a week in which some of his players have travelled round the world to represent their countries in international friendly matches.

Southgate told the club's official website: "It's not an ideal time of year for a club manager to have players disappearing for friendlies.

"You've got to balance that against the pride of individual players have for playing for their countries and for some of them they're leading into the European Championships, others just want to impress their respective managers.

"For us having to travel down to Chelsea for the game it gives us an extra day, as very often with these international breaks you're just checking who is fit.

"It's never an ideal build-up but at least we get an extra day to count the bodies."

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