This is the Middlesbrough team Tony Pulis has selected to face Villa

This is the starting XI Middlesbrough boss Tony Pulis has named to face Aston Villa in the Championship play-off semi final first leg.

They are unchanged from the team who clinched a final day draw at Ipswich Town last weekend.

The Boro boss hinted that he would stick with the team that has performed so well for him in recent times and had stayed true to his word.

It means that former Villa old boys Adama Traore and Stewart Downing start in wide attacking roles behind Britt Assombalonga up top.

This is the confirmed team:

Boro: Randolph, Shotton, Ayala, Gibson, Friend, Clayton, Howson, Besic, Adama, Downing, Assombalonga.

Subs: Dimi, Fabio, Cranie, Fry, Leadbitter, Harrison, Bamford.

Here's how Anthony Vickers, from the Gazette, has rated Boro's starting XI so far this season:

Darren Randolph - 8

It has been a season of under-stated safe-hands solidity from the Republic of Ireland keeper.

After arriving in a £5m summer switch from West Ham he has become a fixture and the only league ever-present this term.

A great shot-stopper, he has kept Boro in games when under the cosh with some big and brave stops and 16 clean sheets is not to be sniffed at.

Ryan Shotton - 7

Inexplicably underused by Garry Monk, the imposing centre-back has been one of the cyphers of the distinct changes Tony Pulis has made to the shape.

A centre-half by trade, the £2.5m summer signing from Birmingham replaced the more attacking Cyrus Christie at right-back as the boss rewired the defence to be more conservative and rigid.

Tough in the tackle and well disciplined he also offers an attacking outlet with runs up the right and howitzer throws.

Dani Ayala - 8.5

Only a bit-part player under Monk, the restored and revved up Spanish stopper has been central to Boro’s revival.

A beast in both boxes, Ayala has been unleashed a potent force at set-plays and has scored seven in 22 games since the turn of the year.

And his effective reunion at the back with long time partner Ben Gibson has helped underpin what had been a fragile rearguard.

Ben Gibson - 7.5

Stepping down from the England fringes back to the cut-throat Championship grind asked big questions of Gibson and early on he struggled to answer them amid formation flux and a complete new defence.

But the natural leader has grown in strength as the season has gone on and has flourished after the arrival of Pulis and the restoration of the Gibson-Ayala axis.

A great reader of the game, calm under pressure and always reader with a crunching blocking tackle.

George Friend - 7

The season only really started for the fans’ favourite with the arrival of Pulis when he hs extra height and physicality earned him the nod at left back ahead of Fabio.

The left-back struggled at times for pace and positionally as he shrugged off his ring-rust and tuned himself in to what the new gaffer wanted - and it must have been hard to curb his cavalier instincts.

But in the run in he has been back to his best, more disciplined at the back and his over-laps have been more productive.

Adam Clayton - 7.5

The industrious anchorman was in and out in the Garry Monk era and often deployed in different roles. No wonder he looked out of sorts.

Clayton took some time to force his way into the picture under Pulis but now looks the first choice in the holding role.

A grafter who loves a big tackle, he beavers away to close, chase and harry opponents, break up play and is tidy up loose ends.

Mo Besic - 8.5

The tenacious on-loan Everton schemer has been a revelation since arriving in January and has balanced Boro’s engineroom.

He has energy, good close control, great vision and excellent distribution as well as a little flash of malice. That is a great skill-set. Besic zips about and is always available for an out ball and has the mobility, pin-point passing and intelligence to knit together attacking moves and switch the direction and tempo of play.

Jonny Howson - 7.5

The £5m summer buy from Norwich has added some mobility and attacking instinct to what had been a flat midfield unit.

He is a study in perpetual motion and pops up fire-fighting all over midfield and is quick to collect and look forward to either pick out a run or carry the ball upfield.

He has grown in strength and confidence as the season has unfolded. If only he could add more goals to his game.

Adama Traore - 9

Boro’s fast-forward flanker is a real force of nature fuelled by a potent cocktail of pace, power and incredible shifts of balance and direction. On his day he is almost unplayable.

At the start of the season he was a fringe figure stood moping by the exit door and under Garry Monk he spluttered frustratingly through games, making electric weaving runs that generated excitement but little end product.

Under Pulis though he has been rewired as an increasingly potent figure who has channelled his searing pace, wriggling runs and devastating delivery to become a deadly match winner. Five goals and 10 assists since Pulis arrived is testament to that.

Stewart Downing - 7

Downing takes some flak from fans for not being the player he once was - but the player he is now is not bad.

The local lad has played a variety of roles right across the middle as the season has unfolded and has been the go-to man under both bosses to retain and recycle possession under pressure.

Nominally a flanker, he drops deep or cuts inside to collect before picking out movement and crisply and calmly sweeping the ball along efficiently. He has scored twice in the last six games.

Britt Assombalonga - 8

Had Boro's £15m record buy kept up his incredible pre-Christmas strike rate he would have scored a 9 at least.

The penalty box poacher Forest showed pace and power and instinctive movement in and around the box and rattled in 12 goals in the first 23 games, a staggering one in two ratio

He slipped down the pecking order as Tony Pulis changed the system and was restricted to cameos from the bench until an injury to Patrick Bamford last month offered him a chance that he has seized. If he resumes scoring there's still time to bump that score up.