Chelsea product Patrick Bamford loves the idea of staying at Middlesbrough

Bamford bagged the opener for Boro in their stunning 2-0 win at Manchester City.

The striker is on a full-season loan from Chelsea and admits he has thought about the prospect of remaining at the Riverside, should Aitor Karanka’s side reach the Premier League.

“Of course that crosses my mind if we get promoted,” said the 21-year-old.

“It’s a toss up whether to go back and get experience playing for Chelsea, where I’d probably only be playing a bit-part, or whether it would be playing week-in week-out for Middlesbrough in the Premier League.

“When you put it that way, it’s an easy decision in the end.

“But it’s not just my choice, I will have to wait and see what happens at the end of the season and see where everyone is.”

One thing for sure is that in two journeys to Premier and Champions League clubs this season Boro have proven their class.

Liverpool needed penalties to beat them in the Capital One Cup after a 1-1 draw and now one of the richest clubs on the planet, Aguero et al, have been put to the sword.

“Once we get up there I think well be a match for anyone,” said the England U21 forward.“First there was Liverpool where we lost on penalties but it went right to the wire, then there was this.

“We stuck to our game-plan and it takes a lot of concentration.

“I think you can see there is a lot of difference in tempo and pace with the Premier League but we came through all right.”

They certainly did.

Keeper Tomas Mejias, in for the rested Dimi Konstantopoulos, produced some excellent first-half saves, but thereafter Boro looked relatively comfortable.

“We owed Tomas a lot

in the first half but I thought we deserved it,” Bamford explained.

“They didn’t have many chances in the second half, apart from the one which hit the post [by Frank Lampard].

“Before the game there was a feeling from all the lads that we could win.

“It’s a big stadium and big team but once you get over the fact that you are playing the English champions it’s just a normal game of football.

“The gaffer said that we had to respect them and their level of football, but forget their names and who they are, just play the game we know we can and work as a team and we did that.”

The fifth-round draw is this evening, live on BBC2, and Bamford has fingers crossed for an away day at Arsenal.

“I’d like to play at the Emirates, that would be a nice draw,” he said in an interview with BBC Tees.