THEY say history has a knack of repeating itself.

And for the sake of Middlesbrough and Steve McClaren let's hope that old adage is about to ring true.

Crashing to defeat at Arsenal and conceding four goals in the process is nothing new to McClaren, but losing 4-1 at Highbury on Saturday in the FA Cup fourth round should be harder for him to stomach.

The Boro manager could be forgiven for thinking there was a touch of deja vu in North London - after all just a fortnight earlier the Gunners had inflicted the same, one-sided scoreline on their Premiership counterparts.

But the response McClaren got from his players - a 1-0 first-leg success - on their second of three visits to the capital last Tuesday in the Carling Cup was exactly what was demanded.

How McClaren would love for another result like that in Wednesday night's second leg at the Riverside, and he is calling for exactly the same attitude from his squad for the fourth meeting between the two sides this month.

Arsenal, who have lost just one of their last nine against the Teessiders, are likely to field a young side for the return leg but there will still be no place for the world-class skills of Thierry Henry, who was not missed by them in Saturday's FA Cup tie.

But Boro also made their intentions clear by resting South American Juninho and giving centre-backs Ugo Ehiogu, Gareth Southgate and Colin Cooper more time to recover from injuries.

McClaren's attempts to 'freshen things up' for episode three of a four-part Arsenal-Middlesbrough epic may have backfired in a substantial manner but he is now focused on guiding the club to their first final since 1998.

"We were missing a lot of players with a view to Wednesday which becomes very important for us now," said the former Manchester United No 2.

"We went to Arsenal recently and got beaten 4-1 but came back and won the game in the League Cup. I'm looking for the same reaction now.

"Wednesday is a big game for our football club. A massive game. We got a great result here and we have an opportunity at home to go to Cardiff."

Thankfully for Boro there will be no Henry to contend with at the Riverside - but there will be the precocious talent of a teenager dubbed Arsenal's future Dennis Bergkamp.

Wenger revealed 19-year-old David Bentley will be starting up front for Arsenal, not much of a relief to Boro having witnessed exactly what the England youth international is capable of at first hand.

With Arsenal 3-1 up, Bentley was given licence as a substitute to enjoy himself as time ran out on Boro's FA Cup hopes.

And in injury-time the skilful young striker had the audacity to chip the 6ft 4in frame of Boro's Aussie goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer from 20 yards with his left foot, despite supposedly being right-footed.

After a pretty low key start, Arsenal took the lead 19 minutes in when Bergkamp's side-footed shot was deflected into Schwarzer's top left corner after Ray Parlour's cut back from the by-line.

Parlour had embarrassed stand-in left-back Stuart Parnaby by catching out the young defender as he tried to shepherd the ball out for a goal-kick.

The heavens were expected to open and they did, but not until Joseph Job had handed the visitors a surprising lifeline just four minutes later.

Franck Queudrue - playing in an unanticipated centre-back role with Ehiogu rested with a groin injury - sent in a free-kick from the half-way line to the back post. Michael Ricketts headed down and Job took a touch on his knee before firing high into the goal of Jens Lehmann.

But Boro's joy was short-lived. Soon after - having escaped a sending off when Chris Riggott could have been red carded when he caught Robert Pires as he ran clean through on goal - Swede Freddie Ljungberg shot low between the legs of Schwarzer from six yards.

From then on Boro struggled and were always chasing shadows and Arsenal, hoping to reach a record fourth successive FA Cup final, hit cruise control.

Henry's stand-in - Ljungberg - headed in Arsenal's third on 68 minutes when he met Pires' corner, despite Gaizka Mendieta's best efforts to stop the ball crossing the line.

To make matters worse for Boro, George Boateng was sent off for a second bookable offence when his late lunge into Parlour proved costly. Just seconds earlier he had been booked for dissent after complaining of Pires' theatrics.

And the Dutchman, who was in the bath when Bentley struck his wonder goal, did not get much sympathy from McClaren.

"I have got no complaints about it," he said. "You have to deal with certain things in a game. Robert Pires is a very good player and I don't want to comment on what he does on the field."

Result: Arsenal 4 Middlesbrough 1.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.