MIDDLESBROUGH assistant manager Malcolm Crosby has denied weekend reports that he is about to be axed, after explaining his absence from the dug-out in Boro’s last two games was due to his recovering from hip replacement surgery.

Crosby was back at the club’s Rockcliffe training ground yesterday to help the squad prepare for Sunday’s encounter at Arsenal.

But Gareth Southgate’s assistant boss expressed himself “very disappointed” by reports in Sunday newspapers that he was facing the sack.

After missing last Saturday’s draw with Fulham and the victory over Hull City a week earlier, it had been suggested that Crosby was set to be the first victim of a cull in staff at the Riverside following their stuttering season.

But Crosby, who has returned to club duties this week despite requiring crutches to get around the training pitch, shrugged off the stories and insisted he’s going nowhere.

“It doesn’t bother me because it’s not true but these people have put it in the paper when they’ve noticed I wasn’t at the game,” explained Crosby, who has been Southgate's number two since May 2006.

“I’m here, I’ll be at the Arsenal game and my future is with Boro. I was still playing reserve team football in my early 40’s and I’m paying for it now so I’ve had the hip operation.’’ The Middlesbrough players will need to demonstrate a similar fighting spirit if they are to take anything from their trip to the Emirates.

Nevertheless, Crosby believes that, at their best, Boro’s squad possess the talent to match any club in the division.

“We travel to Arsenal and then meet Manchester United and a lot of people would automatically say they are games we’ll lose,” he said.

“But we’ve got to remember that in the past we’ve done well against those teams.

“If you have the courage to get it down and play them at their own game you can come out with a result. That’s how we’re going into the Arsenal game.”

Boro’s failure to convert their dominance into goals last Saturday leaves them needing a result this weekend and Crosby admitted: “Without a doubt we need to score.

If you can score first it’s a massive bonus.

We scored first against Arsenal in the past and it gives you a big lift and keeps you in the game.

“ Arsenal play a really open, flowing game and on a good day they can stick four or five past anybody.

“But some days their football’s fantastic but they don’t get the goals and we go into the game hoping they have one of those types of days.”

The assistant boss regards a trip to the Emirates as providing Boro players with a timely reminder what they’ll be missing if they relinquish their top flight status.

“It’s a superb place to play football and they are a magnificent team,’’ he said. “A lot of our players have had a good taste of the Premier League after being in the division for some time and they don’t want to lose that.

“It’s certainly going to be different if the worst came to the worst, no offence to clubs in the Championship but the crowds and atmosphere won’t be anything like Arsenal.”

Crosby added: “Arsene Wenger is very complimentary towards Gareth and what he’s trying to do and if he thinks that then maybe we’re doing something right.

“I’m sure when he was a young manager, Wenger didn’t have the task Gareth’s had in handling a massive Premier League club as his first job. But Wenger’s experience is incredible, he’s a winner and when people like him talk you’ve got to listen - and we do.

“He’s much more approachable than his media image would suggest.

“I could sit and listen to him all day. Because even when the likes of him or Sir Alex Ferguson lose or draw to you they’re not happy but they’re decent enough people to have a bit chat after the game.”