MIDDLESBROUGH midfielder Matthew Bates would be prepared to not play another game this season if it guaranteed his side avoid the drop.

The Boro Academy graduate has emerged as a player of genuine Premier League promise in recent weeks; providing Gareth Southgate with one of the few glints of sunlight to brighten an otherwise gloomy campaign.

And while the 22-year-old from Eaglescliffe, Stocktonon- Tees is relishing the prospect of facing free-scoring Arsenal on Sunday, he revealed his willingness to put personal achievement to one side if it ensured survival for his beloved Boro.

“I want to play every game and of course I’m really looking forward to Sunday. But to be honest, if you gave me the choice of playing our last five games and going down or not playing again this season and staying up then I’d be prepared to sit on the sidelines,”

insisted Bates who never takes pulling on a Boro shirt for granted after sustaining three serious knee injuries during his short career.

“If it guaranteed the lads stay up then I’d not play again this season – it means that much.”

The return to reserve team action of former Paris St Germain midfielder Didier Digard this week offers Southgate an alternative option in the centre of the park as he prepares his side for one of their toughest challenges of the campaign.

But if Andrei Arshavin’s quartet of goals on Tuesday night at Anfield led some Boro fans to dread the prospect of facing Arsene Wenger’s side just as they hit top gear, then Bates found reasons to be cheerful.

“Some of the lads were raving about Arsenal’s goals the other night, but the other side of it is they didn’t look too clever in defence so I take a positive from that,” he noted.

“Our record against the top teams has been good in recent seasons. In the last two games against Hull and Fulham to a certain extent the pressure was off because we’ve been down there and you can only go one way – which is up.

“I like the fact that people are writing us off for the next two games and you can understand where they’re coming from when you look at the kind of form Arsenal and Man United are in but I wouldn’t count us out.

“One of the lads on the training pitch today was talking about Arsenal going well in the league, 16 games unbeaten and all that. But when I hear stats like that I think the opposite.

“My view is that if they’ve had 16 games unbeaten they’re due to get beat sometime, they can’t go on forever like that so why not on Sunday – stranger things have happened.

“Arshavin looked amazing in midweek but I’m not sure who I’ll be up against because there’s a good chance they’ll rest a few with the Champions League game coming up.

“It could be (Cesc) Fabregas, Denilson, (Vassiriki) Diaby, (Alexandre) Song – any of those four but whoever it is we’re in for a tough challenge.’’

Boro’s hopes of pulling off a shock have been boosted by Wenger hinting he may be tempted to rest a host of his first team players on Sunday as he eyes the Gunners’ Champions League semi-final with Manchester United.

The Arsenal boss declared his frustration that the live screening of Sunday lunch time’s clash would give his side less time than their opponents to prepare for Wednesday’s first leg tie at Old Trafford.

“We play Tuesday (at Liverpool) and then we play Sunday again, and nobody knows why we do not play on Saturday,” said Wenger. “That’s why we have to rotate a bit. We cannot survive with the same 11.”