MIDDLESBROUGH defender Gareth Southgate has warned Sam Allardyce to prepare for a backlash as the Teessiders attempt to exorcise their opening day demons.

While Wanderers were launching their Premiership campaign with a stunning 5-0 victory at Leicester on Saturday, Boro were going down 4-0 at home to Arsenal.

And while Big Sam's side go into tonight's clash at the Reebok looking to make it two wins out of two, Southgate is confident Saturday's nightmare has already been forgotten.

"I think it's a good thing that we have a game coming up so quickly," he said. "Bolton had a terrific result, but the beauty of the Premier League at this stage is that you do get another game so quickly, and while they'll be buzzing, we want another crack at getting it right.

"I think we can play a lot better. There is a lot more to come from us and I think there was evidence of that in the second half on Saturday.

"Training had gone very well and add to that the fact that everyone was full of confidence and optimism on the opening day of the season and we were well prepared, which makes the defeat much harder to take.

"Arsenal were an exceptional team, but until the last five minutes I don't think there was a lot in it. We must not let the last five minutes cloud our judgement. I know Bolton will be tough, but it is a challenge which we must respond to.

"We must look at our game first, look to see what we can do better, but there is no point losing sleep because there are 37 more games to go and lots of points to play for.

"Saturday was a bad day at the office, but we have to come out fighting again tonight."

Boro's determination to redeem themselves is further fuelled by a sense of injustice over the late dismissal of Ugo Ehiogu which accelerated their demise.

Until that point, they had been fighting hard against 10-man Arsenal for an equaliser, but Ehiogu's rather harsh red card for a trip on Ashley Cole was accompanied by a penalty award.

Robert Pires duly dispatched the spot-kick to set up an even later Dennis Bergkamp double which gave the final scoreline an ugly complexion.

"For 85 minutes, we looked like we might get something from the game then for five minutes, we lost our shape a little bit after Ugo had gone off," Southgate admitted.

"We came up against an excellent team, but I don't think we were four goals adrift of them.

"But the fact is the scoreline says we were and we have to pick ourselves up from it."

Boro boss Steve McClaren is investigating the possibility of appealing against Ehiogu's sending off which, if it stands, will see him miss the Tees-Tyne derby clash with Newcastle on September 8.

However, in the short term, he and his players will simply concentrate on the attempt to register their first points of the season before they head for Everton on Saturday.

McClaren has just one fresh injury concern after Saturday's game with Croatian striker Alen Boksic nursing a bruised calf, although the manager is hopeful of being able to include his star man in the starting line-up.