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Boro fans travelling back on the train from Sunday’s game against Arsenal will once again face a booze ban.

Those hoping to celebrate a famous win, or drown their sorrows, will not be able to take alcohol aboard East Coast trains from London King’s Cross from 6.30pm until 10pm on Sunday.

More than 5,000 fans will descend on the capital for the FA Cup fifth round tie against the Gunners, after Boro brilliantly battered Premier League champions Manchester City in the last round.

East Coast spokesman John Gelson said: “There’s no fixed policy regarding any club’s fixtures, nor on North-east football clubs playing in London.

“We do take into account past events around each sporting fixture likely to generate significant additional journeys on our trains, along with advice from the British Transport Police, in making a decision on each individual fixture on a case by case basis.

“This approach applies to all sporting events likely to generate significant numbers travelling on our services.

“Examples of other sporting events which have prompted us to introduce dry train restrictions include England v Scotland rugby internationals at Murrayfield or Twickenham, and race meetings at York or Doncaster.

“As always, our first priority is to ensure that everyone travelling - whether to a sporting fixture or for any other reason - has a safe and comfortable journey.”

East Coast said the dry train status apply to all services between King’s Cross and Newcastle only - and therefore restrictions apply for East Coast travel to Northallerton and Darlington.

It is the second time in the past few weeks that Boro fans have been hit with a train booze ban coming back from the capital.

Dry trains were also in operation for fans travelling home after the lunchtime league clash in the capital against Brentford on January 31.

Fans queued for hours to snap up the 5,186 tickets for Sunday’s game at Arsenal, which will be shown live on BT Sport at 4pm on Sunday.