GARETH BARRY will reach a personal milestone when he lines up in Everton’s midfield this evening for the visit of Middlesbrough.

The former England international has already been told he will start against Boro so he is in line to make his 600th Premier League appearance.

It is 18 years since the 35-year-old made his debut for Aston Villa aged 17 and he is still turning in top-level performances for the Toffees at the hub of the midfield.

Ronald Koeman, the Everton boss, watched him effectively run the show alongside new midfield sidekick Idrissa Gueye at Sunderland on Monday, when a Romelu Lukaku hat-trick lifted them up to third.

Only Frank Lampard (609) and Ryan Giggs (632) have more Premier League games than Barry, after playing for Villa, Manchester City and now Everton.

Koeman said: “It’s amazing. 600 games, 19 seasons in a row. He is still an important player for us because he is a clever player. You have to minimise the training a little in the week for him but he is still really important to us.”

Barry will be responsible for trying to protect the back four and get things moving forward at Goodison Park, where Middlesbrough are likely to recall Gaston Ramirez in the No 10 role.

Koeman, whose side were watched by Aitor Karanka at the Stadium Of Light, said: “Middlesbrough have started very positively. They are a well organised team with some good players. We have to put the best on the pitch.”

Koeman suddenly has a striker back in form. Lukaku had not scored in 11 games until he struck an 11-minute hat-trick to leave Sunderland floundering – and Koeman will be expecting more from him as the season goes on.

“It’s always a boost to see a striker scoring,” said Koeman. “Strikers live for scoring. Lukaku is always a scoring player. But we need to support the boy to give him the chances to score. The offensive side of the team on Monday was great, much better in the second half.

“For the team you need to perform every week. Don’t make it an eight and next week a four. But of course it’s football. One day you play better than the other. If we talk about Lukaku, he is 23-years-old. He did not have the pre-season he needed to be 100 per cent. Now he is 100 per cent.”