Hargreaves mocks Arsenal 'beauty'

Hargreaves and Fabregas lock horns in last Saturday's match

England midfielder Owen Hargreaves believes Arsenal remain a poor second behind Manchester United when it comes to playing "beautiful football".

The Premier League rivals drew 2-2 on Saturday to stand on 27 points each, three clear of third-placed Chelsea.

And Hargreaves, fit again following knee trouble, said: "Defensively we did a good job and tried to control their so-called beautiful football.

"Both of our goals were from really beautiful pieces of play."

He added: "They keep the ball and try to play that way, but when a team is as good defensively as ours, you can keep them at bay because we played very tight together.

"You do not get to the top by conceding a lot of goals, but it is difficult when there is so much offensive power on the pitch.

"When you win the ball back against a team like Arsenal, who take a lot of risks going forwards, it is vital that you attack.

"We have a lot of quality going forwards to catch them.

"Their goals were a bit more scrappy."

606: DEBATE Who did the better job of controlling Fabregas? Hargreaves or Mascherano? My vote... Hargreaves keepergirl

But Cesc Fabregas, one of the brightest lights in Arsenal's youthful line-up, was quick to defend his team.

The Spanish star said: "We don't give up and are very strong physically.

"Everyone could see we are a team which fights to the last second. With other teams, maybe they can't follow it through until the end."

Fabregas hit his 11th goal of the season at the Emirates where his team mate William Gallas plucked an injury-time equaliser.

"The title race still has very far to go but this point is good," he added.

"Losing would have left them three points in front of us."

But United boss Sir Alex Ferguson believes his team are coming to the boil at the right time, with some critical games to come over the busy Christmas period.

He said: "We have people fit again. It was the strongest bench I have had this season and that is encouraging for us. I can now alternate our side at times.

"The lads have done a fantastic job to get us into this position and we can change things now when we need to."