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United alive with dead-ball options | Manchester Utd | English Premier League | Football News from TEAMtalk

United alive with dead-ball options

Sir Alex Ferguson praised the set-piece ability of Cristiano Ronaldo and Owen Hargreaves as Manchester United beat Arsenal 2-1 at Old Trafford.

Ronaldo equalised from a twice-taken penalty kick in the 54th minute - his 38th goal of a remarkable season - after Emmanuel Adebayor had put Arsenal ahead from close range six minutes earlier in Sunday's Premier League showdown.

Then Hargreaves got the winner after 72 minutes with a superb free-kick from 20 yards.

It means United are six points clear of Chelsea, who will be expected to overcome Wigan at Stamford Bridge on Monday night.

Ferguson said: "The manner in which Ronaldo took the second penalty kick - it was only about six inches inside the post, low down, no goalkeeper in the world could have saved that.

"Jens Lehmann guessed right but couldn't get to it - it was a marvellous strike."

It was only Hargreaves's second goal since arriving in a £17million deal from Bayern Munich in the summer and came in front of watching England boss Fabio Capello.

Ferguson added: "I thought Owen would take the free-kick - he is very good at those ones.

"And he has whipped it in brilliantly which you can see from the replays.

"It got inside the post by about half a foot and at that moment I felt that we had a great chance here."

Ferguson remains shocked at the way his team overturned Arsenal's lead at the top and knocked them out of the race with four games to go.

He said: "I would never have expected that and it is a significant result today.

"There were moments in the game when Arsenal probably deserved something from the game but we also produced some great football ourselves.

"We have got four games left, we're three points clear with a great goal difference.

"Obviously if we win the next three games, we win the league."