Fabregas glad to score again

Cesc Fabregas admitted he’d forgotten what scoring a goal felt like after twice finding the net in Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Middlesbrough in the Premier League at the Emirates Stadium here on Sunday.

The Spain midfielder was on target either side of half-time as the midfielder scored his first goals since October to help boost Arsenal’s morale ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg against English and European champions Manchester United at Old Trafford.

“It’s been a long time” Fabregas told Sky Sports.

“I had completely lost the feeling of scoring a goal. To score two in a game is always special but the feeling was amazing.

“It keeps going the run we have got in the league and three days before the Manchester United game, which is probably our most important one of the season, it’s good for the confidence.

“We played some good stuff, we moved the ball really quick, and every player was good so we are happy with that.”

Looking ahead to the United match, Fabregas added: “The defence will be really, really important. We know they are a great team, we respect them a lot and we love the way they play.

“I think they respect us well and it will be a good game, I’m sure.”

While victory kept Arsenal’s hopes of securing automatic qualification for next season’s Champions League alive, defeat left Middlesbrough in the relegation zone and three points adrift of safety.

Boro’s next match is at home to United on Saturday – a match sandwiched by the two legs of Alex Ferguson’s side clash with Arsenal – but manager Gareth Southgate did his best to remain upbeat after the north-east team’s 17th league defeat of the season.

“It’s about what we do from here on in now,” he said. “We’ve got a massive game at home next week and we’ve got our fans behind us there and it’s a more realistic chance of getting something,” the ex-England central defender added.

“I don’t think it really matters when you play teams, it’s about how we are on the day,” Southgate said when asked if United’s European commitments might work in Boro’s favour.

“We will have to play extremely well. But we are capable, we’ve done it in the past.

“We’ve said we’ve got to pick some big results up, results went for us yesterday (Saturday) so we are still in with a chance but we realise we’ve got it all to do.”