Owen: Squad is finely balanced

Owen Hargreaves feels the victories over Newcastle and Fulham have demonstrated United's quality in-depth, which he believes could be a decisive factor in the title race.

For the trip to Craven Cottage, Sir Alex Ferguson made five changes from the side that thrashed Kevin Keegan's men, but there was no disruption to the team's flow as the Reds cantered to a 3-0 win.

"It was a good performance from everyone in the team after a great display at Newcastle last weekend," Hargreaves told MUTV. "A different team played that game so I think the balance of the squad is very good at the moment.

"We are all part of the jigsaw puzzle. Nobody is going to play in all the games at United. You trust the boss with all the experience he has. So far this season, as far as I'm concerned, he has picked the right team pretty much every time.

"I think all our players have something different to bring to the table. So, depending on how we want to play, we can perform in different formations.

"You only need to look at the win at Fulham - to have Rooney, Ronaldo and Anderson all coming on late from the bench is quite remarkable. And I think the depth and balance in our squad could make the difference in the end."

Hargreaves himself opened the scoring in the win over the Cottagers with a superbly executed free kick which marked his first goal for the club.

"Sometimes you feel good about a free-kick and other times you don't," he admits. "I decided to take it because I thought I'd have a chance to score and thankfully it went in."