London, Oct.3 (ANI): Manchester United will need the brilliance of Owen Hargreaves dead-ball ability to stay on course for the Premier League title, believes coach Alex Ferguson.

Ferguson says Hargreaves has a dead-ball ability second only to Cristiano Ronaldo in world football, and has cautioned against over relying on veteran Ryan Giggs, reports The Independent.

“We are not going to have Ryan every game. So, to have someone who can score from a free-kick or deliver a set piece will be a bonus for us,” Ferguson reflected.

“One area where [Hargreaves] may help us is that outside Ronaldo I don’t think there is a better set-piece deliverer of the ball than Owen. He has a great asset at free kicks, which you might look upon as minimal but I look at it as an added detail to a football team. Ronaldo can get you maybe three of four goals from free-kicks and we are searching for that at the moment,” he added.

Hargreaves’ sublime strike that clinched the vital Premier League win over Arsenal in April 2008 is a case in point - Arsène Wenger’s side were expecting Ronaldo, standing over the ball with Hargreaves, to take the kick until the England international curled it away to Jens Lehmann’s right.

In observations that may be in part designed to nurture the 28-year-old Hargreaves’ belief that he can again become a part of United’s core, Ferguson said the signs are “good” for a November comeback.

“Owen can play centre-midfield, he can play wide right or right-back and there are a lot of positions you can play him in,” Ferguson said. (ANI)