Patrice Evra wants more respect for Manchester United after their convincing win at title rivals Arsenal.

The left-back, who was given the captain's armband against the Gunners on Sunday, is unhappy with the way his team was criticised before the Premier League game at the Emirates.

The Red Devils have lagged behind Chelsea in the title race and many critics have said they looked vulnerable and weakened due to their defensive crisis and the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo.

On Sunday, United stormed to a 3-1 win thanks to an own-goal by Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia and a goal each from Wayne Rooney and Park Ji-Sung. The win moved them to within a point of Chelsea in the standings.

Evra insisted that everybody should respect United because they deserved it and they are aiming to win their fourth league title in a row.

“We want to win a fourth league title in a row, to write our name into the history books," he was quoted as saying by The Daily Star.

“However, people have criticised us a great deal. Before our game against Arsenal everybody had us down as losers. Plenty of people do not show enough respect for the reigning champions. We spoke in the dressing-room before the Arsenal game and there was no question of us even coming away with a draw."

“We no longer had the option to do so – we have to win all our games now. In the end we reproduced the performance we put on at Arsenal in the Champions League last season when we won 3-1.”

The Frenchman went on to echo Sir Alex Ferguson's thoughts by saying Arsenal have what it takes to beat Chelsea when they meet this Sunday.

“Arsenal are a side that plays very  attractive football,” said the 28-year-old. “We do as well, with the difference that ours is more devastating. But I do not rule them out of the title race at all, as they are a great team, and I hope they will cause Chelsea problems next weekend.”

Evra also found time to pay tribute to Wayne Rooney who reached 100th Premier League goals against Arsenal as well as Nani.

“Wayne is clearly unstoppable right now,” added Evra. “He has developed and understood that his job is to score goals."

“He channels his energies more and stays in the penalty area. The fact that Cristiano Ronaldo is no longer with us has truly given him freedom. He has increased responsibilities, particularly in attack. Sometimes it is down to him alone to decide matches for us, but we are not dependent on Rooney."

“You could see that was the case against Arsenal when our best player was Nani.”