Fabregas scored in the 26th minute following a slick move near halfway.
Nicklas Bendtner´s back-heeled flick to the Spaniard was quickly passed on to Andrei Arshavin, who raced down the left flank. The Russia playmaker crossed to an unmarked Fabregas, who had continued his run to the edge of the area and his sliding shot beat Boro goalkeeper Brad Jones.
Fabregas scored again in the 67th after collecting a through ball from Emmanuel Eboue and rounding Jones, who had come off his line, to slot into an empty net. It was Fabregas´ last action on the pitch at Emirates Stadium and he was substituted. He now has three goals this season.
Middlesbrough struggled to retain possession throughout the first half and Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia had little to do. Boro came closest to scoring in the 43rd minute when captain Stewart Downing fired a low shot and Almunia dived to his left to keep it out.
Arsenal created several chances off passing moves throughout the half. But Boro´s defending, including a last-gasp tackle by Robert Huth on Theo Walcott who was clear on goal in the eighth minute, prevented a heavier defeat.
Boro´s predicament worsened when Blackburn moved six points clear of the relegation zone with a 2-0 win over mid-table Wigan.
South Africa striker Benni McCarthy put Rovers ahead in the 45th minute with a header from Morten Gamst Pedersen´s corner before Ryan Nelsen made it 2-0 in the 60th with a near-post header from a free kick by McCarthy.
Victory lifted Blackburn one place to 15th on 37 points, trailing Portsmouth only on goal difference.
La Liga
Raul Gonzalez scored a hat-trick Sunday as Real Madrid beat Sevilla 4-2 to close within four points of Spanish leader Barcelona after a record eighth straight road victory.
Juande Ramos - who was showered with dollar bills featuring his image after the former Sevilla coach left for a lucrative offer from Tottenham last season - was without regulars Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Gabriel Heinze due to injury.
Center back Pepe is also banned for 10 games for lashing out at two Getafe opponents in Madrid´s last game, and he was certainly missed on Renato´s opening goal in the 16th minute.
But Raul equalized by redirecting Christoph Metzelder´s center over Sevilla goalkeeper Andres Palop on the stroke of halftime.
The Madrid captain then volleyed in Miguel Torres´ deflected cross in the 63rd before taking his goal tally for the season to 18 three minutes later by poking in a loose ball that Palop failed to smother.
Diego Capel pulled one back for Sevilla ten minutes from time after Sergio Ramos had failed to clear a cross into the area, but Marcelo sealed the victory with Madrid´s fourth deep into injury time.
In Sunday´s other games, it was: Getafe 1, Villarreal 2; Atletico Madrid 3, Sporting Gijon 1; Athletic Bilbao 2, Racing Santander 1; Espanyol 2, Real Betis 0; Recreativo Huelva 2, Mallorca 4; and Valladolid 0, Osasuna 0.
At the Vicente Calderon stadium, a deflected volley gave Diego Forlan his 23rd goal of the season. Sabrosa Simao then doubled the lead for Atletico in the 41st minute before Sergio Aguero netted his 15th of the season just after the restart.
Mate Bilic pulled one back for the visitors a minute later, but Atletico hung on to stay in touch with the Champions League places despite Simao being sent off late.
Athletic and Racing played a stormy affair that featured five dismissals and 17 cards.
Fernando Llorente opened the scoring with his 14th goal of the season before David Lopez doubled Athletic´s lead with a 42nd-minute penalty.
Pablo Pinillos pulled Santander to within one with a penalty in the 57th after Fran Yeste was sent off for barging into Jonathan Pereira.
A third straight win moved Espanyol out of the drop zone for the first time since December.
Luis Garcia beat the offside trap to roll home in the fourth minute before Roman Martinez added the second in the 83rd for Espanyol to move into 16th with 35 points, one better than Getafe and two up on Sporting.
Serie A
Brazil star Kaka converted two spot kicks Sunday to help AC Milan beat 10-man Palermo 3-0 and move to second place above Juventus, who were held to a 2-2 draw at bottom side Reggina.
Milan settled matters with the Sicily hosts in a first half they closed two goals up through Kaka´s spot kick and a header from veteran Filippo Inzaghi, who notched his 10th goal from the past seven games.
Palermo´s hopes for a comeback faded when their defender Cesare Bovo was dismissed on 48 minutes, and entirely vanished after a second penalty converted from Kaka.
There were no signs of recovery from Juventus, who twice fell behind against Reggina and failed to end a winless run that began on March 21.
Antonino Barilla on 27 minutes scored his first goal in the Serie A largely thanks to a blunder from international goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who fell inside the net as he tried to parry the midfielder´s header.
A 2-0 defeat at struggling Bologna halted Genoa´s quest for a last Champions League berth that is currently available to fourth-place Fiorentina after their 4-1 crushing of 10-man Roma on Saturday.
One point clear of Bologna lie Torino, who beat Siena 1-0, while second-last Lecce prevailed 2-1 over Catania.
In mid-table games, Atalanta won 1-0 at Lazio, Sampdoria and Cagliari drew 3-3 and Udinese beat Chievo 2-1 on Saturday.
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