“Everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife at home,” Arsene Wenger deadpanned in 2002 when Alex Ferguson insisted Manchester United were a better team than the Frenchman’s Gunners.

He may have become public enemy number one after his sleight of hand denied the Republic of Ireland a place in the 2010 World Cup but a new biography of Thierry Henry argues the Frenchman was as much a victim of the incident as the Boys in Green.

Yesterday, the Irish team were afforded a day off. Most of the media, however, weren’t.