Red missed descends

Manchester Utd 0 Arsenal 0

Arsenal boss Wenger hit out at United’s Ruud van Nistelrooy for his exaggerated reaction to Patrick Vieira’s kick which earned the Frenchman his second yellow card with 10 minutes left. When Van Nistelrooy missed a last-gasp penalty (his third spot kick failure in a row), the Arsenal players did themselves considerable discredit by celebrating in his face. Ferguson described it as “unacceptable and terrible”.

The FA will, therefore, probe the controversial incidents which marred an otherwise fascinating encounter. Martin Keown could find himself at the centre of a video investigation for the way that he appeared to shove Van Nistelrooy. However, Keown was not alone in losing control in those final few minutes, with Ashley Cole also seeming to clash with Cristiano Ronaldo as the players left the pitch amid a virtual melee.

Wenger nevertheless concentrated his criticism on Van Nistelrooy, who has previously clashed with Keown in another fiery encounter between these two teams.

While Vieira was shown his second caution for attempting to kick the Dutchman in retaliation, the Arsenal boss believes Van Nistelrooy should also have been sent off. “He did Patrick before Patrick retaliated. He kicked him with his right leg after he had made the foul. That’s why I think he should have gone as well.

“Van Nistelrooy does not help himself, frankly. He is a great player, but his attitude is always provoking and diving. He looks a nice boy but, on the pitch, he doesn’t always show fair behaviour. If Patrick had to go off, van Nistelrooy should have gone off. He (Vieira) is 100% sure that van Nistelrooy caught him.

“Patrick should not have reacted but then you punish more the consequence than the source of the problem.”

Ferguson, however, was clearly angered by Wenger's comments as he appeared on television soon after the Arsenal boss. “I’m backing Ruud absolutely. The great thing about today is that we have television evidence and I’m very disappointed at Arsene Wenger’s comments in branding him a cheat,” he declared.

“If I was to talk about Arsenal in the same manner, it would create headlines which would run for days.

“Ruud didn’t dive, he was reacting to something. What was he supposed to do? He looked shocked that Patrick Vieira would do something like that. We know he didn’t touch him, but there was still intent there. He just looked at the referee as if to say ‘what is he doing’? That’s what I thought too.

“It’s not for me to talk about Arsenal’s discipline, it’s for them to sort out, but our discipline was fantastic. We were in complete control of it.”

Ferguson was angered by the behaviour of Arsenal players after van Nistelrooy had crashed his penalty against the underside of the bar and then at the final whistle. “The referee will have to do something about that. I am not accepting it. There were the two best teams in the country here and the whole country was watching, and then you have that.”

Ferguson, who is facing an FA charge of his own after his outspoken comments to the match officials at Newcastle, added: “I think the FA will be looking at that, but it’s not my problem. I have enough problems with the FA of my own. I’ll probably end up in [prison] and they’ll get off.”

Wenger, however, was unsurprisingly unwilling to criticise his players for their reaction to van Nistelrooy.

“If you want to convince me that Martin Keown is a devil and van Nistelrooy is an angel then you will have a big problem,” he insisted. “Van Nistelrooy is quite provocative and I would say that every Arsenal player would confirm that. Of course, you cannot be unhappy when your opponent doesn’t score a goal, but their attitude was not linked to the penalty. It was more linked to his overall attitude during the game.”

Wenger was also unhappy at the penalty awarded by Steve Bennett, who sent off Francis Jeffers in the Community Shield clash between the two teams only last month, after Diego Forlan went tumbling.

“Martin Keown said he went for the ball. They both went for it and I think it was a harsh decision which provoked a lot of incidents,” he said.

After criticism of Robert Pires, Ferguson insisted during the build-up to the game that managers had a responsibility to stop their players diving.

However, Wenger responded: “Diving is not confined to one club but all 20. I agree that we all have to fight against it, but they have some work to do here, like everyone else.”

MAN UTD: Howard, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre, O’Shea (Forlan 76), Ronaldo, Keane, Phil Neville, Fortune, Giggs, van Nistelrooy.

ARSENAL: Lehmann, Lauren, Toure, Keown, Cole, Parlour, Vieira, Silva, Ljungberg, Bergkamp (Edu 82), Henry.

Att: 67,639

Ref: S Bennett (Kent).