Wenger 'lives for football': Keane

Former Ireland and Manchester United captain Roy Keane today led the tributes to Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger as the Frenchman celebrated the 10th anniversary of his arrival in England.

Keane was the figurehead of United’s battle for supremacy with the Gunners over more than a decade before Chelsea’s emergence as a force in the Barclays Premiership.

No one more than Keane embodied the intensity of the scrap between the two clubs, but the man currently making his way in management with Sunderland has immense respect for Alex Ferguson’s long-time foe.

Keane said: “He has done a brilliant job at Arsenal. I watched them last week against United and they were outstanding.

“The way they play the game, the way he leads himself – I have to say, the way he keeps his head or he seems to keep his head, even at the start of the season when people were starting to doubt Arsenal – maybe myself being one of them – I thought United would beat them.

“A manager at any top club like an Arsenal, a Liverpool, a United, has obviously got special talent.

“I read something about him the other day and a thing he said about football: he said some people live off football and some people live for football. He clearly lives for the game, I will give him that, and all credit to him. I wish him well.”