Relations between Manchester United and Arsenal continued to deteriorate yesterday when Arsène Wenger hit back at Sir Alex Ferguson's call for a cap on foreign players and the Old Trafford manager's accusation that it would draw the biggest protest from the London club.
Ferguson's starting team at Arsenal on Saturday featured only four Englishmen and - with United having committed more than £40m to buying Carlos Tevez, Nani, Anderson and Tomasz Kuszczak last summer - Wenger suggested Ferguson should consider the foreigners' feelings.
"It is not very nice to his own foreign players, first of all," he said. "I would not be very happy if I was a foreign player at Manchester United. After that, what is behind the comments is not my responsibility. I feel it is down to quality. If you look at the investments of Man United this year, they have invested a lot of money in foreign players."
He thinks if FIFA were to impose the rules it would be detrimental to the game.
"I have always believed that sport should be about quality so hiding behind artificial rules would not help anyone.
"It doesn't make bad students better if you put down the level of the class. It makes them worse.
"Only by competing against the best in the world can you improve levels. The public want to see the best."