European failure will haunt United, says Wenger

Less than 48 hours after the disappointment of surrendering the Premiership title, Arsène Wenger was expressing a desire to start the new season "tomorrow".

"I hate the breaks," the Frenchman said. "Because I want to win." The Arsenal manager could also not resist another barbed comment in the direction of Manchester United, suggesting that failure to reach the final of the Champions' League, at Old Trafford, would be difficult to forget.

"I imagine that it will be the only time in their lives that they will get the chance to play the European Cup final on their home ground," he said. "I believe for them it must have been a major, major disappointment. You could see that recently."

United's football was "flat", he maintained, but had been helped by playing against Tottenham Hotspur and Charlton Athletic ­ two teams, he said, who had little motivation. "If it had come down to the last game I am convinced we would have won the championship," Wenger stated. United play Everton ­ "the first team," he added, "since their elimination [from the European Cup] that they would have played with something to go for."

Wenger also claimed that his rivalry with Sir Alex Ferguson would continue for years to come, saying of the 61-year-old Scot: "I think he will finish older than Bobby Robson." The Newcastle United manager recently celebrated his 70th birthday. Still, there would be no letter of congratulation from Wenger for Ferguson's eighth title. "I said my congratulations publicly on TV," he said.

It was a bravura performance prior to tonight's league game against Southampton which, far from being a vital contest in the run-in, has become irksome for both FA Cup finalists. Good news for Arsenal fans will come in the programme notes of the captain Patrick Vieira who, with just one year left on his contract, appears to reiterate his desire to stay. "Can I say thank you for supporting me in my first season as skipper," he writes. "I have enjoyed the responsibility and I am looking forward to leading the team next season." He adds: "I am looking forward to sitting down with the boss and reflecting on this season and talking about how we can use this experience to plot a successful 2003-04."

Vieira is absent through injury ­ and will miss the Cup final ­ while the suspended Sol Campbell will see a specialist today about the Achilles' tendon problem which will also rule him out of England's next two matches. Wenger will turn to youth ­ handing a Premiership debut to the defender Ryan Garry, with Jermaine Pennant starting for the first time. He also stated that he expected new contracts to be offered to Dennis Bergkamp and David Seaman ­ 40 this year ­ and that "none" of his major players, such as Robert Pires, will leave.

"The basic question is: Is this team finished or not? When you take the big players we have, then most of them are young," Wenger said. There will be no drastic measures. "It is down to me not to fall into the excessive judgements that people make after a major disappointment. We want to keep our players and we will keep them." There will, though, be some arrivals in defence. "The No 1 priority is to come back stronger and that means we want to defend better as a team," he said. "It could be that we sign one or two but there is no revolution needed."

Not that he would have any trouble gathering reinforcements. "The problem is not to get players," he said. "I get 50 calls every day about players who want to join us for one euro. Great players. At the moment, just if you take their wages over, you can get great players."

That is the financial reality of football although it is a reality that appears to have evaded Manchester United, as Wenger ruefully commented. "The only luck we have is that, when they buy a big player, they have to take a big player out," he said.

Also in tonight's programme Arsenal, £42m in debt and considering a new bond scheme, will re-state their determination to move to Ashburton Grove, even though the cost has spiralled towards £400m. Wenger, with two years left on his contract, said they had no choice but to move. "I think, for the future of the club, it is vital to get a new stadium," he said and, in reference to the gulf in wealth developing, added: "If not, this club will be the same as it is today."

Ground-sharing with Tottenham is not an option. "There is a special culture and you have to respect that culture," he said before recalling how he had seen Spurs and Manchester United fans singing: "Stand up if you hate Arsenal".

It is an unpalatable truth. As is defeat. "The taste lasts much longer," Wenger observed. "It lasts as long as a good bottle of French wine." Next season, he hopes, will bring a better crop.