Arsene Wenger today insisted he did not see any food being thrown at Alex Ferguson in the players' tunnel after Arsenal's 2-0 defeat at Manchester United on Sunday, as the English FA confirmed they will investigate reports of a post-match fracas.
Ferguson allegedly had soup thrown at him by a so far unidentified member of the Arsenal squad in the tunnel.
In addition, Arsenal equipment manager Paul Johnson was accidentally struck in the face and suffered a nose bleed, while in the melee, it is understood a member of United's security staff was hit across the top of his head as he attempted to calm tensions.
FA spokesman Andrin Cooper today confirmed the governing body will endeavour to clear up the controversy which has predictably been dubbed 'soupgate'.
"There is no strict time frame on this kind of issue," said Cooper.
"We are looking to gather information from different sources and will see whether we are able to put together a picture of what happened in the tunnel after the game.
"If we are able to do that we will look at what action will be taken.
"But we are some way away from knowing what will happen at this stage," he added.
The FA have also asked Wenger to explain his post-match comments about van Nistelrooy and manager Mike Riley.
The Frenchman claimed that the Highbury outfit "know how Ruud van Nistelrooy behaves. He can only cheat people - we know him very well", as well as openly slating Riley's performance.
But Wenger told a press conference today: "It's a long story - nothing happened so there's no story.
"I don't know about food throwing. I did not see if something was thrown - you'll have to ask someone else because I don't know."
He also denied he had called van Nistelrooy "a cheat". "I don't have to deny what I did not say," he said.
However, the Arsenal boss had plenty to say about the spirit in which United played the game - and believes it did English football few favours.
He continued: "I wasn't angry after the game at all. I respect Manchester United and the referee - but on this occasion I feel they did not like playing the game with the spirit we tried to play.
"And I don't feel the referee (Riley) had the authority to make the football we love respected - although referees have a difficult job.
"I don't want to accuse the referee - he did the job as well as he could - but I think the game should be played in the right spirit.
"This game has been watched in 75 countries and English football had the opportunity to let football talk on the pitch.
"We tried to do it on the pitch on Sunday but it makes us more determined to feel we are doing it the right way and make us go on.
"I just feel the real problem was on the pitch and that's what we have to talk about.
"I've seen much worse and experienced years of corrupt football - and that gives you more sleepless nights. But I can take it - we all can."
Jose Reyes complained about United's tough tackling, in a game which saw van Nistelrooy land an FA charge of serious foul play for a challenge on Ashley Cole.
Wenger explained: "Reyes was kicked off the park - when football is not played in the right spirit you cannot agree with it.
"I feel the players are quite relaxed. We came out of this game stunned but not bitterly down but more determined to get on with our game.
"Off the pitch I don't know what we have done wrong - so we shouldn't be really down, we should be stronger than ever.
"We have to make sure the difference shows in the table - we'll just go into our games to play our football.
