Wenger isn’t a fan of international friendlies. He's had several high profile rows with the French Football Association and now, after having a pop at Brazil, he seems set to cross swords with the English FA.

Already fuming at the fact that Brazil’s friendly with China next month will deprive him of the services of Gilberto for the 5th round FA Cup tie with Manchester United, Wenger has appealed to Sven Goran Eriksson to use “common sense when picking his squad” for England’s friendly with Australia.

The game comes hard on the heels of Arsenal’s visit to Newcastle and is followed shortly after by the United game in the Cup. And Wenger hints that while he doesn’t expect Eriksson to rest all his key players he’d like the England boss to either play all of his Arsenal and United based players or leave them all out!

“You cannot expect him to leave out the Arsenal players and not the Manchester United players, or leave out the United players but not those from Arsenal” says Wenger.

Not sure Eriksson will take too kindly to Wenger dictating his squad selection policy. Wenger’s comments will probably harden the England manager’s resolve to pick and play whoever he wants.

Perhaps Wenger should steer away from any arguments with Sven altogether and adopt Alex Fergusmoan's approach. The United boss is yet to comment on the Australia game but it would be no surprise if several of his English players were to pick up "niggling injuries" in the days leading up to the match and pull out of the squad.