The charge relates to comments he made about Ruud van Nistelrooy in a TV interview after the loss at Old Trafford earlier in the season. Wenger has denied the charge, hence the hearing, but it's hard to see him winning his case.

He is reported to have said, "We know how Ruud van Nistelrooy behaves. He can only cheat people - we know him very well." Some people, including myself, remembered it as "he can only cheat people who don't know him, but we know him very well", which sounds a lot less bad. But I've not seen a full transcript (or the interview again), and the number of times the shorter version has been quoted makes me suspect that we've just been filling in the intended meaning in our memories.

But reports suggest that Wenger's defence may not be that he didn't mean it, so much as that it was warranted. He was understandably incensed by van Nistelrooy's high challenge on Ashley Cole, but the striker has apologised and admitted to the offence already so the FA will presumably take that as evidence against his being a "cheat".

Anyway, it's all good fun and Wenger's clearly not been alone in recent years in wanting to turn Arsenal vs Man Utd games into something more than a game. His punishment, when it surely comes, is unlikely to do us any harm. Quite the opposite, if previous Old Trafford fall-outs are anything to go by. Actually, given the team's apparent need for a bit of a boost, it's a shame we have to wait a couple of weeks.