Now Ferguson has called on the Football Association to punish Thierry Henry for a challenge on Gabriel Heinze in the same game.

Van Nistelrooy has already pleaded guilty to an FA charge of "serious foul play" for his tackle on Ashley Cole and been suspended for three matches.

Now Ferguson, who has already sent the FA a dossier on the alleged pizza-throwing antics in the United tunnel after the game, wants them to act - claiming that Henry’s tackle was worse than Van Nistelrooy’s on Cole.

But Wenger today insisted he would not be making any counter statements and said the whole episode was over.

He said: “We are finished with it. Our responsibility is to come out here with what we think should be said, and I said what had to be said on Tuesday. Since then, we have not made any comment.

“I cannot say any more than that. I can only be responsible for what I say and not for what other people say. We behave like we want to behave on the pitch. We are not responsible for what has been said.

“We are responsible for winning or losing games and you feel that more than anything that has been said.”

Wenger knows that the Old Trafford defeat, their first in 50 games, affected his players during yesterday’s clash with Southampton.

In a sensational four-goal thriller, Arsenal scraped a point thanks to a last-gasp equaliser from Robin van Persie.

Henry had missed a penalty for Arsenal in the first-half but opened the scoring in the 66th minute from Dennis Bergkamp’s pass.

But then two headed goals in the 80th and 85th minutes from Rory Delap put struggling Southampton in with a great chance to record their first win under Steve Wigley.

But thankfully for Wenger, van Persie, a second-half substitute, rescued them with a fine finish. But Wenger knew there would be problems even before the kick-off.

He added: “Mentally, it was important not to lose two games on the trot because then you would have said we’ll lose 49 on the trot, so for us, it was important not to lose today.

“We should have won today but being 2-1 down in the last minute, we would have settled for a draw. The anxiety level in the dressing-room before the game was a little bit higher, the climate was a bit heavier. Less light-hearted than it usually is. You feel everyone was concentrated but maybe too much.

“I’m not surprised at the shocked reaction of my players. Time heals and it always takes time. You can speak and speak and speak but I feel only that time heals these sort of things.

“After the game, we were not happy with the way we played. We didn’t jump through the roof, we know we should have won the game but I feel the positive effects will come later.”

Saints boss Wigley was just 15 seconds away from gaining his first win but there are signs that he is now very comfortable with job he’s taken on.

He is still missing Kevin Phillips, James Beattie and Peter Crouch but he is confident things are on the up after a difficult period.

Wigley said: “I do feel more comfortable in the job, there’s no two ways about that. I would like to have won today because that would have buried one of the monkeys on my back.

“We’ve had to close ranks as a group of people because we’ve been a bit of a punchbag. But we’re confident in our abilities, I’m confident in mine. I know it’s a reults business, November is a big month and we’ve got to pick some points up.

“I’ve wanted to be assured that the performances are right because people are questioning me, but I feel we’ve been together as a group through all of it, and it’s only been the first 45 minutes against Colchester where I could have packed my bags and gone home. We were that poor. We will turn this round and climb up the league, I have full confidence in that.”

Wigley thought his side had done enough to clinch with Delap’s double but then he had to watch van Persie pull out a marvellous finish with seconds left.

Even then there was time for van Persie to almost steal it after that but failed to get a good connection on the ball with his head from a freekick on the left.

Wigley added: “I just wanted the ref to blow the whistle. When we lined up, I thought ‘It’s got to be over’ because they’ve scored with 15 seconds to go.

And I was giving him credit for getting it right. Then I looked at my stopwatch, saw 15 seconds left, and thought ‘God, I wish I hadn’t looked’. That would have been a bitter pill if van Persie had headed it into the corner. That would have been unjust.”

But there was no dramatic winner for the Gunners and Wigley is encouraged by the prospect of getting some of his walking wounded back in action.

“Kevin Phillips is back in full training as well as Peter Crouch and I think James Beattie will be back for the Portsmouth game,” he said.