Wenger and Fergie end feud

Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson have promised to end their public slanging match.

The two managers, who have clashed in a bitter war of words over the past week, have reassured their clubs that they will restrain their comments over the next fortnight before the teams meet at Highbury.

Sports Minister Richard Caborn, the Highbury police and the Football Association all made pleas in the past 24 hours for the pair to stop their arguments.

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore issued a statement saying: "At their scheduled Premier League meeting today, the board met with senior representatives of Arsenal and Manchester United to discuss recent exchanges between their respective managers.

"This matter has generated considerable media interest, particularly as the next match between the two clubs takes place on 1 February.

"The board welcomes the fact that both David Dein and David Gill arrived at the meeting, having already received assurances from their managers that public comments on recent issues between them (would) cease.

"Both clubs also agreed that public comments would be limited to pre-match and post-match analysis of the forthcoming fixture."

Ferguson had intensified the existing rivalry between himself and Wenger by labelling the Frenchman "a disgrace" for not apologising for the tunnel row following their highly charged game at Old Trafford last October.