Wenger: It's Rio who'll suffer most

Arsene Wenger believes Rio Ferdinand will suffer more than Manchester United during the eight-month ban for his missed drugs test.

The Arsenal manager, whose team trail United by a point, said: "Rio certainly has a sense of injustice, but I think he will suffer more than Manchester United. He cannot play on but they go on and play every week. They will replace him, so you feel sorry for the player.

"I hope the situation does not galvanise them because they are already top of the league.

"There is a shared responsibility between Rio Ferdinand and the club. How much it's down to each of them, I don't know. The club have a responsibility to get the players tested."

Wenger added: "With Sepp Blatter's recent statement [warning United not to appeal to the civil courts], they are in a similar position as Marseille, when they were thrown out of European competition.

They went to a civil court in Switzerland and won the case. But FIFA put pressure on the French football federation to get Marseille to accept the ban."