Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, has threatened to take legal action against Jose Mourinho for calling him a "voyeur". Wenger said the Chelsea manager's comments were "out of order, disconnected with reality and disrespectful".

Mourinho had bristled at Wenger's suggestion last week that Chelsea's self-belief may have taken a knock with their draw at Everton and Carling Cup defeat on penalties to Charlton.

Mourinho intimated that Wenger was obsessed about Chelsea and declared: "There are some guys, who, when they are at home, have this big telescope to see what happens in other families. He must be one of them. Being a voyeur is a sickness."

Wenger hit back ahead of Arsenal's Champions League tie against Sparta Prague, believing that Mourinho had overstepped the mark in making such an apparently personal attack.

He declared: "I will see whether I take any action about that. I don't know yet, but I leave that door open."

The Frenchman would not confirm whether he was considering a complaint to the Football Association for bringing the game into disrepute or even legal action for alleged slander.

Asked what action he was considering, Wenger added: "I've said what I had to say about that. I'm not obsessed at all with Chelsea. I'm at a club where I'm very happy. Things have changed over the years in English football. There wasn't anything malicious in what I said. I was asked a question about Chelsea and I gave an honest answer, just as I expect any other manager to do when he is asked about Arsenal. I can't see what is wrong there, or we would all have to close our press conferences."

Wenger has previously seemed to relish his psychological battles with Sir Alex Ferguson, whom he respects despite their repeated verbal clashes over the years.

But when pressed on the issue of Mourinho's weekend criticisms, Wenger's irritation at the Chelsea boss's apparent lack of respect became increasingly evident.

Wenger continued: "When I came to England, I was happy to come and be confronted with the English culture, where the owners of the clubs were English and they opened the door to foreign people.

"Now, in some clubs, it looks like it is becoming different and that's where it's important not to lose your values. It is important that the respect you have always shown stays but the ways are becoming different in English football.

"It looks more like foreign people are buying the clubs and employing English people. For me, that's not a problem but it's a change and it's very important that the values of the game remain as they were before - respected and admired everywhere.

"Part of it is that everyone can have an opinion about the game."

Even though Martin Jol, the Tottenham manager, had voiced his concerns about Sol Campbell's challenge on Teemu Tainio at White Hart Lane, he defended the Dutchman's right to air his views.

"That's a difference of opinion which I accept. I didn't see anything malicious in that challenge. I think Sol went for the ball and it was accidental," he said.

"I feel Sol was under a double pressure - firstly because he was coming back after an injury and had a bit of a physical doubt in his mind, and secondly because he got a lot of abuse, which was very difficult to take."

Wenger, meanwhile, steered clear of opening a third front in his managerial war of words, side-stepping questions about Roy Keane's reported criticism of several team-mates in an MUTV interview which was not screened.

Despite agreeing he would be concerned if his own players criticised each other in public, Wenger insisted: "I didn't hear what Roy Keane said so it's very difficult to comment on that.

"But I saw the United game against Middlesbrough and I personally believe that United weren't as bad as everyone says. I don't agree that they had an abysmal performance."

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