MANCHESTER United are to report Arsène Wenger to the Football Association for his verbal abuse of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Sir Alex Ferguson in the bitter aftermath of Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford last Sunday.

Ferguson, addressing the issue for the first time, confirmed yesterday that United are compiling a report into the events that saw him pelted with soup and pizza by one or more Arsenal players. He was unwilling to go into details of what he called “clear-cut” evidence, but sources at Old Trafford have confirmed that witnesses, including Ferguson and stewards who were on duty in the tunnel, have cited Wenger’s behaviour in interviews to be included in a dossier that will be sent to the FA.

The FA wrote to both clubs in the week to request their observations on the so-called “Battle of the Buffet”, before launching its own investigation, but Ferguson said that United, who initially planned to cover up the incident, were now “being proactive” as they seek to take Arsenal to task. Ferguson believes that the FA, which he has accused of leniency towards Arsenal in the past, will “need to do something”.

Wenger is understood to have confronted Van Nistelrooy in the players’ tunnel and called him a “cheat”, sparking the mêlée that culminated with Arsenal’s players throwing food at Ferguson. United will also cite a fierce verbal tirade from Wenger after the United manager accused him of being unable to control his players. One witness described Wenger’s uncharacteristic loss of composure as “disgraceful”.

Ferguson, clearly enjoying the luxury of the moral high ground, would not confirm or deny what took place in the tunnel area as he adhered to an earlier pact of silence, agreed by the clubs on Sunday, which he accused Arsenal of breaking. The United manager did, however, claim that Wenger “has obviously got a problem” with Van Nistelrooy, who contemplated taking legal advice after the Arsenal manager accused him of cheating in outbursts on Sunday and Tuesday.

“What we are doing at the moment is collating a lot of information about what happened last week, which we are then going to present to the FA,” Ferguson, whose team face Portsmouth away today, said. “It will then be up to the FA to act on that. We will present to the FA some statements from independent witnesses and maybe there’ll be some video evidence of what happened in the tunnel. What we send out will be so clear-cut that they will need to do something. Arsenal have a past record and sometimes you run out of excuses.

“There was supposed to be an agreement between the two clubs that neither would say anything, but that has obviously been washed aside by Arsenal’s actions during the week. I wasn’t surprised that they spoke out about this. I told David Gill (the chief executive) this would happen.”

United’s anger stems from stories they believe were leaked by Arsenal to the London Evening Standard, but the London club have strongly denied the claim. Wenger has at least been consistent in maintaining that “nothing happened”, although Edu, the Arsenal midfield player, has admitted that he witnessed “pushing, pointing and shouting” as he entered the tunnel.

Van Nistelrooy was the focus of Arsenal’s ire after a dangerous tackle on Ashley Cole, for which he has since accepted a three-match suspension. That challenge was what prompted Wenger’s two outbursts about the United forward, but Ferguson counter-attacked yesterday, saying: “The guy (Wenger) has obviously got a mental problem with Ruud for some reason.”

When informed of Ferguson’s comments, though, Wenger denied having any agenda against Van Nistelrooy and seemed unconcerned by United’s newfound belligerence. “The FA can look into what they want, I don’t mind,” he said. “Nothing happened. What’s important to me is the way you behave on the pitch.”