Wenger slams Moyes for telling on Fabregas

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has launched a furious attack on Everton counterpart David Moyes following Tuesday's bad-tempered encounter between the two sides that ended in a 2-1 victory for the Gunners.

After the match Moyes claimed Cesc Fabregas had said some "disgusting" things to referee Lee Mason in the wake of Everton's controversial first-half goal.

Louis Saha had put the Toffees in front despite being two yards offside and Moyes alleged that Fabregas lost his cool with the officials at half-time and, according to unconfirmed reports, asked Mason: "How much have you been paid?"

But Mason made no reference to any such incident in his match report and now Wenger has gone public in accusing Moyes of trying to get his club captain into trouble.

"I believe that it is wrong for Moyes to come out on what he pretends to have heard in the tunnel," said Wenger. "If I came out with what I have heard in the tunnel in the last 10 years, you would be amazed. I think there is a rule in our job to never come out with what is said in the heat of the moment. That usually is respected by everybody."

Wenger and Moyes both agreed after the match that Saha was offside and the Arsenal manager said it's only natural that blatant injustices on the pitch cause emotions to rise.

"If you play football with friends, sometimes at half-time you say something to your friend that you would not be very proud of 24 hours later, but it is in the heat of the moment," explained Wenger, adding: "Cesc Fabregas has not said anything to the referee, I maintain what I say. Cesc Fabregas has not been charged, so this story for me is over. If Cesc is guilty, he would have been charged. He has not been charged by the FA, there is no action against him so I don't see why we should spend any more time to defend somebody who is not guilty."

It's not the first time Wenger has become embroiled in a war of words with a fellow manager. Earlier in the season he had a public slanging match with then Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce and Stoke's Tony Pulis about what he saw as their sides' roughhouse tactics, while the Frenchman has also had run-ins with Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Alan Pardew in the past, the latter resulting in a £10,000 fine for Wenger after he admitted pushing the then West Ham boss in a touchline dispute.

But the Fabregas fracas wasn't the only thing exercising Wenger on Thursday. In an interview with the Arsenal website he bemoaned the January transfer window, saying it was the wrong time in the calendar to allow clubs to embark on a spending spree: "I am against the transfer period in the middle of the season because I feel it is unfair. I don't find it right," said Wenger.

"If you look at it, some teams have already played some teams twice and others not at all. You can question the fairness of the league and the way the fixtures are organised."

And asked what he thought of Monday's transfer madness, when Chelsea paid Liverpool £50m for Fernando Torres, and Liverpool in turn spent £35m on bringing Andy Caroll from Newcastle, Wenger replied: "If you look at our transfer record, we have never spent more than £15m - that gives you the answer." ·