The cosmopolitan armies of Chelsea and Arsenal go into battle again tonight for the first time since a bitter four-match series last season which produced 26 yellow cards, two sendings off and a furious war of words.
But Arsenal's French manager Arsene Wenger, who accused Chelsea's Italian chief Gianluca Vialli and his men of sharp practice when the Blues avenged a trio of earlier defeats by their London rivals with February's 3-1 win in a Coca-Cola Cup semi-final, insists there will be no vendetta at Stamford Bridge this time.
Last February Wenger said angrily that he believed his rivals had conned referee Graham Poll into reducing the Gunners to 10 men just after half-time.
The Frenchman said yesterday: "I still think that foreign players have brought bad things to the game in England as well as good things. They push the referee to book other players and I would love to see some of them being booked as well for doing that."
Aston Villa manager John Gregory has rubbished suggestions that England captain Alan Shearer, who lines up for Newcastle against the midlanders tonight, is past his best, insisting: "He is as good as he ever was."
Gregory said: "I wish Alan Shearer was playing for us. I would love to bits to have him at Villa. I regard him as the England number nine. If Glenn Hoddle thinks Owen is now the number one, then Shearer is a hell of a number two. With those two together he has got the best of both worlds."
New £6.75 million signing Paul Merson will have to delay his debut until the weekend after failing to be registered in time to face Ruud Gullit's men and striker Stan Collymore is battling to overcome an ankle injury.
Meanwhile, the injury that wrecked Steve McManaman's England dreams threatens to derail Liverpool's unbeaten start to the season. The Premiership leaders are waiting to discover if McManaman's Achilles injury recovers in time for him to face Coventry at Anfield.
Charlton manager Alan Curbishley takes his unbeaten side to Old Trafford tonight admitting he fears what could happen when the bubble finally bursts.
"I'm not looking forward to it but I'm sure it's going to come when we have to dig in, when we're not playing so well and people are under pressure including myself," he said.
Ireland's Mark Kinsella will take pride of place in what looks set to be an unchanged Charlton line-up.
And Alex Ferguson has insisted that his players will not be distracted by the battle for the ownership of Manchester United.
Jesper Blomqvist, who joined United in a £4.4 million move from Parma in the summer, has fully recovered from his ankle problem and could make his debut. Nicky Butt will sit out the clash after he had surgery to remove his wisdom teeth last week, but Gary Neville may be back from injury.
