Vieira, now with Juventus, attacked the Dutch striker in his recently released autobiography, harking back to the incident at Old Trafford in 2003 which ended up with the French international being sent off.

At the time, Vieira felt the United striker made far too much of a flick of the Frenchman's foot which made no contact and so outraged were the Arsenal players that they surrounded Van Nistelrooy following his injury-time penalty miss and jostled him as he left the pitch.

While Ferguson stated he had not read Vieira's comments, he cast his mind back to a London derby between Arsenal and West Ham at Upton Park in October 1999 when the Gunners skipper spat at Neil Ruddock as he walked off after picking up another red card.

Vieira received a massive six-match ban and 45,000-pound fine - two thirds of which was for the spitting incident alone - and Ferguson has clearly not forgotten.

"It depends what you call a coward and a cheat," said Ferguson referring to Vieira's comments.

"Some people would call it spitting in another player's face. That was not a very brave thing to do. I guess we all have different ways of looking at these things."

Even though Vieira left Arsenal for Juventus earlier this season, his hero status in north London will ensure Ferguson's comments are sure to stoke up tensions ahead of United's visit to Highbury on Tuesday.

It is the first time the two clubs have clashed since Arsenal's FA Cup final win last May and also the first time they have done battle since the face-off between Vieira and Roy Keane in the tunnel at Highbury prior to last season's 4-2 win for United.

With both Keane (at Celtic) and Vieira now moved to pastures new, there are some who hope a new era of peace will break out between the two giants who have seen their decade-long rivalry at the top of the Premiership broken by Chelsea's rise to prominence.

Ferguson is not so sure, recalling the furious scrap between the clubs at Old Trafford in 1990 - long before Keane and Vieira made their mark on the fixture - as evidence the clubs have not seen eye to eye for a long time.

"They are two significant personalities, but they weren't there on that day were they?" said the Scot.

"The rivalry became very intense when George Graham was at Arsenal and it has not altered since, which is maybe because we have both been at the top together for so long."