Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admits regret not being involved in the mind games of Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson.

He revealed a tinge of regret he was not still in the thick of it all as his side now look to secure third place at the end of one of the most testing campaigns in his 16 at the helm.

"You observe from outside. I would prefer to be in there, what you want is to be involved in the title race and we were not. That is basically sad, but I don't think that until now, from the mind games I have seen, it has had a direct influence on results," Wenger said.

"The newspapers always like that, but we could never measure the influence of that on the players.

"I was in that situation many times - when you lose they think you lost the mind games and when you win they say you won the mind games, but I am not completely sure that it has a massive influence on the players."