Gerrard's tackle on Vieira angered Wenger

"There are two attitudes to being champions. One is to get respect, another is to get kicked more and to face more aggression as people want to beat you more," said Wenger.

"We are quite used to that though as we have had some big fights in the past four or five years.

"If it gets even more physical then I am quite worried for our doctors!

"We had the highest number of fouls against us last season in the league so I hope it doesn't get greater."

Wenger was particularly unimpressed with Gerrard's tackle on new Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira, for which the Liverpool player was booked.

"It was a bad challenge on Patrick. It was the only really bad challenge of the game as the rest were just a bit late.

"I like Gerrard as a player but he should normally have seen red for that kind of tackle.

Wenger saw Gilberto score on his debut

"He is a great player but that tackle was reckless and dangerous.

"Patrick doesn't expect any presents on the pitch but he does expect everyone to behave fairly. If that doesn't happen, you have no football any more."

But Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier claimed his side were too nice to the Double winners.

"We gave them too much respect," said the Frenchman, who also felt his side should have had a penalty when El Hadji Diouf rode a challenge from Patrick Vieira.

"It took us half an hour just to get into the game. We started to get into it more after that but on the whole Arsenal deserved their win," said Houllier.

Gerard Houllier watches on with concern

"When you are playing Arsenal, the first job is to defend well, then you have to attack.

"But our full-backs didn't give us enough width when we had possession and we need to get more flow to our game."

Houllier remained "unconcerned" about the deficiency, even though the Premiership opener with Aston Villa is just seven days away.

"If we were in the same situation in two or three months' time I would have a problem but in football things can change very quickly," he said.

"Arsenal are ahead of us at the moment and they showed that - but they are the benchmark for the rest of us."