Ferguson caused a furore by playing Paul Scholes against Middlesbrough in midweek, just a day after withdrawing the midfielder from the England squad to face Portugal on the grounds that he was injured.

But the Old Trafford manager claimed on Sunday: "I did not snub Sven-Goran Eriksson at any time. I would never do that.

"He has always played fair with me regarding my players and I have always played fair with him," Ferguson said.

But Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger launched a veiled attack on his Premiership rival's withdrawal of Scholes and David Beckham, who played 89 minutes against Boro before coming off injured.

Wenger said: "All managers, especially high-profile managers, should help Sven-Goran Eriksson as much as possible.

"Of course I would like some of my players to rest sometimes rather than play a friendly, but what can you do?

"England need to play friendlies and all English clubs should recognise that - so we should not be trying to pull our players out from England games."

However, Ferguson defended his record of releasing players "even when they were not fully fit".

He told the Mail on Sunday: "I would not deliberately keep anybody back for England - even for a friendly."

Ferguson claimed that with Roy Keane undergoing surgery and Nicky Butt also less than fully fit, he had to gamble on Scholes against Middlesbrough.

The Scot added that he offered to send Scholes and Beckham to England's training camp to allow Eriksson's medical staff to check their injuries.

But he said the national coach told him that was not necessary.