Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has hit back in the war of words which followed the sending-off of Blackburn's Chris Sutton for a challenge on Arsenal's midfielder Patrick Vieira.

Sutton was shown the red card for a double-footed lunge at Vieira in the last minute of Arsenal's 2-1 Premiership win at Ewood Park on Sunday but has claimed he was provoked into retaliation because the Frenchman deliberately broke his nose with an elbow earlier in the game.

Wenger said: "I could understand him being upset his nose was broken but with the kind of game Chris Sutton plays he must expect this at some stage.

"But I don't think Patrick did it on purpose. If anything it was his head which caused the injury. That is what it looks like on the video which shows them jumping for the ball at the far post area."

Vieira is suspended for Arsenal's League Cup third-round tie at Derby County tonight, a hangover from his dismissal for two yellow cards in the semi-final of the competition against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last season.

But Vieira would not have played at Pride Park in any case as Wenger will repeat his policy of fielding virtually a reserve team in the early rounds of the competition. In fact, new £3 million Swedish signing Fredrik Ljungberg will be the only Arsenal starter tonight from the team which began the game at Blackburn.

Left-back David Grondin, the captain of the French under-18 side, makes his senior Arsenal debut while highly-rated Austrian goalkeeper Alex Manninger steps in for David Seaman.

None of Arsenal's famous back-four will be on duty, with Argentinian Nelson Vivas and England under-21 centre half Matthew Upson both being given rare opportunities.

Derby will be without three internationals. Danish defender Jacob Laursen has joined Norweigan midfielder Lars Bohinen and Italian Stefano Eranio on the casualty list.

Stefan Schnoor moved to central defence when Laursen sprained an ankle in Saturday's 11 draw against Manchester United and the German looks certain to continue that role.

Former England defender Tony Dorigo makes his full Derby debut after coming on as a second-half substitute against United.

Alex Ferguson has warned his Manchester United stars to look out for a Bury banana skin at Old Trafford. Ferguson expects Neil Warnock's men to come out fighting in the League Cup, just as York did three years ago when they won 3-0.

"I think Bury will have a go," warned Ferguson. "It's a one-off cup tie and they know they are going to get a good gate but, if they were to get through, they would make even more money in the next round."

United fielded a slightly weakened side against York and paid the price - they were knocked out despite winning the return leg at Bootham Crescent.

But Ferguson has no qualms about pinning his faith in his shadow squad against the Quakers. United will be without most of their regular big names but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Jordi Cruyff, Nicky Butt and Henning Berg are expected to play.

Bury goalkeeper Dean Kiely knows all about that famous win for York - he was their goalkeeper then and will line up for his new club against United.