Benni McCarthy has warned Arsene Wenger: ‘If you throw one punch at Jose Mourinho, he’ll throw two back at you’.

The pair have become involved in a war-of-words, after the Chelsea chief claimed Wenger was a ‘specialist in failure’ on Friday.

The Frenchman hit back, following Arsenal’s 2-1 FA Cup victory over Liverpool, branding Mourinho an ‘embarrassment’ as their feud escalated.

But McCarthy, who played under the Portuguese during their time together at Porto, has told the Colin Murray show Wenger is wasting his time trying to take on his managerial rival.

“Mourinho’s one of these people who thinks, ‘if you throw a punch at me, I’m going to throw two at you’. He threw two knockout punches at Wenger,” said the South African.

“I know him very well and, for him to lose it like that, is because Arsene started the whole thing. He’s just responding to Wenger’s comments. He can be very sarcastic when he wants to be.”