Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insists the art of tough tackling has a place in the beautiful game - but maintains "excessive force" must always be punished by a red card.

The Barclays Premier League leaders host Hull in Saturday afternoon's early evening kick-off looking to stay one step ahead of their title rivals.

Last weekend, Wenger was incensed following a tackle from Bolton's Kevin Davies on Gael Clichy during Arsenal's win at the Reebok Stadium, which left the full-back with a badly-bruised shin and resulted in a yellow card for the perpetrator.

Hull manager Phil Brown maintains his men will look to deploy similar strong-muscle tactics, as they look to throw the free-passing Gunners off their high-tempo game.

Wenger has no qualms with the "physical" side of the game, so long as players do not go over the top.

"I love commitment, but it is down to intention of the player and to a technical ability," said the Arsenal manager, who will have Clichy available.

"For me a good tackle is as beautiful to watch as a good volley - but you have to be sure about the quality of the tackling, and it must be one-footed. I never understand why you need two legs to tackle at a good ball.

"Secondly, you must not put extra aggression in. You need adapted force in every tackle. Excessive force is punished by the law - and you can read the rules, that is a red card."

Brown may be preaching a no-nonsense approach in an attempt to win the ball back - which could "cause pain to the opposition" - but Wenger maintains managers have a responsibility to stress fair play to their squad.

"Maybe in his mind it is tough, but correct - and if it is correct I do not have a problem with it," said the Arsenal boss.

"If the desire is to hurt your opponent, it is not acceptable because that is not the game. The beauty of sport is to win in respect of the rules.

"If as manager we start to say 'we don't have to respect the rules', then that can't be accepted. You have to respect the rules

"It is like that in every sport, when you play tennis and the ball goes out, you cannot say 'because it is me, it is still good'."

Wenger, though, feels Arsenal have enough about them to cope with whatever the other side may throw at them.

He said: "In every single game I believe the first importance is to focus on us being at our best and to cope with any difficulty which the opponents give us.

"For the rest, it is down to the referees to make the rules respected and I trust the referee."

Hull have a made a bright start to their first season in the top flight, with eight points from the opening five Premier League matches.

And Wenger has been impressed by the East Yorkshire club's efforts so far.

"You can take your hat off to Hull, because what they have done up to now is fantastic. They are the surprise package," he said.

"It is a warning to us because we want an Arsenal side to be at our best to beat them."

Wenger, meanwhile, has once again been applauded this week for his sound approach to youth development after his young Gunners - with an average age of only 19 - demolished Sheffield United 6-0 in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night.

The French coach has transformed the whole club since his arrival in late September some 12 years ago this week.

Wenger believes success this season, given all the millions being pumped into other Premier League clubs would vindicate "a different style of management".

He said: "It would be a reward for a long-term job and a long-term job in football becomes more and more unusual and difficult because nobody has time to work, nobody has time to produce and nobody has patience.

"I believe deeply that there are different ways to be successful in the job - and it is not only necessarily linked with the investment.

"It shows that having money is better, but it is not the only thing - you can have a longer-term plan and it can work."

Wenger added: "We do not want to say we are the only one who has high moral ground, because there are other clubs who have that.

"We want to respect that and I believe we want to be faithful to the way we see the game."

Clichy, meanwhile, feels he is "lucky" to be able to play against Hull and maintains Davies should have been shown a red card by referee Steve Bennett.

The French defender told Arsenal TV Online: "I have seen it again many times. The only thing I can say is that it was a stupid challenge.

"I don't understand how people can say it's a good challenge.

"I don't blame the referee, and it's difficult for referees - but we had a meeting at the start of the season with the referees and they were saying that bad challenges would be punished with a red card.

"He (Davies) got the ball of course, but to allow a player like this to carry on playing is really difficult."

Clichy added: "I couldn't move, the doctor could not touch it and we've lost a player (Eduardo) like this so that's on your mind.

"I've been really lucky on this challenge, I'm lucky to be here and to be playing on Saturday."