Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger accepts rival clubs cannot berate Manchester City for trying to buy the Premier League title, but warned there is "no given formula" for success.
Since Sheikh Mansour bought the Eastlands club from Thaksin Shinawatra in 2008, around a staggering £1 billion has been invested by the Abu Dhabi-based owners.
Yet for all their big spending, Arsenal - who sold both Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure to City in July 2009 - would move above City back into second place with victory at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.
Leaders Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea also all look set to have their say in what is shaping into the most exciting title race of recent seasons.
"What is fantastic in football is there is no given formula," Wenger said. "I personally am a big fan of the way we do it, so I try to be successful with the way we do it.
"You can also do it the way Inter [Milan] do, or Manchester City do, they buy the best players in the world and it works as well. What I want to show is it works our way as well.
"It does not annoy me [the other way], as long as they respect the rules. At the moment, the rules are like that and they respect them, so you cannot fault them."
