The 5 best Premier League title run-in manager outbursts after Mikel Arteta’s ‘fire’ comments | OneFootball

As the Premier League title race heads for its conclusion, Mikel Arteta appears to be the latest manager feeling a little hot under the collar.

The Arsenal boss could not stop saying “fire” in his most recent press conference but he is not the first, nor probably the last, manager to say something that suggests the pressure is getting to him.

Here are five times in Premier League history that title-chasing managers lost the run of themselves in their press conferences.

Kevin Keegan and his ‘love it if we beat them’

It is one of the most iconic moments in Premier League history. Kevin Keegan is a two-time Ballon d’Or winner. He’s won the Bundesliga, four English First Division titles and the European Cup and yet for so many, it is what he is most remembered for.

It’s 1996. Manchester United and Newcastle United are locked in a close title race.

A dramatic game at Anfield which ended 4-3 to the hosts allowed United to go three points clear and Ferguson turned the screw when he questioned how hard some teams would try against Newcastle as opposed to his side.

Keegan hit the roof. After a 1-0 win at Leeds, Keegan was incensed by the accusation.

“When you do that with footballers, like he said about Leeds, and when you do things like that about a man like Stuart Pearce, I’ve kept really quiet, but I’ll tell you something, he went down in my estimation when he said that,” declared Keegan, with a sense of righteousness.

“We have not resorted to that, but I’ll tell you, you can tell him now if you’re watching it, we’re still fighting for this title, and he’s got to go to Middlesbrough and get something, and… and… I’ll tell you, honestly, I will love it if we beat them, love it!”

It was checkmate Ferguson. Newcastle drew 1-1 at Forest a few days later. In the end, they would finish four points adrift and Keegan’s rant became the most famous self-implosion in Premier League history.

Rafa Benitez and his ‘facts’

Fergie is often credited as a master of the mind games and if Keegan was his most famous victim, Rafa Benitez is a close second.

In 2009, the two rivals were in the midst of a title battle when Ferguson suggested nerves might disrupt Liverpool’s challenge. It was the tantalising worm left on the hook and Benitez took the bait.

The Spaniard accused Ferguson of being the only person who could complain about referees and get away with it.

He unfurled a sheet of paper and read a list of Ferguson’s past transgressions. He mentioned the ongoing Respect campaign, designed to stop abuse at every level. But most memorably, he could not stop saying the words “facts.”

He said it five times in his lengthy tirade as Ferguson presumably watched at Carrington with a smile on his face.

Liverpool came up short, finishing four points off the pace, as Ferguson and United took another title.

Jose Mourinho and his ‘little horses’

Jose Mourinho and humble are not words you would often associate together but in the 2013-14 season, the Chelsea boss was desperate for his team to be described as anything but title contenders.

Despite being two points off leaders Arsenal and level with City, Mourinho did not want what he perceived as to be his young and inexperienced team to be labelled as in the race.

“The title race is between two horses and a little horse that needs milk and needs to learn how to jump,” he said. “Maybe next season we can race.

“I don’t agree we are title contenders,” said the 51-year-old Portuguese. “We are a team in evolution but this is the kind of performance that helps a team grow up a little tactically and mentally. It was fantastic.

“We have beaten the best team, Manchester City, twice but they are the best team. I am not saying we are better than them but today we were the best team.

“We do better in these big games because we love it. We love the big games and when you love it maybe you feel an extra motivation.”

Of course, being humble had nothing to do with it but instead, Mourinho wanted to take any pressure his players may have felt and place it directly on City and Arsenal. Chelsea didn’t win the league that year but they won it by a mile the following season.

Jose Mourinho and the bird flu outbreak

That was not the only time Mourinho made a seemingly strange comment in the midst of a title race.

Back in April 2006, rather than focus on the run-in, Mourinho said he felt more pressure from the increasing number of bird flu cases in the UK.

“For me, pressure is bird flu; I am feeling a lot of pressure with the swan in Scotland,” he said, in an answer no one was expecting.

“I am serious. You are laughing, but I am serious. I am more scared of the bird flu than football. What is football compared with life? A swan with bird flu, for me, that is the drama of the last two days. I have to buy some masks and stuff. I am serious. Maybe for my team, as well.”

Louis van Gaal and his printouts

Describing post-Ferguson United as ever in a title race is perhaps generous, but it is worth it just to include how rattled Van Gaal was here.

United had just drawn 1-1 with West Ham, which only came via a last-minute equaliser from Daley Blind.

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce suggested United had achieved that result through “long balls” and suggested his Dutch counterpart should be criticised as much as he is for the tactic.

Not one to let a grudge die, Van Gaal came to his next press conference armed with printed A4 sheets claiming to show Allardyce he was wrong.

He even brought enough to hand out to the journalists and told them to “Copy it and go to Big Sam.”