Son vs Lloris: 12 of the craziest Premier League fights between teammates

Tottenham's 1-0 win over Everton on Monday night was overshadowed by infighting in Jose Mourinho's squad.

'The Special One' had demanded a response from his team after the 3-1 defeat at Sheffield United and was left rubbing his hands together after Heung-min Son and Hugo Lloris became embroiled in a half-time bust-up.

Two of the last Spurs players you'd ever expect to lose their rags needed to be separated by teammates as they exchanged verbal blows before disappearing down the tunnel.

Mourinho, naturally, called the incident 'beautiful' after the game and remarked: "[The argument] was probably as a consequence of our meetings. If you want to blame someone for that it's me."

And the fact both players embraced upon the final whistle shows there was no hard feelings after taking three points from the Toffees.

Premier League teammate bust-ups

However, not all instances of teammates fighting end so amicably and we couldn't help reflecting on some of the other bust-ups to have graced the Premier League over its 28-year history.

Besides, we're sure you can imagine the results are a little different when you swap Son out for Lee Bowyer or replace Lloris with Craig Bellamy.

We're talking punches thrown, expletives aplenty and enough hatred to get Mourinho weak at the knees, so check out our 12 picks for the craziest bust-ups from Premier League teammates.

Ricardo Fuller vs Andy Griffin (2008)

Slapping your club captain is never a wise thing to do, never mind seconds after you've conceded a goal and close enough to the referee that getting sent off was inevitable.

Fuller later explained the moment of madness by saying: "I just said to Griff 'clear the ball out' and he was just very rude and disrespectful so that's what happened. It's all done and dusted now.

"What he said was bad but what I did was worse. And I'm going to be suspended now for three or four games. So I'm looking forward to the new year now, hopefully it will be a better one for me."

Emmanuel Adebayor vs Nicklas Bendtner (2008)

According to adored Arsenal man Adebayor himself, clashes with Bendtner were something of a regular occurrence, but none were more public than during the embarrassing 5-1 loss to Tottenham.

'Lord Bendtner' was left with a cut on the bridge of his nose as well as a bloodied jersey after allegedly being head-butted in a bust-up that saw William Gallas separate their pushing and shoving.

John Hartson vs Eyal Berkovic (1997)

Yeh... Hartson probably wishes this was never on camera with the former Arsenal striker winding up with a £20,000 fine and three-game suspension for taking a chunk out of his teammate's head.

The footage does all the speaking for us, really:

Aleksandar Mitrovic vs Aboubakar Kamara (2019)

If you've ever been to a yoga session in your life, you've probably never seen two of the attendees descend into a brawl. Well, that's unless you've been to a yoga session at Fulham.

The Sun reported that Mitrovic and Kamara were ‘at each other’s throats’ during a fight that left manager Claudio Ranieri 'stunned'.

The episode came just a few weeks after Kamara was publicly panned for taking a penalty against Huddersfield Town instead of Mitrovic, the designated club take, and duly missing.

Joey Barton vs Ousmane Dabo (2007)

Strictly speaking, in the eyes of the law, this was assault as opposed to merely a 'bust-up'.

Barton was awarded a four-month suspended sentence for two years at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court after repeatedly punching Dabo when they were both at Manchester City.

Per the Daily Mail, Barton explained the incident to So Foot: "It’s him who hit me from behind with his hand. And when he did that, I hit him back. So he started it. I didn’t.

"Me, when I am attacked, I defend myself. I grew up in the street, I come from a working-class family in Liverpool and there, when you fight, there are no rules. You have to defend yourself.

"Ousmane was bigger than me. But it happened just like that. Bang, bang, bang and it was over. The truth is he started the fight and I finished it."

David Batty vs Graeme Le Saux (1995)

This might not have been in the Premier League, but it's arguably more dramatic for being two Premier League pals going hell for leather in the Champions League.

Batty and Le Saux both had hard-man reputations, so just imagine the scenes when Tim Sherwood had to stand between them to prevent an all-out war as they chased their first European win.

Spartak coach Oleg Romantsev famously remarked: “Before the match I told my players they will be playing against 11 guys ready to fight for each other for 90 minutes… not with each other."

Danny Drinkwater vs Jota (2020)

It's been a rotten year for Drinkwater across two dreadful loan spells with Burnley and Aston Villa, but his shenanigans off the pitch have arguably been worse than his disasterclasses on it.

The Daily Mail reported in March that the Chelsea loanee's future was in doubt after he allegedly head-butted Jota during a furious training ground bust-up.

Lee Bowyer vs Kieron Dyer (2005)

Simply iconic, you love to see it. Nothing in Premier League history will ever compare to the scenes of Bowyer and Dyer thinking they're Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield by knocking seven bells out of each other.

Newcastle boss Graeme Souness remarked he'd 'never seen anything like it' as the two players were both shown a red card and paraded in an incredibly awkward press conference the next day.

Dyer later explained the incident, saying: "Bowyer had come to show for the ball. He was available, but I thought there were better options and passed to another team-mate.

"Bowyer went crazy. ‘F****** pass me the ball,’ he screamed. ‘What are you talking about?’ I said. ‘You never pass me the ball,’ he said. I told him to do one but he chuntered a bit more.

"A few minutes later, he wanted me to lay it square to him. I thought there were better options. It wasn’t personal. Bow went absolutely nuts. ‘F****** hell,’ he yelled, ‘you never pass me the ball.’

"'The reason I don’t pass you the ball,’ I said, ‘is because you’re f****** s***.'" Wowsers.

Stuart McCall vs Andy Myers (2001)

When you're 5-1 down to your local rivals Leeds United and on the brink of departing the Premier League, it's only natural that the atmosphere will be dour, but not enough for a fight with your teammates.

But that's exactly what happened when Bradford City skipper McCall decided to head-butt his own player, before receiving a punch in return that left him needing stitches down his left cheek.

Steve McManaman vs Bruce Grobbelaar (1993)

No compilation of Premier League fallouts is complete without this gem. You've got to credit McManaman for daring to challenge his terrifying goalkeeper, but he got exactly what you'd expect.

McManaman told FourFourTwo when asked if the fisticuffs continued afterwards: "No, not really. It ended there and then. A couple of slaps and punches and there it ended. And yeah, his spaghetti legs absolutely terrified me..."

Alan Shearer vs Keith Gillespie (1997)

We'll just let Gillespie do the explaining here: “We were away on a mid-season break, and I knocked some cutlery off the table accidentally. He looked over to say ‘pick that up’, and I just didn’t like the way he was talking to me.

“I just turned round and said: ‘Right. Outside now!’ And he took me up on the offer.

“I didn’t think he would, but I was a bit too proud to back down. We ended up going outside, and I took one swing and missed, and he hit me – and that was goodnight.

“I did actually spend a night in hospital. Because when he hit me I fell and hit my head on a plant pot. I was unconscious. He came and saw me the next day, and we had a laugh about it.”

John Arne Riise vs Craig Bellamy

Let's end with a belter, albeit quite a scary one. At least it all ended in good taste, though, with Bellamy pulling off an iconic golf-swing celebration as Liverpool claimed victory at Barcelona.

But in Riise's very own words in 2018: "Bellamy raised the club over his head and swung as hard as he could. He tried to hit my shins, which would have ended my career, but I managed to pull my leg away in time." Sheesh.

So, yeh, Son vs Lloris doesn't seem so bad anymore, does it?

It goes to show that football is such a game of emotion and passion that sometimes things can go a little too far, even if you share a dressing room with the person you're absolutely livid with.

But hey, the pubs are back open and the Premier League is in full swing, so let's leave the head kicks and golf clubs to the side for now... right?