Martin Keown’s will to win saw him get the best out of teammates and rivals.
The defender was the heartbeat of the Arsenal back line and not many could get the better of him.
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One man who saw first hand how competitive Keown could be was former teammate Emmanuel Petit.
Joining Drive on talkSPORT, he was asked who would win in a fight between legendary captain Tony Adams and Keown. "I would probably put a coin on Martin," he said.
"Why? I always told him that football saved his life - otherwise he would've been a criminal."
Host Andy Goldstein was a little taken aback, but Petit clarified. "Football saved him," explaining that with rules and referees keeping him in line, his fiery nature wouldn't get too out of hand.
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"He knew that the television was looking at him, fans were looking at him so he had to behave, good manners as well.
"I remember so many things with him - he sometimes reminded me of psychopaths. I told him 'football saved you otherwise you'd be in trouble in normal life.'
Petit is exagerrating to make his point given so many players change when they cross the white line. "Martin is such a nice guy but all of a sudden, in the space of one second, he can change."
A confrontation in 1998 with Sheffield Wednesday's Paolo Di Canio summed him up, Petit recalled. The forward was standing up for his teammate Wim Jonk who was pushed by Patrick Vieira.
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Keown intervened but his elbow caught the head of Di Canio, who grabbed the Arsenal defender's face in retaliation. This was the game in which Di Canio was sent off by referee Paul Alcock and pushed the official to the floor in one of the Premier League's most infamous moments.
"I remember, we tried to take Martin's hands and fingers off Paolo Di Canio's throat.
"He was trying to strangle him and he was almost ready to do it. You could see his eyes, he was not there anymore - he just wanted to kill Paolo Di Canio."
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Petit later added: "The way he played, the way he used to take care of the strikers all the time.
"Me and Patrick in the midfield, we were so happy to have Tony, to have the back four, the English guys, because we could travel everywhere in the world with them and they would fight until they are dead, they die on the pitch.
"Martin, it's funny because I see Tony was clever enough to understand that. I'm not saying that in a bad way, it's kind of a joke you know, but I think Tony understood it and he was managing Martin just like someone is walking with his dangerous dog."
Keown joined Arsenal for a second time in 1993 and formed a rock solid partnership with Adams like the one William Saliba and Gabriel enjoy today.
He won three FA Cup trophies, the Cup Winners Cup as well as being crowned a Premier League champion three times where he was part of the 2004 squad known as the 'Invincibles'.
Arsenal have not won a league title since the days of Keown, who is now a talkSPORT co-host and is still defending his club except this time Simon Jordan is the man trying to get around him...