When Arteta's Arsenal trips, here are the Big Six managers who got off to a bad start to the season

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Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are in free fall and in a relegation battle this Christmas – but they aren’t the first Premier League giant to have launched such a bad campaign.

The Gunners face a difficult Boxing Day game against soaring London rivals Chelsea, finishing 15th with a total of 14 points from 14 games this season.

Split with Arsenal believers over whether Arteta should be fired Sportsmail looks back on other cases where big Premier League teams got off to a bad start and what happened next …

Mikel Arteta has overseen Arsenal’s 15th start into a league season in 46 years

Jose Mourinho at Chelsea (2015-16)

Arteta’s bleak start at Arsenal eerily resembles the start of the 2015/16 season by London rivals Chelsea, just months after winning the Premier League with Jose Mourinho

The Blues produced one of the worst title defenses in elite history, losing nine of their first 16 games in the league.

A 2-1 defeat by Leicester City in December was the final straw for Mourinho, who was released one point ahead of the relegation zone in 16th place.

Jose Mourinho’s most recent Premier League title came in 2015 at former club Chelsea

But Mourinho took Chelsea close to the relegation zone in the 2015-16 season and was sacked

Roman Abramovich’s decision to replace cult hero Mourinho met with widespread controversy, but the Chelsea owner called for a familiar face to help stabilize the ship.

Guus Hiddink was brought in for another stopover at Stamford Bridge and led the Blues to 10th place.

After the grim campaign ended, Antonio Conte was named manager, with the Italian winning the title in his first season.

Roy Hodgson in Liverpool (2010-11)

After leading Fulham to the UEFA Cup final last season, Roy Hodgson was chosen by the Liverpool hierarchy as the man to replace Rafa Benitez after the Reds fell outside the top four.

What the Merseysiders didn’t prepare was a disastrous start to the season.

Hodgson’s Liverpool won just one of their first nine league games in the relegation zone during their international break in October. The Reds lost to Everton and both Manchester clubs, while also failing to beat Blackpool and Sunderland at home during this horror phase.

Roy Hodgson was selected to replace Rafa Benitez in Liverpool in 2010

The Reds chose to stay at Hodgson after sparking mini-resuscitation with four straight wins – including a 2-0 home win over Chelsea thanks to a brace from Fernando Torres.

But Anfield Club then lost six of their next nine games, and Hodgson got the shoe.

With 12th place in the league and the sale of striker Torres to Chelsea for £ 50m, Liverpool hired Kenny Dalglish as manager and helped the team settle for sixth place.

The Liverpool legend kept his job for the following season but was fired after finishing eighth despite winning the League Cup and finishing second in the FA Cup.

The former Fulham manager was fired in early 2011, Liverpool finished 12th

Mauricio Pochettino in Tottenham (2019-20)

Many expected the 2019-20 season to be the year Tottenham finally ended their trophy drought after Mauricio Pochettino led them to a Champions League final the previous summer.

After a mixed start to the league season, Spurs fell back to 14th place after five games without a win at the end of November. The home games against Watford and Sheffield United were reinforced with losses to Brighton and Liverpool.

In this run, chairman Daniel Levy brought Pochettino’s reign in north London to a standstill, much to the disappointment of Spurs believers, who viewed the Argentine as a fan favorite after five years.

Mauricio Pochettino led Tottenham to an unlikely Champions League final in 2019

Additionally, Levy opted to enlist Mourinho, the manager of Spurs’ arch-rival Chelsea, as Pochettino’s successor, who was not widely viewed as a popular hiring.

The famous Portuguese coach won five of his first seven league games at Spurs and only lost once in the last seven games of the Premier League season to finish the season in sixth.

Mourinho now leads Spurs to a top 4 challenge with Tottenham sitting in fourth place in Boxing Day games.

Pochettino (right) was sacked after Spurs finished 14th and replaced by Mourinho (left).

David Moyes for Manchester United (2013-14)

Manchester United replaced longtime and title-winning manager Sir Alex Ferguson with Moyes and gave the then Everton manager a six-year deal that said they would be patient with the Scotsman.

They weren’t patient as Moyes’ United was too inconsistent for a Top 4 challenge, let alone a Premier League title bid.

The club lost six league games at home and the Red Devils sat in seventh place in April.

David Moyes was awarded a six-year contract with Manchester United but was sacked in his first season

When the United Champions League’s hopes were mathematically ended with a 2-0 loss to Everton, Moyes was relieved of his duties.

Ryan Giggs was appointed interim boss for the last four league games of the season, but it was too little, too late.

Permanently hired after Giggs’ temporary reign, Louis van Gaal restored Champions League football at Old Trafford before being fired himself.

Pep Guardiola in Manchester City (2020-21)

Manchester City could still win the Premier League this season, but it can’t be hidden that Pep Guardiola’s side have started the current season badly.

Before this season, City sat in the top four after 13 games in each of the last nine campaigns.

But Guardiola’s side are eighth in the Premier League this season, eight points behind leaders Liverpool with one game in hand.

Pep Guardiola has overseen Manchester City’s worst start in the league and in front of goal

City is usually full of attacking qualities and has only scored 18 league goals after 13 games. This is the lowest return since Roberto Mancini’s side scored just 15 goals in the 2010-11 season. The club had to be content with third place this season.

By the time City finished the year as Premier League champions, they had scored over 40 goals in that phase of the season.

Ultimately, Guardiola is bringing Manchester City to the level they were before the Spaniard took over the Etihad Stadium.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for Manchester United (2019-20)

Since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was permanently appointed manager of Manchester United in March 2019, critics have been calling for the Norwegian to be fired.

Those screams were loudest in the fall of 2019, when United won just two of their first eleven league games and finished in 10th place.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer only won two of his first eleven games last season, but finished third

Despite the criticism, United chose to stay at Solskjaer until the end of the season and the club’s loyalty paid off.

The Red Devils finished the season with 14 unbeaten games that included nine wins to end the campaign in third place.

United’s good form of the Premier League continued this season. The club are now five points behind leaders Liverpool with one game in hand.

Juande Ramos in Tottenham (2008-09)

Two years after finishing fifth in the Premier League under Martin Jol, Spurs opted for another foreign coach in Spanish coach Juande Ramos, who had previously won two UEFA Cup titles with Sevilla.

Ramos managed to move Tottenham to eleventh place and even win the 2008 League Cup with Spurs after arriving at White Hart Lane with a high level of confidence in mid-October 2007, ahead of his first responsible season.

Juande Ramos got Spurs to the end of the table before being fired by Daniel Levy

But Spurs started this season in terrible shape, picking up just two points from their first eight games sitting at the foot of the table – a run that saw Levy swing his ax again.

Spurs then turned to Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp as their next coach and led Tottenham to eighth place at the end of the season.

The following year Spurs reached the Champions League for the first time when Redknapp finished fourth in 2010, bringing rivals Manchester City to the job with big bucks.

Alan Ball in Manchester City (1995-96)

In the early days of the Premier League, Manchester City weren’t the heavyweights we see today.

After two fifth places in a row in the last days of the First Division and a ninth place at the end of the first Premier League season, the club was considered a regular player.

However, things got bad in the final months of Peter Reid’s reign on Maine Road as City fell into the bottom half. Brian Horton kept the club almost upright in 1995, but relegation to the second division was finally confirmed in 1996.

Manchester City were relegated from the Premier League in 1996 after a terrible start

Under Alan Ball, City picked up two points from their first eleven games and only scored three goals during that time.

A run of four 1-0 wins in five games between November and December gave the club hope, but citizens would never be kept up to date with just three wins between New Years 1996 and mid-April.

Ball was fired from the second division after a bad start, and City even fell into the third division in 1998.

Kenny Dalglish in Newcastle (1997-98)

Dalglish was considered Newcastle’s savior when he rescued the Magpies mid-season to bring them to second place in the Premier League in 1997.

Big things were expected of the Liverpool legend at St James’ Park ahead of his first full season, but the Scot failed to win his first four Premier League games of the 1997/98 season.

Newcastle found their first full season in 1997 under Kenny Dalglish (right) very difficult

The Magpies won five of their next six games to trigger a mini-resuscitation, but St. James’ Park soon turned bleak with the toon picking up just two wins out of 13 games between mid-October and mid-January.

Dalglish’s men won only once in the last 10 league games of the season, finishing in 13th place.

The manager kept his job as he led Newcastle to another FA Cup final – but they lost 2-0 to double-winners Arsenal.

Claudio Ranieri in Leicester City (2016-17)

The Italian made the talk of the town in Leicester after leading the Foxes to a shock Premier League title of 5,000: 1 in 2016.

But Ranieri’s men struggled to replicate their exploits from the previous season, taking just three wins from their first 14 games to be a few points above the drop zone.