LONDON (AP)

With the end-of-season finals getting closer and intensity increasing in league title races, the Premier League managers influence more games than those played on the field.

The ones that go on in the mind are just as important.

Manchester United's Alex Ferguson, Liverpool's Rafa Benitez, Chelsea's Guus Hiddink and Arsenal's Arsene Wenger are all chasing various titles at the end of the season with Everton's David Moyes also caught up in the battle of wits as his team heads for the FA Cup final.

Ferguson, who has won 24 titles in 23 seasons with the Red Devils, already has this season's FIFA Club World Cup and the domestic League Cup, lead Liverpool by one point at the top of the Premier League and face Arsenal in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

Chelsea, third in the Premier League, face Everton in the FA Cup final and Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals.

big influence

That means only a slight change of fortune can have a big influence at this stage of the season and the rival managers are out to do their bit even though they can't kick the ball or make a save.

Like playing out a soap opera, the coaches often use their pre-game media interviews to send out messages - and they are hardly along the lines of "good luck."

Last week, Ferguson accused Benitez of arrogance and contempt in an attempt to get under the skin of the manager whose team is a point behind in the league title race. That came weeks after the Liverpool manager, in a clearly rehearsed speech, said his Man United rival unfairly influenced referees and still managed to escape disciplinary punishment.

Ahead of Everton's FA Cup semi-final match against Man United, Moyes said he had heard in the media that the match referee, Mike Riley, was a United fan. Whether or not that was true, Ferguson was furious that Riley disallowed what looked like a penalty and Everton went on to knock United out in a shoot-out after a 0-0 draw.

Asked whether Riley had been influenced by Moyes' comments, Ferguson responded: "It might have. I'm not saying that for certain, but it could have."

"All that nonsense about him being a United fan was really ridiculous," Ferguson said. "Somebody filled David Moyes' head full of nonsense about it and it was used in the press conference. It can play on a referee's mind."

avoid conflicts

Hiddink, who is only in charge of Chelsea until the end of the season before he returns to his full-time role as Russia's national team coach, has carefully avoided the mind-game conflicts.

Wenger, whose verbal exchanges with Ferguson over more than a decade have often overflowed into angry confrontations between their players on the field, said yesterday he believed the mind-games aspect of managers' relations with each other was overrated.

"You want respect in the game, and we managers are responsible for it," the Arsenal manager said. "I do not want to interfere in that more because I do not know what happened (between Ferguson and Benitez).

"I believe it (mind games) was always something which was overrated a bit. But it is part of our environment and part of the media. You never know how much impact it has because it is impossible to measure. I believe that it can sometimes have a negative impact rather than a positive impact."

With all five clubs playing over the next two days, the mind games could take a few more twists and turns before the weekend.

Liverpool host Arsenal today and Chelsea welcome Everton tomorrow, the same day Manchester United face Portsmouth.

When the final whistles blows tomorrow evening, the title race could well have changed again and Ferguson and his rivals will be sharpening their tongues once more.