Falling short. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Or rather, getting carried away.

That's what Wang Shuai had to say about Villa's performance in December.

After breaking the winning streak, Villa went on to sweep Brighton 4-0 and beat Watford 5-1 to improve their winning streak to seventeen games. Villa, meanwhile, beat Southampton 3-1 to advance to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup, and secured top spot in the group with a 3-0 home win over Bayer Leverkusen in the fifth round of the Champions League group stage.

Since the start of the season, Villa have won all of their games, and Chelsea have managed to hold them back when they were in the throes.

0:0, Villa and Chelsea exchanged a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge.

A league draw is harmless for Villa, after all, after 15 consecutive wins this season, Villa have left second-place Tottenham Hotspur by as many as 9 points and achieved a real victory in the standings.

But the points advantage doesn't hide the fact that Villa's series of records have been ended.

First and foremost, there is the winning streak that has been broken by Villa. Although Villa's seventeen-game winning streak in the Premier League has broken the Premier League record, it is not a world record. Villa's winning streak is now only equal to that of Barcelona in La Liga, while Bundesliga hegemon Bayern Munich has created a feat of 19 consecutive league wins. England fans were still hoping for Villa to win 20 in a row, but the result was disappointing.

The second is the team's record of consecutive goals. Villa have scored in every game since promotion to the Premier League last season, and by the time of the last round of the league, Villa's streak had reached 53 games, with just two games left to reach the Premier League record. It is also a pity that this record has also been put to an end, and the Premier League record holder is still Arsenal.

The last record is Wang Shuai's personal record. Strange to say, as the second highest scorer last season, Wang Shuai's consecutive scoring record has never broken the Premier League's record of 11 games despite Villa's ability to score in every game. And this season, Wang Shuai also did not score in the sixth round against Liverpool. After scoring twice against Watford in the last round, Wang Shuai's consecutive goals reached 10 games, and he could break the Premier League record, but he ended without a problem today.

……

Perhaps due to the end of the record, Villa were arguably poor in the remaining games of December.

First of all, in the last round of the group stage of the Champions League, Villa lost 0:3 away to Monaco. However, this game is excusable, Villa has already locked the first place in the group, Wang Shuai simply sent a full substitute lineup to play, and even Wang Shuai himself did not go to France to direct the battle, and it is normal to lose the game in this situation.

But that wasn't the case in the next game.

In the 17th round of the league, Villa was forced to draw 1:1 at home by Southampton.

Yes, it's Southampton again, and it was because of this team last season that Villa narrowly missed the championship in the closing stages of the season.

If last season's game was too good for the opponent, today's game was completely Villa's own death. At the end of the game, except for Wang Shuai, all the players of Villa were out of shape. And after the new tactics were launched in the second half, there were several times when the two teammates ran together, and even Wu Shi collided with David once, and as a result, he sprained his ankle, although the injury was not serious, but the remaining two games in the first half can be said to be all reimbursed.

Fortunately, there is also a "normal" Wang Shuai in the team, who turned the tide and helped the team score the equalizer goal, otherwise this game will also be Villa's first defeat this season.

……

"What?!" After returning to the locker room after the game, Wang Shuai was directly angry: "This is the Premier League!" We're comparing points! Not a record! ! ”

Perhaps it was Wang Shuai's angry scolding that played a role, or perhaps the Southampton game was just an occasional loss of Villa's form. In the next round of the league, Villa's performance has finally picked up a bit.

But it's also limited.

In the eighteenth round of the league, Villa challenged West Bromwich Albion away.

For this West Midlands derby, everyone thought Villa would emerge victorious without a dispute, and the result was another draw.

2:2。

This time, Wang Shuai didn't get angry again. On the one hand, although the team's performance is still not satisfactory, it has improved from the previous game. On the other hand, because of Wu Shi's absence, Wang Shuai temporarily changed the formation to 4-5-1, and Villa's players were not comfortable for a while, which was also the reason for the slight abnormality in performance. And the most important thing is that the opponent is quite good.

Villa defended quite well in this game, leaving just four shots on goal for their opponents throughout the game. But it was those four shots that West Bromwich Albion had all on target and scored twice. Such an efficient attack is not far behind when Villa were at their best, and it is only natural that they can draw against Villa.

Three draws in a row have made Villa's advantage in the standings less obvious. In these three rounds of the league, Tottenham won two and drew one, and the gap with Villa narrowed to 5 points. Chelsea, who were previously third-placed, have won all three games, one point ahead of Tottenham to move to second place. Manchester United have also won all three games, and are currently one point behind Tottenham Hotspur in fourth place.

The imminence of three rivals finally gave Villa a sense of crisis. In the final round of the first half of the league, Villa's form was fully restored, and they swept promoted Crystal Palace 5-0 at Villa Park.

Of course, this big win may not be because of any so-called sense of crisis, but simply because the opponent is too weak.

While Villa won the big win, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur were another key match, but they were tied 0-0. Manchester United, on the other hand, beat Southampton 3-2 and jumped to second place in the standings on goal difference, but the gap between them and the top Villa is still seven points, as many as three wins.

At this point, the first half of the 2022-2023 season has come to an end. Despite a setback in the closing stages, Villa's record was quite good overall.

The winners of the Community Shield, the UEFA Super Cup, the Champions League group stage were qualified one round earlier, the League Cup advanced to the semi-finals, the league is unbeaten with 16 wins and three draws, and is as many as three wins ahead of the second place. Looking at the performance in the first half alone, Villa are undoubtedly the Premier League hegemon this season.