The day after the Carabao Cup final, all the media in the UK were covering the League Cup final between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.

"The first crown of the year was born, Tottenham beat the Red Devils to win the championship!"

The report of "Reading Force" pointed out that Tottenham Hotspur defeated Manchester United 4-3 after a hard-fought battle, won the first championship indicator in European football in 03, and made a good start to the next game!

"After the reversal, there was a reversal, Manchester United Tottenham staged a Hollywood blockbuster!"

The Guardian focused on the twists and turns of the game. The article pointed out that it is very rare to stage a big comeback in a game, even if the game is won 3-2 by Manchester United. However, Tottenham staged a comeback in the final three minutes to turn the game around and make it a Hollywood blockbuster. And said that this is definitely a final that is difficult to surpass in the history of the League Cup!

"In the last three minutes, Tottenham completed a shocking reversal, and Tottenham replicated Manchester United's 99 Champions League miracle!"

This time, The Telegraph did not revolve around the record. The article focuses on the miracle that Tottenham completed in the last three minutes. This is simply a replica of Manchester United's last-minute reversal of Bayern Munich in the '99 Champions League final. It's just that this time the victim has become the winner of the year, Manchester United!

Other media outlets have also reported on the game in detail, and Sky Sports has spent an entire episode of the show analyzing this classic final. Among them, Chen Xi's two wonderful slings from head to end were repeatedly played during this period!

However, a day later, the media were surprised to find that after the break, Chen Xi was not among the Tottenham Hotspur players who returned to training, and the team's head coach Hoddle's sad expression was also seen by the media.

All of a sudden, rumors spread!

"Tottenham Hotspur Club had infighting after winning the championship, and the championship was a post-match strike!"

"Tottenham and Edison's contract renewal talks collapsed, and Tottenham suspended Edison's training!"

"Edison played a big name and missed training for no reason!"

…… A series of gossip soon spread.

Faced with this situation, Tottenham Hotspur FC had to hold a press conference to explain the issue.

Tottenham Hotspur's press officer reluctantly said at the press conference that Edison, the core of the team, will be out for a week because of the flu!

As soon as this news was broadcast, Tottenham fans instantly fell into a panic, obviously, they all knew what Chen Xi's absence would mean for Tottenham!

Meanwhile, Tottenham's two rivals, Birmingham City and Leeds United, blossomed over the course of the next week. Against Tottenham without Chen Xi, they obviously have a little more confidence.

The happiest is probably Manchester United, although they just lost the League Cup on Tottenham, but in the league, as long as Tottenham Hotspur misses in Chen Xi's absence, then Manchester United will be able to further open the gap!

In this case, the only thing that can't be happy is naturally Tottenham!

Tottenham Hotspur originally had a four-point gap with Manchester United in the league, but in the next week, Tottenham Hotspur will play two league games, and if they drop any more points, I am afraid they will have to say goodbye to the league championship completely!

Tottenham Hotspur fans have also experienced the feeling of going from heaven to hell, having just won the team's first title in four years, but their beloved Chen Xi has contracted the flu and will miss two key league games, which means they may lose the league title!

Howard of The Sun did not forget to jump out at this time to add fuel to the fire. He mentioned in his column that Chen Xi is the key to the success of this Tottenham team, and without this key key, Hoddle and his Tottenham team will surely usher in a wave of low tide. Tottenham will also be beaten back to square one!

For Howard's big mouth, Tottenham fans already hate it. Before, every time this guy stood up against Tottenham, Chen Xi would always stand up for him as soon as possible to shut him up, but this time, Chen Xi was absent, and even Tottenham fans couldn't help but worry! ――

Amid the fears of Tottenham fans, Tottenham welcomed Birmingham City at White Hart Lane.

This team may not have many stars, but they are in the middle of the table, especially since their defense is quite good!

Chen Xi didn't come to White Deer Lane, and he could only watch the TV broadcast at home before the flu recovered!

From Chen's point of view, he hopes that his teammates can win this game without him. Continue to bite Manchester United. He doesn't need to use the team's defeat to prove his important surname!

However, Tottenham's performance in the game was disappointing. Without Chen Xi, they are like losing their souls, especially on the offensive end, they can't find the focus at all!

Simon Davies, who was moved to the left by Hoddle, not only failed to replace Chen Xi's position, but did not adapt well and could not cause problems for the Birmingham team's right side defense at all.

Although the veteran Anderton is very experienced, he is already a veteran in his thirties after all. Plagued by injuries, his performance can only be described as average.

The attacking side couldn't open up the situation, and Tottenham's poor defence made a mistake in the final moments of the first half!

Richards was not tight on the man, and was outflanked in front of goal by former French international Dugarry, who was introduced by Birmingham in the winter, and helped Birmingham take the lead!

Tottenham went into the dressing room from behind at home.

Hoddle made a personnel change in the second half, Esselington replaced Anderton, and Simon Davies returned to the right!

This adjustment has achieved good results, Esselington has historically been the main force of Tottenham Hotspur this season, and has played well, just because Chen Xi's emergence has squeezed his position.

When Chen Xi couldn't play, the England U21 international still showed his strength!

Halfway through the second half, a cross from his head set up Morientes to head home and help Tottenham equalise!

Just when Tottenham fans were expecting Tottenham to complete a comeback, Birmingham's door was closed for Tottenham to maintain the score of 1-1 until the end, and Birmingham took a point from White Hart Lane as they wished!

Meanwhile, at Old Trafford, there was bad news. In a red-red battle between Manchester United and Liverpool, the Liverpool team failed to stop Manchester United, but was humiliated by Manchester United!

In this way, Manchester United's lead has been stretched to six points!

Soon, Tottenham found that they were not only left behind by Manchester United, but also the Arsenal team behind them.

In fact, if it weren't for the loss in this game, the points gap between Liverpool and Tottenham would not be huge.

Obviously, if Tottenham Hotspur can't win the next round, let alone the championship, I'm afraid they won't even be able to secure the second place!

Chen Xi, who was in front of the TV, was also very disappointed with this result, and he really wanted to get into the TV to help the team change the situation. But this is obviously impossible!

Three days later, Chen Xi felt that he had almost recovered, but the team doctor decided that Chen Xi was not suitable to appear in the game against Leeds United, because the influenza virus can reach about a week when the infectivity period is long, so a week's rest is essential.

Hoddle didn't reluctantly bring Chen Xi, after all, six points behind Manchester United with only six rounds left in the league is already a big gap, if you reluctantly bring Chen Xi and let the other players infect, it will be worth the loss!

At Elland Road Stadium, one is the absence of the leading star, the other is in a deep debt crisis, and the record has plummeted, and the clash between Tottenham and Leeds United can be described as a dialogue between two lonely teams!

However, in such a conversation, Leeds United still showed their strong fighting power!

Under the leadership of Colwill, Viduka and Alan Smith, plus the excellent performance of super rookie James Milner, who broke the record for the youngest goal in the Premier League this season, Leeds United won Tottenham 3-1 at home!

Manchester United, meanwhile, conquered St James's Stadium. Facing old rivals Newcastle, Manchester United showed their terrifying attacking power and swept the Magpies 6-2!

As a result, the gap between Tottenham and Manchester United has been widened by nine points, and with five league games remaining, the title hopes have been largely dashed. What's even more unbearable for Tottenham fans is that they were still overtaken by Arsenal in the standings and fell to third place, only one point away from Liverpool in fourth place!

Without a doubt, this is definitely the worst week of the season for Tottenham fans!

After this round of games, the British media also wrote about the consequences of Chen Xi's absence.

"Tottenham are Edison's one-man team!"

"Tottenham have Edison's syndrome!"

"Without Edison, Tottenham would have been a mid-table team!"

Such views have appeared in most of the mainstream media in the UK.

The Sun's Howard will not let go of such an opportunity, and he sarcastically said in his column that Tottenham Hotspur might as well change its name to "Tottenham Edison"!

Such an evaluation is obviously unacceptable to the whole Tottenham team, even if they all know the huge role of Chen Xi, but it is obviously unfair to them to attribute the results of the team's collective efforts to one person!

Even Hoddle, who admires Chen Xi very much, can't stand such comments, and thinks that this is the media's ignorance of him as a head coach! In his opinion, even though Chen Xi's personal heroism often saves the team, the team is by no means a one-person team, if it has to belong to one person, that person ...... It can only be himself!

(To be continued)