Manchester City won the battle for the top spot.

This result may be just a small setback for Ancelotti that can be accepted calmly, but for Manchester City and even the entire Premier League, it is of great significance, because this victory, not only Manchester City, which has one less game, is close to Chelsea in points, only four points apart, and the more far-reaching impact is that this avoids Chelsea from really riding the dust, so that the Premier League championship drama will not lose suspense prematurely.

The next day, the major media in England sang praises for Manchester City's victory, especially the Manchester Evening News, which declared that this victory marked a change in Manchester City's status in the league, from a challenger for the league title to the most serious contender for the league title. After Linsen won the first leg with Carlo Ancelotti, he also became the only manager in the Premier League to maintain an unbeaten record against the four traditional giants, which made the media begin to give Linsen a variety of names, after leading Manchester City to six consecutive wins, the media once gave Linsen the name of Mourinho II, but unfortunately then Manchester City suffered an embarrassing four-game draw, which was also rumored to be a joke, but now, this name is back to Linsen's head.

Seeing the wind and steering the rudder has always been a glorious tradition of the media.

With the momentum of beating Chelsea, the League Cup quarterfinals in midweek, Manchester City, which met Arsenal for the second time this season, defeated the opponent 3-0 at home to advance to the semi-finals, but compared with the last battle between the two sides, the gold content of this game is destined to be discounted, because the game looks more like Arsenal is "protecting" Manchester City to advance, and Linsen has retained a semi-main lineup. Even the goalkeeper who had the least to worry about fitness problems was replaced by No. 2 goalkeeper Fabianski.

In such a situation, it is naturally not that Wenger really wants to "protect" Manchester City, for many reasons, first of all, the positioning of the two teams in this competition is fundamentally different. Although Arsenal has missed the title for several years, it is obvious that they have not yet reached the point where Manchester City is hungry. Secondly, Arsenal will face a tough battle in the league at the weekend as their opponents are Liverpool. In addition to the above two reasons, there is another underlying factor that has forced Wenger to stay, and that is the upcoming intensive schedule.

Due to the arrival of Christmas in the West, other leagues in Europe generally enter the winter break on the occasion of Christmas, which is to coincide with the holiday. At the same time, because the cold weather in Europe is not suitable for the game at this time, this short winter break is the best time for both the team and the players to adjust their condition. Several top leagues in Europe, such as La Liga, Bundesliga, and Serie A, generally have a winter break of half a month to a month at this time. However, this does not include the Premier League. Far from the winter break, the entire month of December is arguably the most congested month of the Premier League's season.

In the case of Arsenal this season, they will have six league games to play in December. That's almost twice as many as before, and on top of that, the League Cup with Manchester City and the Champions Cup with Olympiacos add up to eight games. That number could have increased if it weren't for the delay in this year's FA Cup, but even so, eight league games a month. With an average of less than four days, it's destined to be a physical test for any team. Not to mention the technical Arsenal.

There is no winter break in the Premier League, which is complained by managers almost every year, and according to a survey by the players' union, more than eighty percent of players support a winter break. In the final analysis, it is a matter of interests, simply put, the interests of the players are far less important than the interests of the fans. It's more important than letting the players go home for a good holiday season when the fans watch the Premier League during the holiday season.

Therefore, Arsene Wenger, who is well aware of the ferocity of December's schedule, will stay and is completely understandable, on the contrary, Linsen thinks about the situation in December too optimistically. In Linsen's mind, Manchester City has long been accustomed to two games a week, and although there are many games in December, it is not enough for him to be stretched, so in the game against Arsenal, although the squad was rotated, he was still in the semi-main force.

Manchester City's promotion to the League Cup was assured, but Linson soon suffered.

In the sixteenth round of the English Premier League, in the case of the British media unanimously optimistic, Manchester City, who was a guest at Reebok Stadium, suffered a head-on blow from Bolton, who was ranked deep in the relegation zone, and finally broke out the biggest upset of this round, 0-2, Manchester City's unbeaten record of 14 league games is ancient, adhering to the practice of being unlucky together since this season, this round of the league, only Arsenal has won, and the other giants have either drawn or lost, Manchester United and Tottenham have lost to their opponents at home, and the leader Chelsea was forced to draw 3-3 by Everton at home, which is the only consolation for Manchester City.

But the bad luck isn't over yet. In the seventeenth round, facing Redknapp's Tottenham, Manchester City and the other side staged a goal battle, and in the end no one got the advantage, the score was 3-3, Manchester City did not win in two rounds, this time, it was the turn of the previous round to "break" the big team Arsenal was forced to draw by Burnley, while the other giants won one after another.

After two rounds of league games, the gap that was originally close to winning over Chelsea has returned to square one again, and it has been surpassed by Manchester United by one point in the rankings. The name of Jose Mourinho II, who had just been re-worn by the media, was taken off in the blink of an eye, and the rollercoaster feeling familiar to Manchester City fans was once again back on them.

December 17, MCFC Bar.

"Hell, Dejong! The real X scared him out of his nerves. Lin Zhen should abandon him, isn't the combination of Vidal and Martinez very good, I really don't understand why Lin let De Jong play as soon as it comes to an important game, the ball just now, if it weren't for De Jong's brainless foul, how could it give the Spaniard a chance to score. ”

"There is no way. Compared with Darga Martinez, it is okay to deal with weak teams, and playing together against stronger teams is purely looking for death, after all, the two are too young, although De Jong's offensive contribution is not as obvious as these two, but his contribution to the team's defense is not comparable to these two. ”

"Sure enough, the midfield still needs reinforcements, and Mascherano is good, maybe he is the club's target for the winter. Didn't Lin praise him in the last game against Liverpool? ”

"Wake up, what are you daydreaming about, have you forgotten who Liverpool's coach is?"

……

As with every time you watch a game, there are always people who play the role of the emperor and someone who plays the role of the team manager, and the people around you are watching the game while following the blind coaxing, and the bar is still a lively scene.

Old Miller was still standing at the bar, but his expression was wary, and his eyes were not on the screen where the game was live, but on a girl named Ida in the bar all the time. But it's not because old Miller is an old pervert, the girl is a granddaughter who came from London to visit him on vacation. The reason why he did this was only to warn that someone was plotting against him, because even if this place was his own, it was still a bar after all.

In fact, old Miller doesn't need to worry at all, many of the old customers in the bar have grown up watching Ada, for them, Ida is like their own daughter, if there are really a few new guests who have bad intentions and try to stage the common scene of teasing folk girls in the bar, then the scene of heroes saving beauty will soon be staged. Of course. As long as there is no paste in the head, as long as you look at the way Ada is familiar with other people, no one should be disgusted with life, because there are too many heroes today.

The match that was broadcast live on screen was the final round of Manchester City's Europa League match. Home to Bilbao.

With the first leg eight to one, almost all Manchester City fans came to watch this game with a relaxed mood, this game, as long as Manchester City does not lose to their opponents. can qualify as the top of the group, but now it seems that this wish seems easy. But it's getting a little more difficult.

In this game, Bilbao sent a full main lineup, obviously a posture of revenge, but Lin Sen, who has encountered difficulties in the last two rounds of the league, seems to have no time to deal with the other party, the starting is a full substitute, of course, even if it is a full substitute, it is not easy for Athletic Bilbao to get it, the two teams exchanged blanks in the first half, until the seventy-first minute of the second half, De Jong fouled at the edge of the penalty area, and Yester knocked on the door of Manchester City with a free kick. Manchester City, which conceded the goal, launched a Jedi counterattack, but after the goal, Athletic Bilbao began to play steadily, and Manchester City was helpless for a while.

Now that the game has reached 88 minutes, the score is still 0-1, Manchester City is behind, and just De Jong has given the opponent a free kick at the edge of the penalty area, which is why there is a previous discussion.

As the minutes ticked by, as the game entered stoppage time, the previously lively bar began to become a little quieter unconsciously, and everyone looked at the screen, including the elder Miller, who also looked away from his granddaughter at this time.

Manchester City has qualified, in fact, this game is far from that important, and it really makes a big difference for Manchester City to finish first or second, at least Manchester City fans think so, but this does not mean that Manchester City fans can happily accept the team losing.

On the screen, at the last moment, Manchester City has formed a siege on the Bilbao goal, Ireland dribbled the ball, poured a few times and did not find a chance to shoot, so he had to distribute the ball to the right of Wright, in the face of the opponent's Castillo's pressing, Wright Jr. passed through the crotch lightly, and overtook at high speed from the outside, entering the Bilbao penalty area.

The air in the bar seemed to freeze a little in an instant, and almost everyone held their breath.

There was already chaos in front of the Bilbao goal at this time, as soon as Wright Jr. entered the penalty area, a defender from Athletic Bilbao rushed over to intercept it, but at this time Wright Jr. had already passed the ball out, an inverted triangle.

The person who rushed up was De Jong, and the Dutchman didn't think about it was a volley, and the ball hit the body of the opposing defender and bounced to Bellamy's feet, Bellamy reacted quickly, but at this time there were at least three other opposing defenders around him, two of them even had their hands still hanging on his body, and he only had time to touch the ball lightly, and the ball touched the feet of Wright Jr. again.

Wright, who came to the edge of the small penalty area, finally didn't plan to continue passing the ball this time, and it was just a volley from a small angle.

As the ball roared into the near corner of the goal, only a buzzing sound was heard, and the bar suddenly erupted into a huge cheer, and the old Miller, who raised his arms high, subconsciously turned his head to look for Ada, and then he saw his granddaughter and a young man hugging each other...... (To be continued......)