No. 221: League against Stoke City
3-0, Arsenal won at their home turf against Manchester United.
Manchester United fell at the feet of Dongfang Chen again, Dongfang Chen scored twice and provided an assist in this game, so it can be said that he killed Manchester United.
Manchester United team was once again ridiculed by media reporters and fans, Arsenal fans are very grateful to Manchester United, thanks to Manchester United for letting Dongfang Chen go, they have the opportunity to introduce Dongfang Chen.
Manchester United has now become the wronged leader in people's mouths, and it is too good to send such a king away like this. Forced.
The Manchester United players were naturally very unhappy with the loss in this game, and they did not stay in London for long, and went directly to Manchester.
This round of Premier League fixtures is over, and the top Chelsea side are not careless, winning 2-1 at home to their opponents and picking up the three points, and now they are still at the top of the table with 76 points.
However, Manchester United, who finished second in this round, lost, and they lost to Arsenal. Arsenal and Manchester United are now on 67 points, but they have the advantage on goal difference and are now second in the league and Manchester United third.
Fourth-placed Manchester City also won, and they are now on 65 points, two points behind Arsenal.
Fifth-placed Liverpool are 10 points behind Manchester City with 55 points and are no longer eligible for next season's Champions League, where they will continue to miss the competition.
Naturally, at this time, Arsenal is already twelve points ahead of Liverpool, and Arsenal has now confirmed the qualification for next season's Champions League.
However, at this time, Arsenal still have to play these last three league games.
And in this game in the 36th round of the Premier League this season, Arsenal's opponent is Stoke City, this game is really a coincidence, Arsenal's opponent in the FA Cup final is Stoke City, this round of games is almost a preview of this season's English FA Cup final.
Stoke City are now 10th in the Premier League with 43 points, but with three games remaining in the table and three games remaining, Stoke City is not out of the question of relegation.
In this game against Arsenal, Stoke City still hope to give it their all and win the opponent. Naturally, they also want to play this game to try out the current form and situation of the Arsenal players.
Arsenal are also taking this game very seriously, and they will also want to see how Stoke City are now. They are already preparing for this season's FA Cup final.
The current style of play of the Stoke City team is very similar to the traditional British style of play, they all go directly to the air route, which is simply an air raid team. The Chinese fans gave the Stoke City team the nickname of "City of Angels", mainly because the Stoke City players are very tall and completely high-lifting.
For this game, the Arsenal players are naturally very keen to win.
The Arsenal players travelled to the away stadium for this game, and Dongfang Chen appeared in the starting line-up.
Arsenal did not have a full squad for today's game, and Arsène Wenger let the Arsenal players rest in preparation for the final FA Cup final in England.
This season's FA Cup final is not played after the Premier League, but after the end of this round.
In other words, Stoke City will play two games in a row against Arsenal, which will be a big challenge for both teams.
Stoke City also did not have an all-out squad this time, and they also put their main energy into the next FA Cup final.
Now Dongfang Chen has a Premier League record that is about to be reached, that is, he has become the second player in the history of the Premier League to score 30 goals in two consecutive seasons.
Last season, Dongfang Chen completed more than 30 goals, and now this season, Dongfang Chen's Premier League goals have reached 29, only one goal away from completing this record, Arsène Wenger is also happy to complete Dongfang Chen, so Dongfang Chen started today.
However, Arsène Wenger made it clear to Dongfang Chen before the game that no matter what the situation, Dongfang Chen only has half a game time, and he hopes that Dongfang Chen can put all his energy into the English FA Cup final in midweek next week.
Dongfang Chen only has half a game time in this game, which is still difficult for Dongfang Chen, after all, this is a Premier League game, and no one can guarantee that he can score occasionally.
Moreover, the strength of today's Arsenal team's opponent Stoke City team is not weak, and it is really difficult for Dongfang Chen to complete the goal.
At the beginning of the game, the Stoke City team took advantage of the home advantage to attack, although they are not all the main players today, but they are united today, they do not want to be relegated, they hope that this game can win the Arsenal team, early relegation success.
And if we win this game, it will help Stoke City against Arsenal in midweek next week, or at least give them confidence boost.
At the beginning of the game, Stoke City's attack was fierce, and their high-altitude bombardment caused Arsenal a lot of problems, and Arsenal's defenders were a little tired.
At the beginning of the first half, Stoke City's striker Carew hit the goal with a direct header in the penalty area, almost breaking through the Arsenal team's goal, which was considered to give the Arsenal team a dismount.
After that, the Stoke City team was frequently attacking the Arsenal team's goal, and the Arsenal team's defenders were under pressure and some could not withstand it.
Today, Arsenal's backline is not the main backline of Arsenal, they are mainly young players, and they are really a little unable to withstand the air attack of Stoke City.
The Stoke City team is getting more and more aggressive, besieging the Arsenal team, bringing more trouble to the Arsenal team, and the Arsenal team's goal is far away in this game Almunia is very busy, constantly directing the defenders, and constantly making saves.
The Arsenal team did not give the Stoke City team much threat in attack, although Dongfang Chen was on the field, but his state was really bad today, there were two good opportunities, he did not take advantage of it, the first time in the penalty area is now the shot is weak, and flew directly into the arms of the goalkeeper of Stoke. The second time was a header in the penalty area, which directly flew the ball.
The fans of the Stoke City team at the scene were very excited, it seems that the Arsenal team is not very good, it seems that they still have a chance to compete for the English FA Cup this season.
The players of the Stoke City team really played with confidence, they pressed hard, attacked wildly, played high, and directly carried out air strikes on the Arsenal team, and the effect was really good.
In the 23rd minute of the first half, Stoke City, who were playing at home, finally pried open the Arsenal goal, and Stoke City striker Carew received a cross from a wide player in the penalty area again, and he jumped directly high, shook his head, and smashed the football into the Arsenal goal.
This time, Arsenal goalkeeper Almunia was unable to block Kalou's header, and Arsenal fell behind by one goal, much to the delight of Stoke City fans.
The Stoke City players felt that the quality of the Arsenal team was no more than that, and it seemed that they had a chance in the FA Cup final four days later, and they were very confident that they could win the FA Cup in this game.
Arsène Wenger on the sidelines also had a headache when he saw the Stoke City team's table, the Arsenal team's back line was indeed a little young in this game, and some could not withstand the high-altitude bombardment of the Stoke City team.
At this time, Arsène Wenger hopes that Arsenal's forward line can pick up and put pressure on Stoke City's goal, so that the pressure on Arsenal's defense will be much less.
However, the Arsenal team's attack is indeed not very threatening, Dongfang Chen's state today is not ideal, and the overall state of the Arsenal team's attacking players is not ideal, and the attack really can't give the Stoke City team more threat.
At the end of the first half, Arsenal were down 0-1 away from home, and it was a shame that Dongfang Chen could not score in the first half and did not equal Alan Shearer's record.
Arsène Wenger really did what he said, this game tightly gave Dongfang Chen half of the playing time, at halftime, Dongfang Chen was replaced, Arsène Wenger is not dissatisfied with Dongfang Chen's expression, he hopes that Dongfang Chen can rest and prepare for the FA Cup final four days later. For Arsenal, the FA Cup final will be the most important game in four days' time.
In the second half of the game, Dongfang Chen sat on the bench and watched.
At the beginning of the second half, Arsenal's table did not improve much, they were still pressed by the home team Stoke City, and it seemed that there were not many chances, which made Stoke City fans excited.
In the nineteenth minute of the second half, Stoke City won a free kick opportunity on the side of the field, and the Stoke City players drove the free kick out, and Stoke City's German central defender Hutter jumped high and smashed the football into the Arsenal goal, 2-0, and Stoke City extended the score.
All the Stoke City fans at the scene were very excited and excited after seeing the score. However, the Stoke City players did not stop, and in the 37th minute of the second half, Stoke City scored another goal, and the goal was scored by Stoke City striker Kalou, this time the attack was still a header.
Arsenal fell behind 3-0 in an instant, which was a big blow for the Arsenal team. Arsenal only caught a low-level mistake in the Stoke City backline at the end of the game, and finally it was Theo Walcott who seized a chance to send the ball into the Stoke City goal.
1-3, Arsenal lost away to Stoke City, which was an upset in the Premier League. As soon as the result of this game came out, the big man had some other thoughts about the FA Cup final in England four days later.