The news of Arsene Wenger's departure after the game was widely disseminated by Fleet Street, and some media outlets obtained secret news from the Arsenal hierarchy through special channels.

"Arsene Wenger is unhappy with the top of the board!"

Arsene Wenger, despite having a lot of power over the internal management of the team, is also constrained by the board when it comes to money.

Arsene Wenger's dissatisfaction is not simply because the top management has not yet negotiated a contract extension with Qin Xiong, but also because of Ashley Cole's contract extension.

What annoyed him the most was that the club's hierarchy had fallen out with Ashley Cole to the point of being a stranger, and it was only because of the £5,000 disagreement in the weekly contract!

It can be said that Ashley Cole is more important than Qin Xiong!

Because Ashley Cole is: Academy Player + Future Captain Candidate + World Class Full-back!

From the perspective of comprehensive and all-round factors, Qin Xiong is not as important as Ashley Cole, you must know that in English football, just the local account almost comes with a bonus of 5 million pounds, and it will only be higher in the future!

Treat such an important player, the top management actually made a series of follow-up things because of the difference in the 5000 pound weekly salary, if Ashley Cole's conditions are met early, maybe there will be no later "Colemen", and now Ashley Cole's contract allows him to transfer after the end of the 05/06 season. It's hard to predict if they can contribute more to the team.

It is conceivable that Qin Xiong's contract renewal negotiations are disagreed above the £5,000 weekly salary, so it is not difficult to understand that the negotiations have reached an impasse.

Arsene Wenger's frustration had to be put to rest

The Premier League's fixture schedule is not a stereotype.

20 teams. 380 games in the season. Each team will play the other 19 teams home and away once. But it is not that in the 19 games in the first half of the season, you will definitely play against these 19 teams.

For example, in this year's Christmas schedule, Arsenal's opponent in the 18th round of the Premier League is Chelsea.

Arsenal played Chelsea in August, with a second meeting in the 18th round, so why did the FA arrange the fixtures like that?

Perhaps it is the Christmas game that attracts attention, arranging a matchup between Chelsea and Arsenal can maximize the attention of the game, and naturally maximize the promotion and benefits of the Premier League brand.

Arsenal, on the other hand, have 19 rounds of fixtures. The only opponent who didn't play in the first half of the schedule was Manchester United.

In other words, Arsenal will play Chelsea over two legs in the first 19 rounds of the season, followed by two more league games against Manchester United in the 19 rounds in the second half of the season.

Chelsea are still in good form and if the defeat to Arsenal at Stamford Bridge is excluded, they are now only one point behind Arsenal.

However, just as Arsenal's quality is thought to have declined, Chelsea seem to have some problems compared to last season.

The problem is at the back, with the intuitive statistic being that they have conceded more goals defensively than they did last season, and despite still being the best defensive team in the Premier League, the number of goals conceded represents a decline in defensive quality.

The core factor in this is that there are players who "make trouble".

William Garas.

The Frenchman, who played as a full-back all the time last season, was very unhappy with Mourinho.

Because he wants to play centre-back, it's as simple as that.

After holding out for a season. He finally broke out.

After not getting Mourinho's support, he actually threatened: "Don't play for me as a central defender." I'll just kick an own goal! "to take revenge on society.

This hidden danger has always existed, since Mourinho took over Stamford Bridge, which is why Mourinho privately met with Ashley Cole and was investigated by the FA for the "Kolmen" incident.

Jose Mourinho's summer arrival of Del Orno was not satisfactory for him, and the original full-back position of Bridger was out of action for half a year due to a serious injury, so that Chelsea suffered a shortage of full-backs.

Jose Mourinho desperately wants Ashley Cole to get his squad close to perfection, and he has also overturned his dulicitous reason for not thinking of signing Ashley Cole: height.

There is another factor that has contributed to Chelsea's lack of strength this season as they were last season: the Champions League group stage.

After Liverpool won last season's Champions League, UEFA opened the door to Liverpool, who finished fifth in the Premier League but are the defending champions of the Champions League, from the qualifying round, and then Liverpool went all the way to the Champions League.

But Liverpool was not given any convenience during the draw, that is, Liverpool did not have the principle of circumvention.

This led to a rare scene in the Champions League group stage: Chelsea and Liverpool were in the same group.

Plus in the same group are Real Betis from La Liga and Belgian champion Anderlecht.

The competition in this group is extremely brutal.

The Champions League and the league cannot be viewed separately, for example, Chelsea played a Champions League group stage against Liverpool in midweek, and the league at the weekend or before it will inevitably be affected.

Arsenal because the group stage opponents are generally not strong, only the declining Ajax is a small threat, so the investment in the Champions League is much lower than before, reducing consumption while also being able to concentrate on the league.

Chelsea managed to make it through the group stage, but Liverpool snatched the top spot from the group, resulting in Chelsea facing La Liga giants Barcelona for the second year in a row in the knockout round.

The second half of 2005 was a difficult one for Chelsea.

In the face of internal and external troubles, they are fully armed to visit North London on the second day of Christmas!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Qin Xiong had a relatively pleasant time, and even built a snowman with Georgia in the garden in front of the apartment.

Then he returned to the battlefield with a high fighting spirit.

December 26, Highbury.

Just after the afternoon, there was a huge crowd of people inside and outside Highbury, and many fans came to the stadium dressed as Santa Claus, and the festive atmosphere was very strong.

After the pre-match warm-up, players from both sides are ready to take the field.

Standing in the tunnel of the players, the Chelsea squad was full of seriousness, and the captain Terry who took the lead already had a majestic temperament.

He turned his head to look at Thierry Henry, who is in hot form and is expected to defend the European Golden Boot.

Moving his gaze behind Henry, Terry's gaze became more solemn.

It's been a long time.

Qin Xiong!

John Terry withdrew his gaze and did not look at the rest of the Arsenal players.

Any team with two stars, Qin Xiong and Henry, should not be underestimated.

What's more, Arsenal itself also has excellent stars in other positions.

But under the light of Qin Xiong and Henry, they were overshadowed.

With the referee leading the referee team into the pitch, Arsenal and Chelsea walked towards the stadium together!

The Christmas War is the battle at the top of the list, and the flames of war are ignited! (To be continued......)