Chapter 24: Encounter with Chelsea
Arsenal won six consecutive league wins, and they also stood at the league leader for the first time in the new season with this strong winning streak; Arsenal's players are more confident at this time, and they are naturally more confident to be able to shout the championship declaration for the new season.
However, Arsenal now have little time to cheer and celebrate after taking the top spot in the league, as it is a normal performance in their opinion, and of course because the Gunners now need to prepare for the second game of the Champions League group stage.
Serbia's Partizan Belgrade host defending champions Arsenal on matchday 2 of the group stage, and the Gunners will have to go back and forth against a struggling Partizan Belgrade. Although Arsenal has been running back and forth in the city for some time now, although Arsenal has indeed become a little tired due to the heavier and heavier game tasks recently, they are full of confidence in this game.
The Gunners are now on a winning streak in the new season, winning six in a row in the league, one in each of the group stage and the Carabao Cup, and winning all eight competitive matches, and Arsenal have reason to be proud at this time. The Gunners don't want their current momentum to be ended by the little-known Partizan Belgrade, and Arsenal will be hoping to do even better to continue their winning streak.
However, although it is the second game of the group stage, several main players, including Xiao Qing, did not come to Sevilla, because Arsenal's opponent in the seventh round of the league is Chelsea, and they will have a battle for the top spot, which is a game that is likely to help Arsenal seize the lead in the league title race. So the Gunners at this time need to be more haode. Xiao Qing has played a lot of games since the new season. So at this time, it is obviously normal for Xiao Qing to make a truce. And Sevilla is really not close, so in order to prepare for the peak showdown with Chelsea, several absolute main forces, including Xiao Qing and Cesc Fabregas, have chosen to take a break in this game.
Although Arsenal has reserved the choice to rest several main players in this group stage, the Gunners are still far more powerful than Partizan Belgrade; Arshavin gave the Gunners the lead just 15 minutes into the game, although home striker Cleo equalised from the penalty spot in the first half; However, Arsenal helped Arsenal take the lead again in the 57th minute when Chamak knocked on the ball with his best header; In the Zuihou moment of the game, Arsenal defender Squeerage took advantage of a corner opportunity to smash the ball into the home team's goal to seal the win.
Arsenal easily won three to one in a row in the group stage, and Arsenal was naturally able to face the group stage games easily when the strength of the opponent was generally not strong, and they were also very confident that they could easily lock the first place in the group and advance to the Champions League knockout round.
The September competition is over. Arsenal's performance during this period has been really good; They won both games in the group stage, and they also won back-to-back games in the league and became the league leader. The September game was a beautiful one for Arsenal, who had a lot of success during that time; Of course, the Gunners are confident for the upcoming October and even tougher games to come, and they are sure to win more games.
Xiao Qing won the best player in September as he wished, and Xiao Qing is not too happy about this honor now, because Xiao Qing feels that this honor is too normal for him, just like Xiao Qing repeatedly scored goals in the game, because this matter is not new to Xiao Qing.
Heading into October, Arsenal's first challenge was the battle for the top spot with Chelsea; Although Arsenal are now on a six-game winning streak in the league. Although Chelsea have just been snapped off their winning streak, the two teams are just one game away from each other at the top of the table. They are still in the standings. So this game is really important for both teams, and Arsenal will be hoping to win away at Chelsea to claim a crucial six-point victory; Chelsea, on the other hand, are also hoping to end Arsenal's red-hot winning streak and close the gap between them and Arsenal, who cannot afford to be beaten by Arsenal at this time and left a bigger gap by Arsenal.
Chelsea host Arsenal, Blues centre-forward Didier Drogba is a topic of conversation, and in the past, the Monster has always played well against the Gunners; It was Didier Drogba's brilliant performances that helped Chelsea win one and draw one against Arsenal last season, their worst performance against the other three sides in the Premier League's semi-finals last season. If Arsenal want to achieve more this season, then they have to win in this kind of strong conversation, and if Arsenal want to be a bigger team, then they really need to not fall behind against such strong opponents.
Drogba has scored 12 goals in all competitions against Arsenal so far, with nine wins and three draws in the games in which he scored. Arguably Didier Drogba is a recognised Arsenal nemesis, with key performances in those games that have been decisive in the game. Drogba's performance in the new season is also very good, and now he has scored five goals, although he and Xiao Qing still have a gap of four goals in the scorer list, but in this game, the duel between Xiao Qing and Drogba is obviously the focus of attention.
One is Arsenal's biggest nemesis, and the other is the Premier League's most haode striker; This kind of game must be very interesting, it is a pinnacle duel between the two strikers, and it is also on a big stage like the battle for the top of the table.
'Didier Drogba is an all-round striker, so he's scored against a lot of teams. We shouldn't just talk about one Chelsea player because they have several people who can score goals. Drogba did cause a lot of difficulties for Arsenal, and he did have a very good performance against Arsenal; I don't deny that, we have to stop Drogba, be efficient against him and I'm confident that we can do that in the next games. Since they are about to meet in the game, the media must be able to find a lot of topics before this top battle, and the contrast between Xiao Qing and Drogba is also the focus of attention.
'Didier Drogba is brilliant but what matters is whether we have the potential to beat Chelsea; I would say yes. Chelsea are a very good team but we can beat a good team. The Premier League is an interesting league where no one is a big chunk above the rest of the teams, so the most important thing is consistency and I think we have a lot of room to improve and we need to play at a good level. It's a conversation between two top teams and can give some hints about the quality of the two teams, that's for sure, but I don't think it's a decisive game. Although Xiao Qing knows that this is the pinnacle matchup between the two teams, Xiao Qing does not think that this will be the game that will determine the trend of the season, because Arsenal's opponent is Manchester United, because the new season has only been played for less than ten rounds.
"If we play at a very good level, we will beat them. Football depends on how we play on the day of the game and we've seen how we've been doing since the start of the season and Arsenal have been very consistent, so I'm confident about this trip to Stamford Bridge. Xiao Qing is very confident in this game, as for the contest between Xiao Qing and Drogba, which fans and the media are concerned about, I am very embarrassed, although Drogba is very good; But now Xiao Qing doesn't think Drogba is better than him, Xiao Qing is now the first striker, he doesn't think Drogba can play better than him in the game.
Xiao Qing has always believed that there will only be one focus in a game with him on the field, and he believes that he is the player who decides the trend of the game; Therefore, the contest with Drogba is not a tenable topic at all in Xiao Qing's opinion, because the current Xiao Qing does not think that Drogba is a player at the same level as him.
Maybe a little arrogant, but Xiao Qing really doesn't think that the player who will decide the battle between Arsenal and Chelsea at the top of the table will be Drogba; It is true that Drogba has always played very well in the game against Arsenal, but Xiao Qing believes that he can also decide the final result of the game.
The game against Chelsea is a pivotal game and while it may be too early to talk about the league title, Arsenal need to establish some advantage at this time. What's more, last season's Arsenal suffered successive blows from Chelsea, so now the double-champions Arsenal need revenge, they need to prove that there is no team they can't beat, they need to prove that Arsenal is getting stronger now, and the Gunners need to win more strong opponents to develop a strong team.
Xiao Qing is looking forward to this game, and the Gunners are also preparing for this game in an orderly manner; Arsenal are now on a six-game winning streak and are just sitting at the top of the table, and they don't want Chelsea to end their winning streak at this time, and they don't want to continue to fall on Chelsea's hurdle. Arsenal had enough of Chelsea last season and now the Gunners have risen, so they need to fall and get up where they need to be, and they need to step past Chelsea to become a better team.
The atmosphere at A.T. Kearney's training base has also become more serious unconsciously, and now the Gunners are fully focused on Chelsea's game, although they are still a little nervous, but more confident and expectant, they believe that they now have the strength to challenge Chelsea, and they believe that Chelsea is no longer able to stop the rise of Arsenal.
Although it is a national holiday, there is no such atmosphere in England or London; Xiao Qing didn't have any time to rest and relax, because he needed to help Arsenal win the game, because he needed to help Arsenal reach a new peak. Winning against Chelsea is something Arsenal have to do now, they need to prove that they are the best team in the Premier League, they need to prove that Arsenal can continue to win like crazy! (To be continued......)