Chapter 53: Keep going
Arsenal now seem to be getting closer to the title, they now have a huge lead in the league table, and everyone knows that as long as Arsenal does not suffer a catastrophic collapse, it will be difficult for either Manchester United or Chelsea to overtake Arsenal in the next games. As for the Carabao Cup, Arsenal are now on the same page, with other teams significantly inferior to Arsenal, giving the Gunners reason to win another League Cup in 17 years.
And at this time, Arsenal is also beginning to recuperate, and they are about to go to Dubai to win the honor of the first shijie king in the history of the team; As the champion of the Champions League, Arsenal's strength is obviously to surpass the cup champions of other continents such as the AFC Champions League, and Arsenal is also determined to win the Club World Cup.
Arsenal have almost sealed two cup titles, which would be good news; But the Gunners are not satisfied with the results they have achieved so far, they are still expecting more, they are looking forward to more results. Therefore, in the next 16th round of the league, they are also quite serious and hard-working, although the opponent is Fulham, the city rival who is far inferior to Arsenal, but the Gunners are still full of confidence.
Maybe it's because of the intensive schedule of two or even three games a week, of course, maybe it's because Wenger is very concerned about the upcoming Club World Cup, so Arsenal didn't play their main force at this time, Xiao Qing is sitting on the bench, he needs to recover his fitness now, and he now needs to work hard for the upcoming Club World Cup with a more haode state.
In the 14th minute of the game, Arshavin dunked a defender's clever pass into the penalty area, Nasri stopped the ball and deceived one person, and then feinted to shake the other. Zuihou slotted home with his right foot six yards out.
One to zero. Although Arsenal have reservations in this game. However, the Gunners are still far better than Fulham and are confident of a home win over local rivals Arsenal. Although Xiao Qing sat on the bench, Arsenal still firmly grasped the initiative of the game, and now Fulham still looks difficult to win against Arsenal.
Fulham scored a controversial goal in the 30th minute, Kolschelny and Squealaki fell to the ground injured after a headbutt, and Arsenal's two defenders were injured in a mistake in a dueling error, while the Fulham players continued to attack, and Dempsey evaded Alexander Song's tackle into the box. Kamara scored with ease from 12 yards out.
One-to-one! Arsene Wenger was unhappy with Fulham's behaviour and was stretchered off after Koscielny failed on-field treatment, with Giroux coming off the bench; Arsenal's defence was a little tight after the accident, and of course the Arsenal players were also very unhappy because of Fulham's lack of attention, and they were very unhappy that Fulham had some unethical performance in the game.
In the 71st minute of the game, Arshavin found Van Persie on the edge of the penalty area, Van Persie pretended to shoot and handed the ball to Nasri, who cut past Aaron Hughes, Panterhill and Schwarzer three Fulham players in succession, and turned and volleyed from a zero degree angle when the ball was about to go out of bounds.
Nasri's stunning strike helped Arsenal win 2-1 at home to local rivals Fulham, and Arsenal continued to pick up three points to go on a run in the league.
But although Arsenal is to win this game. However, Koscielny suffered a concussion and how long he will miss the game will have to wait for a diagnosis from the team doctor. It can be said that this is indeed not good news. Especially for Arsenal's already poor defence, they will have to deal with a trend of understaffing in the back line in the game.
And after this game, Arsenal continued to sit at home; This game Xiao Qing and other main players are still hidden, this is a game in the Champions League group stage, Arsenal will sit at home to face the challenge of Partizan Belgrade.
Arsenal naturally don't need to worry about this game, they are even looking forward to the end of this game; Because the group stage is over with a brutal knockout stage, and during this time, Arsenal will have more than a month to focus on the league before the quarter-finals, which will be an opportunity for Arsenal to take advantage of the opportunity to establish a greater advantage in the league.
Although they had just won the halfway championship of the domestic league, the Partizan team in the Champions League did not score a point and established the bottom position of the group early, so even if it was a training nature, Arsenal also won easily at home.
In the 30th minute of the game, Alexander Song took the ball on the right side of the penalty area and picked up a cross in the middle, Van Persie took the ball with his back to the goal and was about to turn when he was tripped by Partizan defender Juvanovic. Robin van Persie hit the penalty to make it 1-0. It was Van Persie's first goal of the season, having last scored in the Champions League 15 months ago in the group stage.
Although the Partizan unexpectedly equalized in the 52nd minute, an attack from the left side, Ilyic received a pass from Moreira and handed it to Cleo in the middle, and when Cleo got the ball in the front of the penalty area, Squeerage was running back, and when he stepped forward to block the opponent's shot, it hit his leg and bounced into the net, 1 to 1!
But in the seventy-third minute, Sagna crossed the penalty area diagonally at a 45-degree angle on the right side, and Yuvanovic at the front point jumped to clear the siege and fell to the feet of Walcott, who stopped the ball in his abdomen and scored with his right foot, two to one!
In the 77th minute, Alexander Song combined with Bendtner's kick wall near the arc of the penalty area, Song handed the ball to the feet of Nasri on the edge of the box, and Nasri swiped his left foot and pushed it with his right foot. 3-1, Arsenal sealed a win in the group stage and they are at the top of the table with five wins and one defeat in this weaker group.
Although they won this game, Arsenal didn't have the heart to be happy at this time, and even the concussed Kolschelny was now thrown to the team doctor, Arsenal's players need to rush to the Club World Cup, and the current Gunners don't have time to rest at all, they need to keep running around. Even the current Gunners don't have the energy to care about the draw for the upcoming Champions League round of 16.
The Shijie Champions Club League, formerly known as the Toyota Cup, was proposed by FIFA President Sepp Blatter to make the December 2005 tournament the first Club World Cup. But in 2000 there was a prestigious Club World Cup. Later due to sponsor issues. The Club World Cup was only relaunched in 2005.
The Toyota Cup is the predecessor of the Club World Cup. It is named because the sponsor is the Toyota company; In Europe and the United States, it is generally known as the "Intercontinental Cup", which is a single-game match between the winner of the European Champions Cup and the Copa Libertadores winner team of last season in early December every year.
Whether it is the Intercontinental Cup or the Toyota Cup, there are only two teams participating, namely the winner of the European Champions Cup and the winner of the Copa Libertadores. It wasn't until the tournament became more "shijie" in the Club World Cup that the number of participating teams expanded, and more continental champions were able to show their talents. Teams participating in the Club World Cup. There are still Champions League winners, Copa Libertadores winners. At the same time, five teams were given the opportunity to participate in the African Club Champions League, the AFC Champions League, the CONCACAF League Champions Cup, the Oceania Club Cup, and the host league.
Since 2007, Milan, Manchester United and Barcelona have won the Club World Cup for three consecutive European teams, and Barcelona completed the unprecedented six crowns in 2009 last season. So this time, Arsenal will represent the European champions and once again prove that the Champions League is the first cup competition in the Club World Cup, and European teams will be the undisputed kings of such a cup competition.
Arsenal were Champions League winners last season, and Internacional Brasil won the 2010 Copa Libertadores; Pachuca is the 2010 CONCACAF champion, Mazambe is the non-champion, Seongnam Ichi and Tianma are the AFC Champions League champions, and Hekari United is the Oceania champion. Wahda is the host league champion.
In the face of such an opponent, Arsenal's strength is naturally far superior to all opponents. Their lead is quite clear, and they are naturally considered the favourites to win the title, and even other teams have come to the UAE to foil Arsenal.
The Gunners were the team that Zuihou came to Dubai, but here Arsenal received a crazy welcome, as Arsenal are Champions League winners and are the most sought after team; Of course, this is also due to Arsenal's strong form this season, where they are likely to create more victories and glory.
As the Champions League champions, Arsenal naturally advanced directly to the semi-finals, and their opponents were also South Korean team Seongnam Ilhwa; is not familiar with this team at all, and even Xiao Qing has little understanding of the Korean team. He is not particularly familiar with the Chinese Super League, let alone the K-League of Korean basesticks, Xiao Qing naturally knows nothing.
"Shaw! Resemble! Xiao Qing and his teammates, who were dragging boxes and wearing sunglasses, swayed out of the airport, facing the enthusiastic arcade fans and the media, Xiao Qing did not say more, in fact, he was also a little uncomfortable with these noisy sounds, because in addition to calling his name, Xiao Qing heard a lot of other voices besides Chinese and English, Xiao Qing naturally had a headache at this time.
Xiao Qing's attitude towards the fans has never been very enthusiastic, but it is not too cold, but now Arsenal is tired, and they are naturally not very enthusiastic at this time; Xiao Qing is now considered the No. 1 striker and the most active player, so it is naturally not news that he has been frantically sought after by fans and the media.
Especially in the United Arab Emirates, the fans here want to see Arsenal's game, and it is really difficult to see Xiao Qing's game, especially now Arsenal is rushing for the honor of the king of shijie, Xiao Qing is going to become the best player here. So he was naturally able to get more cheers, he was naturally entangled by the media, and many people also wanted to know Xiao Qing's views on the Club World Cup, as well as Xiao Qing's expectations for Arsenal's performance in the Club World Cup.
"The Club World Cup is a high-profile competition and I'm looking forward to helping the team lift the trophy at the Club World Cup. It's a great opportunity for us to be able to talk to the continental champions. Xiao Qing was simply interviewed, and he was now very comfortable with these things, and there would be no mistakes.
"We're here for the title and we believe Arsenal can win the Club World Cup. I know our opponents are also very interested in this honour, but I think Arsenal will be even better and we will never stop hungry for it. Xiao Qing is full of confidence, in the face of these weaker opponents, Xiao Qing can't think of a reason why the team won't win the championship, he can't think of a reason why Arsenal was upset in the Club World Cup, even if Arsenal is tired, even if Arsenal is not in the best condition now. (To be continued......)