Chapter 36: Chasing the Leader

With five wins and one draw in the league, Arsenal are now the only unbeaten team in the Premier League with Chelsea this season, and they are now at the top of the table and have a good chance of challenging Chelsea who have won six games ahead of them.

The seventh round of the 2009-10 English Premier League season is contested at Craven Villa, where Arsenal, who are on fire in form for the new season, will take on Fulham away. Arsenal has been unbeaten since the new season, and the league beat Wigan Athletic in the previous round, and of course, the League Cup also relied on the substitute lineup to easily defeat the Championship opponent to advance, and now Arsenal is really in good shape.

In the third round of the League Cup, the top four of the Premier League all appeared, and they were also played by second-tier players, compared to the other three teams, Arsenal seemed to be better in terms of youth training; As a result of the full youth squad, Arsenal FC began to slash tickets for home matches in the Carabao Cup from the 2007/08 season.

Despite being only a League Cup, the Emirates Stadium is still bustling with more than 55,000 fans, and the Gunners' football charm is amazing, and you can even occasionally find fans wearing Manchester City and other team uniforms "lurking" in the stands of the Emirates Stadium; Arsenal's football is gorgeous and beautiful, coupled with the recent hot record, which naturally attracts fans even more.

In this game, Arsenal youngster Watt opened the scoring with an empty goal at the right post in the 68th minute of the game; In the 75th minute, Vela made a quick counter-attack after a steal in front of the field, and Arsenal easily beat West Bromwich Albion 2-0

Xiao Qing and most of his main teammates did not even make the team's squad in this game, which also made them get a certain amount of rest time in the dense schedule. However, at this time, Xiao Qing was in a good mood and appeared in the stands of the Emirates Stadium to cheer for the young players. Take advantage of this time of rest. Xiao Qing believes that he will definitely be able to get rid of the previous fatigue and prepare for the next match.

The third round of the League Cup was concluded. The draw for the fourth round of the 09-10 English League Cup has been announced. As a result, Arsenal met Liverpool, one of the semi-finals, prematurely, but the Gunners were lucky to draw at home; Manchester United have drawn a good draw, and the Red Devils will take on Championship side Barnsley away from home; Chelsea's signing is also good, with the Blues hosting Premier League underdogs Bolton Wanderers in the fourth round; Upstart Manchester City have a better deal to sign as the Blues host Championship side Scunthorpe.

Arsenal's players were a little depressed in the face of such a draw, and to be honest they would definitely like to go a little further in the Carabao Cup; Although the League Cup and FA Cup are only to come over regional cup competitions. It can even be said that there are some chicken ribs, and many times it will only be a burden; But the early encounter with a strong opponent must have made it difficult to rely on young players to play.

So now Arsenal is depressed, they don't want to go out early in the League Cup, but it is likely that they will need to play the main force and Liverpool in this game; It's definitely a frustrating thing, especially in late October, when the league is in full swing and the Champions League group stage is in full swing.

Well, the Carabao Cup is still about a month away, and Arsenal is likely to establish an early advantage in the Champions League group stage at that time; So maybe they still have a certain ability to devote some of their energy to face the League Cup at this time. They also believe that Liverpool must have been unusually distressed at that time.

But that's not really the most important thing right now, and Arsenal need to focus more on the league and the Champions League. Especially now that the league has slowly progressed to nearly one-sixth, so at this time, it is natural for those teams who want to win the championship to put in more effort, and they now need to seize the time to establish some advantages or need to bite the points at this time.

Arsenal are second in the table but now they have every chance to go one step further and they are clearly hoping to do better; So against Craven Villa, the home stadium of Fulham, which is not a place for them to feel very good, the Arsenal players will still give it their all, against this team in the middle and bottom of the table, Arsenal believe they can win, they believe that the team can continue to maintain excellent form, they believe that they can seize more initiative at this time. This is a game that Arsenal are aiming to win and they must hold on to the three points against weaker opponents!

goalkeeper Mannoni; Sania, Gallas, Vermaelen, and Klich on the back line; In midfield, Arshavin, Cesc Fabregas, Alexander Song and Rosicky; On the forward line, of course, is the drooling combination of Van Persie and Xiao Qing.

For Fulham, goalkeeper Schwarzer; On the back line, Panterhill, Aaron Hughes, Hangrande, Koncheski lined up; In the midfield, Duff, Guerra, Murphy, and Dempsey are also quite strong; As for the forward line are Zamora and Dee Johnson.

With the undefeated attitude since the new season, of course, there have been difficulties in recent games, but in the end they still came out strong; Of course, it is more because of the desire to be the leader of the league, so the Arsenal players will definitely give it their all in this game, they will burst into a stronger fighting spirit in this game, they will be eager to continue to win, and of course they are waiting for Chelsea to make mistakes. Arsenal's players are patient and don't believe Chelsea will continue to win, but that premise is that Arsenal can guarantee that they don't make mistakes.

While the young Gunners also understand that it can be quite difficult not to lose throughout the season, the young Gunners can guarantee that they will not miss out on points when they shouldn't have conceded and will give it their all against weaker opponents. The last Champions League group stage was because Arsenal's players were a little complacent that they encountered the black five minutes of the opening game, and that was because of their carelessness and underestimation; But now Arsenal won't, they need to win the title, so some mistakes once are enough, they won't continue to make almost unforgivable mistakes like this.

Only fifty-four seconds into the game, Xiao Qing broke through and passed diagonally; Sagna's cross from the right is followed up by Vermaelen's header in front of the small penalty area; Since moving to Arsenal, Vermala have been a good goalkeeper and his header is a very effective weapon in the Gunners' tactics.

Fulham then began to fight back, and in the fourth minute of the game, Dempsey broke the ball up front and fired a low shot from inside the box that was confiscated by Mannony. Former Chelsea winger Duff was then injured and replaced by Guerra Guerra. Guerra was a threat from his cross, and the attacking Arsenal goalkeeper Mannoni apparently didn't notice Gallas trying to clear the ball; The two collided, and the hapless Gallas seemed to be slightly injured in this collision, and Arsenal could only have one less man on the field for the time being.

Xiao Qing is very depressed, he is not without a chance in the game, but he is a little depressed that Xiao Qing's foot style seems to be a little uncomfortable, perhaps because the previous consecutive goals make Xiao Qing need a time to adjust, and he cannot always remain in the most haode state; Luck Xiao Qing hit the crossbar or the post in the first half of the game, which can only show that Xiao Qing is a little unlucky now, and he looks like he needs a little adjustment.

This is Xiao Qing's third professional season, and even if Xiao Qing is not a veteran, he is still rich in experience; has enough playing time and has experienced a lot of games, which also makes Xiao Qing better able to handle some things on the field.

Xiao Qing now understands very well that sometimes things like luck are really mysterious, so Xiao Qing doesn't believe in any character, but he won't challenge; Since his feet are not going well now, he is more of a player for his teammates, and now Xiao Qing is more likely to pass the ball to create a threat, which is also a very good choice. Of course, Xiao Qing will not be so dead-eyed, although he focuses on passing, but Xiao Qing will also seize the opportunity to shoot a goal at this time, he wants to see if he has carried it to the extreme.

However, Xiao Qing does not seem to be very lucky for the time being, his performance is very good, but he lacks a little luck and accuracy; So at this time, Xiao Qing is also wise to pass more, and Van Persie seems to be in good shape, although he also wasted some opportunities, but he is always luckier than Xiao Qing for the time being.

The two teams were tied in the first half, while Arsenal finally broke the deadlock in the 52nd minute; Cesc Fabregas made a direct pass, Xiao Qing in front of the penalty area got the ball and turned directly into the penalty area and picked up the top pass, Van Persie stopped the ball on his chest and grabbed the bottom left corner of the net from Fulham defender Aaron Hughes at 12 yards in front of the goal!

In the previous league match with Manchester City, Van Persie took the initiative to pass the ball to Xiao Qing, and this time was also the time for Xiao Qing to return the favor; Since the start of the new season, Robin van Persie seems to have forgotten to wear shooting boots and his goal-scoring efficiency in the league is frighteningly inefficient. But now it's good, he finally got on the scoresheet, he scored his first goal in the league since Xiao Qing arrived at Arsenal!

Despite leading 1-0, the Arsenal players are confident enough to walk away with a win at Craven Villa and are confident that they will be able to keep the pressure on leaders Chelsea at the top of the table.

Although Arsenal had just won a big game before, they were unable to continue the carnage on the road; A narrow 1-0 away win over Fulham. But such a score is enough for the Arsenal players to feel the frenzy. (To be continued......)