Chapter 18: Preparing for the Focus Battle

Arsenal are looking pretty good right now and they look like they're out of the show, but some of Arsenal's potential threats also seem to be getting closer and some of their challenges are coming.

Without being seen as a good start, Arsenal have made a good start to the new season. After two Premier League games, Arsenal have scored 10 goals in their first attempt, beating the backlines of Everton and Portsmouth into a sieve. Arsene Wenger's side also performed well in Champions League qualifying, with a 2-0 win at Celtic Park in the first leg almost marking the Gunners' foot in the main stage.

These achievements are not enough for Arsenal, who must do something in the transfer market if they are to end the embarrassment of the big four. Since winning the FA Cup in 2005, Arsenal have been empty-handed for four years in a row, and narrowly missed the top four in the Premier League last season. This summer, the team's leading scorer Adebayo and the unbeaten Zuihou witness Kolo Toure have switched to Manchester City; Although the Gunners' new signing Vermaelen has performed eye-catchingly, Xiao Qing now seems to have become the most eye-catching superstar, but this is still far from enough, because for Arsenal who want to fight on multiple fronts, it is really difficult for them to withstand too many blows, especially when injuries appear, they need to enhance the depth of the team's squad.

Theo Walcott has suffered an aggravated back injury in training and will be out of action until at least October, with his absence from all of the early season games already confirmed; For the injury of the apprentice, Wenger blamed the overuse of Walcott by the England national team and the national youth team, and pointed the finger at the current England coach Fabio Capello.

And now Arsenal is doing very well. But Little Tiger Walcott is still a great help to the team; Now the little tiger will be out for a long time. In particular, there is a good chance that he will miss the White London derby against Tottenham Hotspur and the battle against Manchester United. It was certainly a big blow to Arsenal.

Injuries to most of the season's squad have made Arsenal suffer, and just as the Gunners will win two big games in the new season and shout the slogan of winning the championship, the devil of injury has quietly come to the Emirates Stadium. Following Theo Walcott's back injury, Cesc Fabregas, the absolute heart of Arsenal, was also unsure of the second round of the Premier League, which could lead to the Spaniard's Champions League qualification in midweek and the upcoming big club clash with Manchester United.

Cesc Fabregas was injured when he was fouled by Portsmouth in the game against Portsmouth and was substituted at half-time. Although Arsenal achieved a four-goal victory over Portsmouth in the remaining 45 minutes after Xiaofa's departure, Xiaofa's injury is not optimistic enough and he is likely to miss the second leg of the Champions League qualifying against Celtic.

Fabregas will be examined further by Arsenal to confirm the injury. Manager Arsene Wenger said: 'He's got a bit of a hamstring problem and he won't be able to play on Wednesday. If it was a minor strain, he would have to be out for three weeks. If it was just muscle tension, he would have missed the game against the Celtics. ”

Now for Arsenal, they really can't afford any injuries, especially when the team has finally made a pretty good start, they need to work hard to ensure their form in the next games, they want to go further in this season, then they need to stay healthy in the game, especially the health of the main team and core.

In fact, in the first three games of the new season. Although Arsenal's performance is quite good, such a hot performance seems to be a little abnormal.

It is up to the midfielders to do most of the goal. It has become a distinguishing feature of Arsenal in the first two rounds of the league. For this tactical style of "multi-point flowering", the British media have sent praise, and Wenger also showed a rather proud mood. But if you think about it, this phenomenon is unlikely to be sustained in the future. You must know that in the first two games of the league, although Arsenal scored ten goals, Arsenal's two major strikers Xiao Qing and Van Persie performed well, but the number of goals was really not much.

The reason why Arsenal was able to achieve "multi-point flowering" was not unrelated to the relative weakness of the opponent's defense, in addition to the success of its own tactics. As their first-round opponents, Everton have recently faced the prospect of being poached by Manchester City at the heart of the defence, causing mood swings across the defence. As for Portsmouth, which they face in this round, they are a team that has always been strong in attack and weak in defence.

Against these opponents, Arsenal can dominate the field. As a result, Arsenal's midfielders were able to step forward with confidence and boldness, thus gaining the opportunity to score one after another. But at the same time, Arsenal have also shown more flaws in their defence, having been scored by opponents in the last two league games.

In the future, as the strength of the opponent rises, Arsenal will inevitably adjust the tactical arrangement. For example, in the next face against Manchester United, who also won in this round, it is obvious that Arsenal will no longer be able to devote all their energy to attacking, and midfielders such as Diaby and Denilson must put more energy into the defensive end. As for the responsibility of breaking the balance on the field, it will be handed back to Van Persie, Xiao Qing, Arshavin and other goalscorers. How well they perform will affect the final result of the team's final match against Manchester United.

Yes, the fourth round of the league will be quite a challenging game, and Arsenal will take on Manchester United, who also have six points, and will have to go all out to win the league title if Arsenal are to win the league title.

Arsenal now need to be fully prepared for a sensational clash with Manchester United, but it now looks like something is not going to be good for Arsenal. First of all, there are some injuries to the current main lineup, Walcott will definitely not be able to play, and Arsenal's core Cesc Fabregas is also likely to miss this game, which will undoubtedly be a huge weakening of Arsenal's overall strength. And this game Arsenal will be away from Old Trafford, for such a focus battle, home and away are actually quite concerned, because now it seems that the gap between Arsenal and Manchester United is not as obvious as in previous seasons, and now they are the favorites to win the championship, so every detail seems to need to be more cared about.

Xiao Qing really cares about this important fourth round of the league, because this game will more or less affect some of Arsenal's results in the league this season, and only by defeating the strong defending champion Manchester United, then Arsenal will have more hope on the road to the league title this season; Especially now Arsenal, although the game since the new season seems to be smooth, but they really need some strong contenders to appear, and only a super strong opponent like Manchester United can be a litmus test for Arsenal this season.

And before this crucial big game, the fitness of Arsenal's players seems to have been challenged; Because of the dense schedule, Arsenal has no more time to rest, even Manchester United has a relatively dense schedule, but don't forget that Arsenal still has Champions League qualifying games, which must have affected the fitness of Arsenal's players to some extent, because they have not had enough rest time since the start of the new season.

On 27 August, the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League qualifying round entered the second leg of the play-offs. Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium will take on the challenge of Celtic, the majority of the Premier League, in which they will decide who will advance to the Champions League, while the loser will have to go to the UEFA Cup.

A week ago, Arsenal beat Celtic 2-0 away to take the lead, and the Gunners have won the first leg of the last eight Champions League two-legged matches to finally retain the advantage. So although Arsenal now have the initiative, they don't have any reason to relax.

However, Cesc Fabregas, who suffered a minor injury in the league in this game, was absent, and Ebouee came in as a substitute in midfield; Bendtner and Eduardo were also replaced by Van Persie and Xiao Qing, who started in the first round.

It can be seen that Arsenal's self-confidence, Celtic's strength is really good, but they can choose to meet the opponent easily in this game by virtue of the advantage of away goal difference in their hands. Xiao Qing and Van Persie are both quite healthy, but now they will take a break for the next league fourth round against Manchester United; Especially Van Persie, he began to rest in the last round of the league, in order to ensure the state of this glass man, in order to be able to have more confidence in that key battle, Wenger really worked hard.

Wenger is indeed very confident, although in this game Arsenal chose to rest to a certain extent, but their away goal difference advantage is their biggest guarantee, now they are still quite confident that they can easily enter the Champions League in this game, they have no reason to waste a great opportunity, of course, more importantly, although Celtic is good, but even if it is the core rotation, but Arsenal is not vegetarian, At least in this game, Arsenal was quite unexpectedly a huge surprise for everyone, not only in terms of the scoreline, but also because of the field and some controversy. (To be continued......)