Chapter 384: Injury and Return

After starting the second half with a 1-0 scoreline, Arsenal were not in a hurry. They play the ball up front, play a lethal pass if they have the chance, and would rather get the ball back if they don't.

On the other hand, Tottenham Hotspur is more anxious when they are one goal behind and the opponent catches possession. Everyone knows what happens if they put a lot of the ball in the hands of Arsenal, so Tottenham Hotspur started a fierce scramble.

The opponent increased the intensity of the scramble, and Arsenal could not comfortably control the ball at their feet. Because the pace of the Premier League is inherently fast, once Tottenham press the "acceleration button", the ball will be tackled or tackled by a player for more than two seconds.

In the fiftieth minute, Podolski broke through on the flank and was about to pass the ball to the middle, but was tackled by the opposing full-back's unreasonable flying tackle. The referee awarded a free-kick up front and Mikel Arteta combined it to send the ball into the box. However, Giroud did not grab the ball on the first point, but was cleared by the opposition centre-back.

In the 55th minute, Ramsey and Mesut Ozil combined in the middle to kick the wall. Mesut Ozil sent in a rolling through ball, but Brazilian midfielder Sandro didn't time the tackle well. It wasn't until Ozil had sent the ball away that his foot arrived, and Ozil was brought down. Although the referee of the Premier League allowed physical confrontation, he would not let go when he saw the opponent foul, and directly took out a yellow card and gave it to Sandro. This time, Ozil took the free kick himself, without looking for teammates to cooperate, and hit the goal with a direct curling ball. Unfortunately, the ball hit the crossbar and went high above the baseline.

In the 58th minute, Ramsey picked up a pass from the back. Olivier Giroud jumped for the top but centre-back Michael Dawson, who was on the pitch with him, pushed Giroud hard from behind. Eventually Giroud went down and the ball was cleared. Giroud, who fell to the ground, stared at the referee with his eyes and hands outstretched, and it was clear that it was a deliberate push foul. The referee also blew for a foul on Tottenham, but did not show a yellow card to central defender Dawson, but only gave a verbal warning and told the Tottenham captain to control his player's temper and movements. No cards were given, and Arsenal fans expressed their displeasure with a flood of boos.

Arsene Wenger came to the sidelines, kept shouting his disciple's name into the field, and then gestured to the other party. Arsene Wenger also saw that the Tottenham players were moving too much, so the professor asked his players to avoid their edges for a while, so as not to get injured. Tong Guò passed the ball more quickly to mobilize the opponent, and the fierce scramble was very exhausting, and then launched a ferocious counterattack when they were not in good shape.

Originally, Wenger also planned to replace Li Zihan in about 60 minutes, so that he could find a state and warm up. But seeing Tottenham's big move, he hesitated for a moment and dispelled this idea, otherwise he would have been sent to the hospital by Tottenham just a few days after recovery.

However, the more you are afraid of something, the more you will come.

In the 62nd minute of the game, because of the acceleration of the speed of the ball, coupled with the opponent's pressing. Arsenal made a lot of mistakes, and this time Tottenham snatched the ball from the feet of the misguided Arsenal. It's just that the attack is still a little weak, and after Arsenal defended the opponent's attack, they immediately instigated a counterattack.

Mikel Arteta sent the ball from inside the box to halfway between the centre circle and the top of the box, where Mesut Ozil chested the ball before swerving Sandro behind him in a beautiful turn.

Seeing Mesut Ozil advance with the ball, Cazorla and Podolski on either flank, and Olivier Giroud in the middle quickly stepped forward to follow up.

Ozil's speed is not really fast, speed is not his specialty. Therefore, when dribbling the ball, he can't do the fast advancement of Li Zihan, Chamberlain and Walcott, and even form a single knife. Seeing Paulinho coming in the diagonal stab, Ozil wanted to pass the ball to Giroud behind the diagonal to make a link-up. However, before he could pass the ball, the opponent directly stretched out his foot and tackled it.

Mesut Ozil jumped on tiptoe, opened the ball, and then jumped up and contracted his feet to avoid the opponent's tackle. Paulinho obviously didn't want Ozil to pass like this, and when he tackled, he didn't stop talking, and raised his thigh, tripping Ozil with his thigh.

Ozil lost his center of gravity in the air, fell headlong, and then rolled on the ground three times before stopping.

The fans at the scene involuntarily exclaimed, and the referee stopped the game as soon as possible. Obviously, the experienced man knows that if he doesn't make a statement right away, there will be problems for both players, not to mention that this is a derby game.

Paulinho looked at the referee in disbelief, then smiled wryly and explained that he had tackled the ball, not a foul. Then, in order to show friendship, he had to lift up Ozil on the ground.

"Come on, Mesut, stop pretending, hurry up!" Paulinho used this to send the message to the referee that he had been wronged.

Ozil ignored him, holding his ankle and rolling on the ground in pain, perhaps not even hearing the other party's words.

But Podolsky, who was beside him, heard it, and the atmosphere rushed over and pushed Paulinho away.

Seeing that the two sides were about to clash, the referee immediately pushed away the Tottenham players who were interceding around him, and rushed to the gap between Podolski and Paulinho to pull the two apart.

Pushed to the ground by Podolski, Paulinho was quite angry and was about to get up and "reason" with the opponent, but was stopped by the referee. The referee didn't dare to delay, and immediately took out a red card and showed it to Brazilian midfielder Paulinho, and then took out a yellow card and showed it to Podolski.

Podolski's yellow card is not wronged or useless, if he didn't push Paulinho in an angry way, Paulinho wouldn't have clenched his fists so angrily and wanted to beat him. And the referee who originally wanted to give Paulinho a yellow card, for the sake of the shape on the field, had to consider directly inviting Paulinho who fouled him, otherwise what if he got angry and retaliated? Podolsky is not a soft persimmon, and if anyone bullies him, he will immediately bully back.

In fact, Paulinho's tackle action did not touch the ball, and in other leagues, it is undisputed that he will be directly given a red card for his small actions. But in the Premier League, the referee is half of the yellow card and the red card, it depends on what the referee says.

Soon Paulinho was sent back to the dressing room to shower, and Arsenal's team doctor was on the pitch quickly.

When Paulinho walked to the players' tunnel, he was not less "greeted" by the Arsenal fans at home along the way. It's just that the Brazilian tough guy didn't get angry, just scolded and showed how wronged he was. It almost angered a fan brother in the stands above the player's tunnel, if it weren't for the fact that the current stadium seats were not easy to dismantle, maybe the fan brother would have smashed the seats to the Brazilians.

At the moment when Paulinho tackled, Wenger on the sidelines had a bad premonition. couldn't help clenching his fists, and when he saw the other party deliberately raising his legs, Wenger directly scolded the "law" but the syllables dragged on for a long time, and finally did not scold the words starting with F.

And when the team doctor insisted on Ozil's injury, he made a substitution gesture to Wenger. It can be clearly seen from the close-up of Wenger's facial expressions broadcast to the director that the professor's face is green.

Veteran Rosicky had no choice but to come on the field to replace the injured Ozil without warm-up preparations.

Even the commentator is sighing, Arsenal is a house leak that happened to rain overnight!

And in the following games, Arsenal fans didn't have the heart to pay attention to the game in the field. Keeping his attention focused on the tunnel, it had been more than five minutes since the team doctor helped Mesut Ozil into the tunnel. And if Ozil finally comes out of it and sits on the bench, then it means that the injury is not serious, and if he does not show up, then the problem is more serious.

Nearly half an hour of fierce pressing has almost exhausted the physical energy of the Tottenham players. Now that there is one less person on the pitch, they cannot run around with the Arsenal players with impunity. Instead, he chose to defend strictly and fight back only when he had the opportunity.

By the 75th minute of the game, Arsene Wenger saw that Tottenham's fitness could no longer keep up, and the foul action had been greatly reduced. So with a wave of his hand, he made adjustments.

After two substitutions in a row, Li Zihan, who returned from injury, came on the field to replace the center forward Giroud, who started the game. Then Oxlade-Chamberlain came off the pitch and replaced Podolski, who couldn't get up with a yellow card.

Undoubtedly, this is a signal to strengthen the attack, Tottenham have one less man to fight, and the physical strength cannot keep up, at this time, if you don't seize the opportunity to attack, when will you wait?

After seeing Li Zihan on the field, the mood of the Arsenal fans was a little better, and then they refocused on the game on the field.

After Li Zihan and Oxlade-Chamberlain came on the field, Tottenham's players called Bitter Words. Because both of them are speed players, and they have good dribbling and vision at their feet and a good sense of the big picture. The two frequently switched positions and ran around, making Tottenham's already sturdy defence more and more fragmented.

Interestingly, the positions of Li Zihan, Chamberlain and Cazorla are not fixed. It is not said that Li Zihan must appear in the center position, and Chamberlain must appear on the wing. The three of them played for a while and then made substitutions, and after a while, Li Zihan appeared as a left winger, a moment as a right winger, and a moment into a forward midfielder.

Chamberlain and Cazorla also changed positions to fill the space left by Li Zihan. On the contrary, the veteran Rosicky, who was supposed to replace Ozil as a striker, has been in the center forward position, suppressing the opponent's central defender.