Chapter 418: "Self-Destruction?" ”

The goal of Nzonzi's ball was clear, it was headed for Peter Crouch, a high-flying man in the box.

Crouch had already taken his position in the box, watched the ball fly, timed the jump and pushed away Vermaelen, who had been pulling his defenders, and then jumped against the ball.

Vermaelen, of course, knew the threat of the other party, so he jumped along with it.

But Crouch didn't really jump, but after a slight jolt on his feet, he landed again, and his toes never left the grass.

Vermaelen, on the other hand, really jumped, because whether it was the angle of the ball flying or Crouch's movements, it all revealed that the opponent wanted to jump and fight for the top, and the push before the jump was also very much like pushing himself away and then jumping without anyone interfering in time.

So Vermaelen was fooled!

It wasn't until the end of Vermaelen's period that Peter Crouch began to jump.

"Vermaelen!! Mistake look at Crouch's"

Crouch jumped almost without interference, and although Vermaelen tugged at his shirt as he fell, it didn't affect the giant's lift-off.

Soon the ball was ushered in, and Crouch rubbed the back of his head. The ball grazed his head and changed direction, and the ball flew in the direction of the Arsenal goal.

And the ball didn't hit Crouch's forehead or the top of his head, but the back of his head. This makes the ball go in the direction of the goal in an irregular way.

Szczesny was ill-prepared and misjudged the ball, and despite his attempts to reach for the ball during the jump, his right hand was ultimately in vain.

The ball grazed the underside of the goal's post and flew into the corner of the goal!!

Peter Crouch!! Scored!! Stoke City have a 1-0 lead at home to league leaders Arsenal!! ”

"The tall guy Crouch caught a defensive mistake of the opponent's central defender Vermaelen, and sent the ball into the door of Arsenal, Vermaelen fell to the ground or couldn't escape this catastrophe, although the previous beautiful opponent Arnautovic's quasi-single ball was destroyed, but he was responsible for this lost goal, because he was already behind the opponent's high school striker Crouch in height, but he was also deceived by Crouch's fake jump, this is the Gunners captain, what happened to you falling to the ground this season?"

The Stoke City players were so excited to celebrate the goal and the referee went to them for the kick-off.

However, Stoke City, who scored a goal, did not carry forward the same situation as many Premier League teams, and after scoring a goal, they had an attacking state and passion. They decisively interpreted what it means to take it when you see it, and the Potters' Wales manager Mark Hughes made a decisive substitution.

Attacking Austrian striker Arnautovic was replaced with Honduran defender Palacios. By replacing attacking players with defensive players, there is no doubt that Stoke City will be able to maintain their one-goal lead until the end. However, even if Arsenal pulled a goal back, Stoke City were not sad as they still got a point.

When the game came to the 75th minute, Arsene Wenger frowned a little as he watched the opponent's increasingly solid defence. Originally, before Stoke City scored, they would have seized the opportunity to play a few counter-attacks. But now they don't even fight back, and they are bent on cowering in their backfield. And the only all-attacking center Crouch actually returned to the vicinity of the penalty area at this time, and played a cameo role as an interception of the central defender, responsible for blocking Arsenal's high ball crosses.

Giroud's height is not an advantage in front of Crouch and he has a centre-back by his side.

Fans saw this scene in front of the TV and couldn't help but shout: Nima, Stoke City, you shamelessly played a 10-0-0 formation

Of course, this kind of defense can only be played by Stoke City, if it were replaced by teams like Manchester City, Manchester United, and Arsenal to play a complete defense, they would have been scolded a long time ago, even if the opponent was a team like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern

Oh, and Chelsea's exception to Mourinho's counter-attacking and bus-driven is a real must.

Wenger replaced his "sharp weapon" Li Zihan on the field in the 76th minute, but he did not replace the center Giroud, but replaced the good Cazorla on the wing.

And this substitution once again made the fans incomprehensible, it is understandable to keep Giroud in the middle to press the central defender and the tall Crouch, but there is no need to replace the active Cazorla on the other side, it is good to replace Podolski on the other side

After Li Zihan came on the field, he used his personal ability to stir up the opponent's defense, but Stoke City's defense was too solid, there were three in the back alone, plus two central midfielders temporarily played as full-backs, Li Zihan did not have much to do in the face of the dense defense in a small space.

And Stoke City is good at killing time, throwing a throw-in has to be thrown by two people, and once there is an opportunity, they will force the opponent to the corner or dribble the ball to the corner area themselves, and carry out the legendary "corner flag law"

When the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game, the score was fixed at 1-0. Arsenal, who were able to stubbornly draw with Manchester City and Liverpool after falling behind by a large score, lost to Stoke City, who had no desire

After Li Zihan, who had high hopes, came on the court, he failed to change the outcome of the defeat. In this way, Arsenal supporters have no patience, after all, people are not omnipotent

At the end of the game, the Great Britain Stadium was filled with loud cheers and singing. It was clear that the Stoke City supporters, who were at home, were already starting to celebrate their hard-won and unexpected victory.

The Arsenal players bowed their heads and walked into the dressing room after thanking the fans who came to cheer for the team.

Everyone can see that Arsenal's players are also quite disappointed about this defeat.

The results of the other games were also heard, with Chelsea beating Fulham 3-1 away to relegation-stricken Fulham. As a result, Arsenal, who have not picked up a point, and Chelsea, who have taken all three points, are now tied for the first place, but Arsenal continue to occupy the first place based on the number of goals. It's just that everyone knows that this first position is no longer something that Arsenal can continue to hold.

Liverpool also beat Saints Southampton 3-0 to close the gap to two points. This round of the Manchester derby was postponed to the end of the month because it clashed with Manchester City's Carabao Cup tie. As a result, Manchester City, who have two games less, is still in fourth place.

However, if Manchester City win both of these rounds, they will suddenly surpass Chelsea and Arsenal on points and move to the top of the league in an instant. So even though Manchester City are now fourth, no one dares to underestimate them

In response to the defeat, Arsene Wenger once again came out in the post-match press conference and said he was fully responsible for the defeat.

But for the specific matters of Qiē, it is better to send Ozil, and why not let Li Zihan play the starter, but let Podolski, who is not in good shape, and finally the most critical. Why let Vermaelen, who has been bad this season, appear in the starting centre-back, instead of continuing to use the duo of Merdessaart and Koscielny?

Arsenal's schedule during this period has not been difficult, and with no injuries on the main players, why not send the main squad to play this round of the league. Maintain your leading position in the league standings

Arsene Wenger did not give any explanation for these problems, but said lightly: "The position of the league leader is a position of great pressure, and the pressure of the whole league is on us. If we show a little bit of badness, we will receive a thousand kinds of criticism, but if we show a good one, we should be. If something like this happened to a third, fourth, or even mid-table team, it wouldn't have attracted so much attention."

'Well, now we have Chelsea coming up and helping our young players take the pressure off of them. And the targets of the other teams behind him are no longer Arsenal, but Arsenal and Chelsea."

"After this defeat, I think the players, the team and the coaching staff can be positive about the problems. We're going to get back in shape and mentality after this defeat, but it's good that it's better to lose than to lose in the last few rounds of the league despite the fierce competition for the title."

Arsene Wenger's words once again left fans a little elusive

And Li Zihan also declared in an interview with reporters: "Yes, all of us are very sorry for not being able to get three points in this game." But there's nothing wrong with the team, we're still in first place in the table, aren't we? We will be more aware of our mistakes and shortcomings. Believe me, after this defeat, Arsenal will have more energy to challenge for league glory. Gunners fans have been waiting for this moment for nine years, so we have to get at least one title to repay the fans. And that's why the team came in at the start of the season at a huge price, and Mesut and I [Mesut Ozil] came for that."

The reporters collectively rolled their eyes, what Li Zihan said seemed to have a lot of content, but when he analyzed it, he said a lot of nonsense