Chapter 394: Facing the "Death Squad"

Arsene Wenger then made a phone call to the staff in charge of the contract renewal negotiations, asking him to continue to communicate with Sagna's agent and follow up on Sagna's contract renewal.

Then I thought about the renewal of other players, which players want to go up and how much. This is something that needs to be carefully considered, and the first thing to consider is the ability and potential of the player, and what role he will play in the future of Arsenal, as well as Arsenal's financial problems.

Leaving aside the contract extensions, salary increases and transfer issues that have been a headache for Arsene Wenger, it's time for the weekly weekend matchday.

The league has come here and has entered the high. In the tide stage, the teams that want to be relegated have now started to grab points, while the teams that want to win the championship want to grab more points before the start of the European competition, so as to ensure that they can occupy an advantageous position in the league after the start of the Champions League. Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal are currently among them.

So during this time, the players rarely have their own personal time except for training and playing. This greatly aroused Miss Susu's dissatisfaction, because Li Zihan had no time to accompany her sister from around Christmas.

Su Sucai will not admit that life without Li Zihan is a bit boring.

This round of Arsenal returned to their home turf and welcomed city rivals Fulham. However, this did not attract the attention of the fans, because there were so many teams in London. There are five or six teams in the Premier League alone, and unless it is a contest between Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham, it is difficult to attract other fans to pay attention to the London city contest.

The opponent in this round is not easy to deal with, not how strong Fulham are. On the contrary, they are one or two of the weakest London teams in the Premier League.

The poor game is that Fulham have not played well this season and are currently only 17th in the league. If this position is maintained until the end of the season, it means that the Farmers will be relegated to the second division.

With 17 rounds left in the league, they still have a good chance of relegation. With Sunderland just two points ahead of them above them, the Farmers had time to make a comeback.

So in such a back. Under the circumstances, Fulham, who want to be relegated, will definitely try their best to win every point in every game, so that Arsenal will not be easy to play. Even the military know that the "don't die" enemy is the most tricky, and Fulham, who are now bearing the brunt of the relegation battle, will definitely not be killed, because if they slack off, they will be relegated.

In the world of football, relegation from the top flight means "death"!

Truth be told, Arsenal would now rather face a "strong team" in around 10th place than a "weak team" in the relegation quagmire. Because the teams in the middle and lower of the table often go up to play in the Champions League or the UEFA Cup with little hope, without the worries of relegation. This is the so-called "no desire", such teams tend to play more relaxed, and the relegation team is purely the "death squad" in the football world!

In the face of such a "death squad", Wenger did not dare to be careless, and sent his entire main lineup in this game, of course, the injured Ozil and others did not count.

It's not that Wenger is so cautious, it's that he doesn't have many cards in his hand right now. It's just two or three, so there's nothing worth "keeping" either.

Li Zihan undoubtedly appeared in the starting position in this game, because of Podolski's injury, the teenager Oxlade-Chamberlain also appeared in the starting list. Among them, Cazorla and Ramsey, who have been doing well recently, are indispensable, and the veteran Rosicky is also the starter.

In the last round, he was not bad against Vermaelen and did not appear in the eleven-man list, but sat on the bench. Sitting next to him was Wilshere, who had not yet recovered from injury, and the small threat was not ideal for his substitute appearance in the last round of the league, so Wenger put him on the bench. Of course, this is also a kind of protection, because players who have just recovered from injury can easily get injured again, especially against a relegation team like Fulham, and if they are injured again, then it will not be a problem that can be solved in two weeks.

Fulham also played the main part of the game, including former Manchester United star Bulgarian centre-forward Dimitar Berbatov, midfielders Sidwell and Richardson, and defensive stalwarts Kasami and Parker all appeared in the starting line-up.

And American international Dempsey has not played a game for Fulham this season until now due to injury!

In this game, Wenger's instructions to the team are quite clear, that is, to take all three points!

Because against a weak team, if you can't get as many points as possible, Arsenal has no advantage against a strong team. Although he was able to draw Manchester City before, it was also the basis for Li Zihan's complete outbreak. All Arsene Wenger knows his team well and knows its strengths and weaknesses.

As soon as the game began, Arsenal, sitting at home, began to attack coldly. In the face of the opponent's large defensive actions, there is no weakness.

And Fulham is also quite daring, forcing Arsenal all over the field, and the flying tackle is not ambiguous at all. I don't know if I want to use this method to scare the Arsenal players, or simply want to grab the ball to fight back.

Watching Fulham's big move, Arsene Wenger has been standing on the sidelines frowning. Because he knew very well that such a move would likely cause injury to his players, but he did not tell his players to be careful and hold on a little. Because this is football, the players have to be brave and otherwise it will not be good for the future of these young players if they leave a shadow in their hearts.

However, Wenger did not do nothing, every time an opposing player made a big defensive move or committed a foul, Wenger would run to the fourth official to complain. The referee didn't blow for a foul and he complained loudly to the fourth official, and if the opponent received a yellow card for the foul, he would question it because he thought it should be a red card.

Arsene Wenger wanted this way to put pressure on the referees, and if the referee's whistle was tight, then Fulham's movements would certainly be restrained. Otherwise, if they get one or two red cards, then they don't want to steal points.

For the opponent's core players, Fulham is quite in place, and Fulham's defender Kasami is almost rushing to Li Zihan. Once Li Zihan gets the ball, Kasami will be close to him. was accompanied by non-stop small movements and pulling the jersey, and once he couldn't keep up with Li Zihan, he was decisive and fierce.

And it was Neil Barry who officiated Arsenal and Fulham in this round, and Barry's blowing penalty has always been relatively loose. Because he was born in the lower leagues of England, he will not blow many fouls in the face of promotion to the Premier League, unless it is a particularly strict foul.

So although Li Zihan was brought down by Kasami eight times in 30 minutes, he did not get a yellow card. Of those, there were only two fouls that were awarded to Arsenal from two free-kicks. It's just that it's too far away from the balls, and Li Zihan hasn't been able to play to his advantages.

Although Casami is not a black player of African descent, he is an authentic white European. But his height reached 1.87 meters, and his weight was 85 kilograms. So on the body element, it is almost a complete explosion of Li Zihan.

Li Zihan and Kasami are far apart physically, and when Kasami hit Li Zihan, the referee subconsciously thought that Li Zihan himself did not "stand", so Li Zihan suffered a lot of losses.

This kind of physical contact is common in the lower leagues of England and is basically part of the defence. In the lower leagues, if you have to blow for contact or fouls, you don't have to play the basic game, because you can blow the whistle once or twice a minute at least

That's one of the reasons why Barry didn't play Casami.

Li Zihan didn't have much to do in the face of Kasami, who was much stronger than him and often made small movements. I haven't played any outstanding performance, and it seems to have been completely frozen by the other party.

There was a huge boo from the Arsenal fans at home, and at first Li Zihan thought that because he had no way to get rid of Casami, the situation that he had not shown Xiàn had caused dissatisfaction among the Gunners supporters.

As a result, he found out that the boos were directed at the referee and Kasami, because the boos were mixed with the national scolding of Barry and Qasami's names

Until the end of the first half, neither side achieved anything. And Li Zihan didn't get any good chances in 45 minutes, although he touched the ball more often. But because of Casami, he didn't have an excellent appearance.

By this time, many commentators began to think that Li Zihan was no longer in a state. Because this is not the first time he has been targeted by a strong player, even then in the previous game, Li Zihan was able to use speed or technique to get rid of the opponent. And in this game, Li Zihan didn't even shoot a shot, and after getting the ball, he was either interfered with by the opponent and lost the ball, or he passed the ball out.

The broadcaster's commentators believe that Arsenal are in trouble right now and need a player to step up. Among the starters of these eleven people, Li Zihan is undoubtedly the biggest candidate.

Li Zihan needs to rely on his own table to "carry" Arsenal forward, until Ozil, Wilshire and others come out to share the responsibility.

As the saying goes, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

So now there are some commentators singing about Li Zihan, and at halftime, some "celebrities" also expressed their opinions and comments on the Internet.

Because Li Zihan has been in good form recently, they have been waiting for this opportunity for a long time