Chapter 52: Towards the Championship
Arsenal walked away with a win at Villa Park, with a 4-2 scoreline continuing to keep Arsenal at the top of the table; The Gunners, who broke Aston Villa's unbeaten home record this season, also received good news in this round of fixtures, that is, their main league rivals have lost, and Arsenal are now more and more dominant in the league, and the current Arsenal league title defense seems to be flat and without pressure.
The 15th round of the Premier League is in full swing, and Chelsea, who have suffered two consecutive defeats, take on Newcastle United. After 90 minutes of fierce battle, Chelsea drew 1-1 away at Newcastle; Just six minutes into the game, Chelsea defender Alex Alex was picked up by Newcastle centre-forward Carroll to score, although Kalou equalised for Chelsea just before half-time. However, after this game, Chelsea have only picked up one point in their last three games, and they have been almost completely thrown out of the table by Arsenal, and now Chelsea look to have basically lost hope of fighting for the league title, because the Blues are now 14 points behind Arsenal, which is an insurmountable gap that is basically impossible to promisculate!
However, although Chelsea has lost its competitiveness for the time being, Arsenal cannot be completely careless, because Manchester United is still very far behind Arsenal, but they still have a great chance to close the gap in the next game. Manchester United, who had had a tepid start, are doing well right now, preparing for the upcoming showdown with Arsenal with a frantic slaughter.
Since Arsenal's 4-2 win over Aston Villa at Villa Park, the Premier League has set off a wave of goals, including Manchester United at Old Trafford who thrashed Blackburn Rovers with a 7-1 disparity.
Manchester United thrashed Blackburn Rovers 7-1 at Old Trafford. competition. Beba scored five goals alone. Park Ji-sung and Nani each scored a goal, and Rooney did not score but provided two assists; With four consecutive home league wins and a temporary second place in the table, they are now not far behind Arsenal, and they are likely to be the only team that can pose a threat to Arsenal's title defence this season.
From a near-reversal by Tottenham Hotspur to a subsequent defeat to Braga, the Gunners were clouded; The slump of the previous period has made the Gunners unhappy, and they are a little out of spirits. Visiting Villa Park was a huge psychological test for the Gunners, who faced the same scenario as the London derby. But this time, a different ending was written.
The Gunners got off to a good start, but they seem to be in the same situation as they were against Tottenham Hotspur once again; Obviously, after the past two beatings, with the experience of the Gunners leading by two goals in the previous round and then being overtaken by the opponent by three goals in a row, the Gunners in this game are determined to return to their souls, the overall look is new, and the team integration is more smooth than the previous two games.
This time, however, the Gunners struggled to gain a foothold in Villa's counter-attack, and they didn't lose their rhythm because of carelessness or panic. They didn't make a mistake because of the excellent form of their opponents. With the score at 2-1, Arsenal faced an interesting test. Either it collapses or it goes into another one; Happily Arsenal scored another goal this time, they didn't have the slightest weakness and they put a-for-tat end to the opponent's goalscoring momentum.
One victory didn't solve all the problems, though. The first goal conceded in this game exposed the lack of tacit understanding of the defensive line; The tacit understanding between the two central defenders is the soul of a solid defensive line. Vermaelen, who has the temperament of a leader, is still recovering from injury, and if he is not able to return in the big game against Manchester United, it is really reassuring to see Arsenal's defence conceding so many goals now.
After the win over Villa, Arsenal immediately returned to London to prepare for the next game; The schedule of two games a week is a headache, but this time Arsenal will definitely grit their teeth and persevere, because as long as they win against Wigan Athletic, Arsenal will be closer to League Cup title this season.
On the first day of December, a key League Cup quarter-final match was contested at the Emirates Stadium, with Arsenal facing Wigan Athletic; Arsenal have won all seven home games against Wigan in their history, so they are confident of progressing to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.
Arsenal took the lead in the 42nd minute, Gibbs crossed from the left, and Wigan Athletic captain Alcaraz, who had just returned from the ban, grabbed the header before Xiao Qing cleared; Then Walcott took a corner, but this time Alcaraz headed it under pressure from Xiao Qing.
Arsenal are 1-0 up at home and have a strong determination to go one step further in the Carabao Cup, believing they have the ability to lift more trophies this season.
Arsenal doubled their lead in the 65th minute when substitute Robin van Persie split the ball and Xiao Qing's cross from the left edge of the box was met by Bendtner's tackle from the edge of the six-yard box. 2-0, Arsenal comfortably eliminated Wigan Athletic to advance to the semi-finals of the League Cup.
With a win over Wigan, Arsene Wenger and his side progressed to the last four of the Carabao Cup, while Arsenal were the favourites to win the Carabao Cup this season with a heavy defeat to their biggest rivals, Manchester United. Perhaps to ensure the next league clash with Arsenal, Manchester United were all in the quarter-finals, so they were slaughtered 0-4 by West Ham.
The elated Arsene Wenger began by speaking about United's heavy defeat: "An upset defeat like Manchester United tonight, we can still see in the league, a defeat like this for Chelsea, Manchester United and us. Sometimes it's inevitable that there will be upsets like that, but now that we're finally in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup, we're only aiming for the title, so we're going to give it our all for every win. The fans are obviously going to ask us to win the title, and you can't say it's not important, but we can't be stuck with that. We have to demand that we play at a high level first, and then the result of the game comes next. ”
Xiao Qing is also very happy, "For us, the main championship honors are the Champions League and the domestic league championship, we want to win these championships and always stay at the top level, but in the end we can only do our best and do our best." It's December now, we're in a good position in all competitions, we need to take advantage of the advantage we have and we're hungry to win more. ”
The elimination of Manchester United, Arsenal's biggest rival on the road to winning the League Cup, may be the happiest for Arsenal, and since then, Arsenal's journey in this season's League Cup has been a smooth one, and there is no rival to beat. Arsenal have almost smelled the title and now their opponents are left with themselves.
After reaching the semi-finals, Arsenal still have two opponents left on the road to defending their title, Birmingham City beat Aston Villa 2-1 at home, and West Bromwich Albion lost 0-1 away to Ipswich Town, who became the only non-Premier League team in the semi-finals. In terms of strength, these teams are far from the Gunners, and as long as Wenger's side are not negligent themselves, I am afraid that no one will be able to snatch the title from Arsenal.
In the subsequent semi-final draw, Arsenal will face Championship side Ipswich Town away and then at home. What's more, the semi-finals are a two-legged home and away system, which greatly reduces the possibility of an upset, and even if Wenger unfortunately misses the first leg, Wenger has enough chances to salvage the defeat in the second leg. As for Zuihou's final, Arsenal will take it 200% seriously, after all, the championship is close at this time, and the Gunners are bound to fight hard.
Arsenal have not won this honour for 17 years since 1993, and in their glorious history, they have only won the League Cup twice.
Although Arsenal last season was the double winner of the league and the Champions League, the double is not as impressive as the treble; While the FA Cup is the key to the Premier League's perceived treble, apart from the league and the Champions League, Arsenal clearly don't care about that as they are likely to win a lot of honours this season.
Arsenal has a huge lead in the league, and it is natural that the league title will be defended. Although the Champions League group stage is not over yet, and although the reigning Champions League champions have never been able to defend their title, the current Arsenal players are full of confidence and believe they have the ability to break the record.
Moreover, the upcoming Club World Cup will be good news for Arsenal; Arsenal have every reason to win the Shijie Cup and become the king of Shijie, and they can lift their first trophy of the season at this time.
Arsenal can start cheering at this time, because they are starting to enter the rhythm of winning the championship, because now Arsenal is creating brilliance step by step; At this time, no one dares to underestimate Arsenal, because everyone knows that Arsenal is getting stronger and stronger, because everyone knows that Arsenal who are sprinting are almost unstoppable.
Xiao Qing is also very happy, no one doesn't like the champion; Especially for professional players, the championship is an affirmation of their career, now Xiao Qing is not short of money, what he needs is more honors, he needs more honors to prove that he is the most haode football player on the planet, and now, he is constantly moving towards the goal! (To be continued......)