Chapter 265: The Death Group Begins

The score could not be changed until the end of the game, and in the end, Arsenal won away at Sunderland to make it three wins in a row this season. In the 80th minute, Arsene Wenger replaced Li Zihan, who scored a hat-trick, with Danish high school striker Bendtner. In this way, Li Zihan accepted the applause and cheers of the Arsenal fans who came with the team, and the Premier League fans have never been stingy with their own applause. So when Li Zihan walked off the field, the away Gunners fans who came from afar stood up and gave encouraging applause.

At the end of the game, Li Zihan did not forget to go to the court and have a hug with his good friend Giaccherini, who was the owner of each other, and exchanged jerseys. This is the second time Li Zihan has exchanged jerseys with opposing players on the pitch, the first time was when Juventus played Chelsea away last season, Li Zihan and his idol Torres exchanged jerseys and "shamelessly" asked for an autograph

Giaccherini also put down his "cruel words", saying that the next time the two sides meet, he must also go to the Emirates Stadium to show off his martial arts and take away three points from there.

Li Zihan just smiled and said that unless he didn't play, this day would never have happened. Regarding Li Zihan's answer, Giaccherini just rolled his eyes helplessly.

After the game, Giaccherini had wanted to invite Li Zihan to his Newcastle home for a drink, and Giaccherini, like Li Zihan, almost never went to bars and nightclubs. Alcoholic beverages are also rarely consumed, and only two drinks are consumed on special occasions.

In the face of Giaccherini's warm invitation, Li Zihan could only refuse the dinner, saying that the team would go to France to play the Champions League in two days.

Such a sentence once again caused Giaccherini to roll his eyes, because Sunderland did not say that the Champions League or even the League Cup had to be played. Even last season they were struggling with relegation

Chelsea's 1-0 defeat to the Toffees and Everton in this round was a big upset, while Swansea City drew 2-2 with the Reds Liverpool at their home stadium and Sky City Stoke City also drew with the mighty Manchester City at their home stadium. It's just that the score is 0-0 and both sides score. Manchester United beat promoted Crystal Palace 2-0 at Old Trafford, the theatre of their dreams, while summer signings Tottenham also beat Norwich 2-0 at their White Hart Lane stadium.

The next day, about Arsenal's 3-1 away win over Sunderland, the hat-trick of Chinese striker Li Zihan, who had not been seen by the media before, became the headline of almost all newspapers, even more eye-catching than Manchester City and Liverpool were forced to draw by each other and Suarez was released from ban.

Of course, there are also many media who say that this is just a flash in the pan of Li Zihan and does not represent all his strength. And it won't be long before he's beaten back to his original form! This kind of call is actually not a lot, and the instability of young players is not an insider.

At the head of the list is Mr. Sanchez, who is now an official reporter for The Sun, who continues to smear Li Zihan's "great" mission, regardless of whether he is good or not.

The league has just passed, and the midweek European game is about to begin. Arsenal, on the other hand, flew straight to France the next day after finishing their game against Sunderland to begin their first game in the Group of Death of the season. Away to Ligue 1 powerhouse Club Olympique de Marseille.

Marseille may no longer have won the league four in a row, and they have only won the league once in the two decades since the quadruple triumph. But their strength is still there after all, although there are not many championships, but the third and second places have won a lot, and they are also frequent visitors in the Champions League.

The temperature at the Welodrom Stadium in mid-September was cooler and the air was more humid. At this time of year in France, the temperature difference between day and night is relatively large.

Fortunately, the weather was good tonight, and although I couldn't see the stars in the night sky clearly, it didn't rain.

In this game, Wenger did not let Li Zihan start, but chose French center forward Giroud. First, it was also for Li Zihan to take a little rest, after all, he only played a league two days ago. Second, Giroud has played for Tours in the French second division and Montpellier in the French second division, and has played against Marseille more than once, so he should be familiar with the French team.

On the wing, Arsene Wenger opted for Frenchman Podolski. Mesut Ozil was in the starting midfield, while the other side was a surprise choice for Spanish midfielder Santiago Cazorla. In midfield, the veteran French midfielder Flamini is partnered by young Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey, the central defenders are partnered with Merdessat and Koscielny, the wing-backs are Spanish left wing-back Monreal and French right wing-back Sagna, and the goalkeeper is the undisputed Polish international Wojciech Szczesny.

Marseille, who are at home, have launched an attack on Arsenal from the start, without the humility of the hosts towards their guests.

Marseille's famous Ghanaian brothers, Jordan Ayew and Andre Ayew are very close on the pitch and work together better than any other frontcourt player.

It's just that there is still a lack of individual ability, and Andre Ayew often gives Jordan Ayew the ball, but Jordan can't threaten Arsenal's goal much.

These two might add up to make a great player on the pitch, but if they were separated, it would be average. In particular, the younger brother Jordan Ayew is not as capable as his brother Andre Ayew, and André is also one of Marseille's main forwards, and Jordan can only be regarded as a rotation forward.

Marseille played at home, but they behaved like the home team for a short period of time after kick-off. After that, they completely fell into the rhythm of Arsenal, and Arsenal played away from home and behaved more like the home team.

Fortunately, the Cameroon central defender produced by the Monaco academy, Nicolas Nkoulou, who transferred to Marseille for three million pounds in the 11-12 season, and the 28-year-old goalkeeper Steve Mandanda, who was trained in the French academy, performed well, otherwise they were beaten 2-0 by Podolski and Ozil.

Marseille could not escape the doom and just 40 minutes into the game, the referee was already counting the minutes of injury time in midfield, and Marseille conceded a goal.

Mesut Ozil's pass snuffed past Marseille's vice-captain Benoit Cherou, 31, and Podolski cut inside on the sideline to get around the wing-back. Centre-back Ncurlu then played high to centre-forward Olivier Giroud, who headed in the box to be denied by goalkeeper Mandanda.

The Welsh midfielder, who stepped in from behind, met the ball that flew back into the box and slotted it into the net without hindrance, leaving Mandanda and Nkulu unable to do anything.

1-0, Arsenal took the lead on the road.

As the first half headed into a minute of stoppage time, Marseille finally put in a dangerous performance.

Vice-captain Cherou came in front of the box with a surprising long-range shot, but fortunately Szczesny was attentive and saved the ball off the line, and Marseille had another chance to attack from a corner.

Cheroux took a corner kick, and the ball flew straight to the center of the penalty area to find the center forward who started the game, French center Gignac, but the ball was directly cleared by Monreal, who was ambushed at the near post in advance.

It was also Marseille's chance in the first half, as soon as Marseille's throw-in was thrown, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the first half.

After the two sides rested for 15 minutes, Yibian fought again.

Marseille, who were behind, did not make substitutions, but it was leading Arsenal who took the lead in making substitutions. Li Zihan, who scored a hat-trick in the last round of the league, replaced the inactive centre-forward Giroud in the first half.

Li Zihan threatened Marseille even more after coming on the field, and the most haode defense is attacking This sentence is vividly embodied by the current Arsenal.

After Arsenal held the ball, they pressed the opponent's backfield through continuous passing and transfer. And the ball was always at Arsenal's feet, so Marseille didn't even have a chance to attack.

I finally waited until Arsenal's shot was saved by their own goalkeeper and played a counter-attack. At the back of Arsenal, Merdessaert and Szczesny were brilliant again, frequently denying Marseille's shots.

What makes Marseille even more uncomfortable is that with Li Zihan, Arsenal will immediately pass the ball to the front court as soon as they have the opportunity to let the extremely fast Li Zihan break through the counterattack with the ball. And he is also accompanied by a Walcott who is slightly slower than him, if it weren't for the cooperation of the two people who were not smart enough, otherwise Marseille would probably be plugged by the "two-person turn" of the two.

This time Marseille was in a dilemma, the turtle defense was played by Arsenal's pass, and the side was still one goal behind, there was no way to calm down and defend. And if it is pressed out, it is easy to be counterattacked by Li Zihan and Walcott.

This entanglement lasted until the sixty-fifth minute of the game, and Li Zihan let them stop being entangled.

Li Zihan received a pass from Mesut Ozil and dribbled horizontally at the edge of the penalty area to find opportunities to attract the opponent's attention. Nkulu came up and tried to break the ball with his foot before Li Zihan entered the penalty area, but Li Zihan knocked the ball behind him with his heel at this time.

He himself continued to move laterally in front of the penalty area, taking Ncurlu with him, leaving him out of his defensive position and into the defensive area of another centre-back, Mendes, before it was too late for Ncurlu to find out.

"Li Zihan passed the ball to Podolski with a beautiful heel, but he moved laterally to take away the central defender Nkulu, leaving a big gap in front of Podolski, Arsenal's chance!!"

Podolski received the ball, did not adjust, and struck directly at the goal before Nkulu turned and stretched his feet.

The ball flew past the space that Nkulu had left and towards goal, and Mandanda focused on making a save. Instead of being held by Mandanda, the ball hit the post.

"Well, it's a pity, Podolski's shot was too angle-oriented, hitting the corner where the crossbar and the post meet."

The home fans immediately let out an exclamation because the crisis has not yet been resolved.

The ball hit the post but didn't fly off the line, but into the box. At this time, goalkeeper Mandanda was still on the ground and had no time to get up.

Li Zihan quickly cut in the gap between Nkulu and Mendes, and then came to the goal to meet the flying ball with his right foot. The ball hit the instep of his right foot and then reversed direction and flew into the empty goal. Mandanda was shocked and tried to get up to make a save, but he was a step too late, he just jumped up from the ground and the ball flew into the goal, and he could only watch the ball look at him for the second time in the game.

Li Zihan !! A cushion shot in front of goal doubled Arsenal's lead. ”

'Lee's form has started to return to normal recently and this is his fourth goal in the last two games!! Who the fuck would dare to say he's a parallel import? ”