Chapter 127: Stubborn Old French Man
As the season draws to a close, Arsenal are still pushing for the league title after returning from Kingston Stadium with five consecutive league wins, and they are now getting closer to the league title. Arsenal's vigorous and enduring fighting power this season is the result of a series of setbacks.
Winning without being arrogant or discouraged is the mentality of a mature person. Three years ago, in the League Cup final, Arsenal led by one goal, and Terry made himself in a trance when Diaby kicked it, winning first and then losing, causing the young and vigorous Gunners to run wild, and the whole stadium was rioting, this is an Arsenal that cannot afford to lose. Two years ago at St Andrews, Eduardo injured his leg and the team was injured, and the two-goal advantage was finally erased, and this is an Arsenal team that cannot afford to win.
This season, the Gunners learned from the pain, and against Hull City again, Arsenal experienced a number of unfavorable factors that restricted jishu and psychological performance, such as missed decisions, iron buckets, and poor turf, and finally left with their heads held high. They continue to dominate the league and the league title is within easy reach of the young Gunners.
The season has entered a sprint stage, with a number of columns commenting on the Premier League title race, Arsene Wenger's Arsenal becoming a hot topic for many columnists, and Liverpool's slump also being one of the focuses.
Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal are almost equal in the number of games, points and goal difference; And now, at such a sensitive moment, every little detail seems to be able to determine the ownership of the league championship; Not to mention that Arsenal themselves have a slight advantage in the league table, and you have to believe that Arsenal have the advantage in terms of fixtures.
At the start of April, Chelsea travelled to Old Trafford to decide if the winner was decided. Arsenal could be missing one title rival. And a draw would also be what Wenger would be happy to see.
Now a lot of people think that if Arsenal win the title. This is good for the development of football in England and the healthy functioning of the Premier League, although this theory will be strongly refuted, after all, the only Englishman in Arsenal's starting eleven is Campbell's familiar face who has aged. But if Arsenal win the title, Arsene Wenger's own principles of developing a champion squad will be respected and promoted, and the club's emphasis and commitment to the youth system will be recognised, as it will be seen that spending money is not the only way to achieve success.
For so many years, in the possibility of Arsenal competing for the league title. No March looks bigger than this one, with they leading Manchester United and Chelsea on points and better momentum than in previous years.
In the last few key games, you can see that they have crossed some of the boundaries that they couldn't cross before, some games that they couldn't win last season, and they have been able to grit their teeth and win at Zuihou this year. Because Arsene Wenger has built a team, he has dealt with injuries to Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott, as well as the psychological blow of Aaron Ramsey's fracture.
Arsenal's opponent in the 31st round of the league is West Ham, and Arsenal at home will start another London derby in this round of matches. It's just that although West Ham is very famous, the current strength of the Hammers is really average. The London derby is also more about Arsenal taking all three points at home and launching an all-out attack on the league title.
The good news for Arsenal in this round is that Manchester United are facing Liverpool in this round, although Liverpool are now almost sixth in the table. However, they still have a chance and must go all out to get back to fourth place in the table. And the feud between Liverpool and Manchester United is quite deep, even if Liverpool has not been in good form recently, but they will obviously go all out at Old Trafford.
Xiao Qing and his teammates can sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight at this time, and now Arsenal can enjoy the great opportunity brought by the relatively easy schedule. For Arsenal, their opponents are now more of the teams in the lower half of the table, and now is the time for them to try to pinch the soft persimmon and get the three points to seal the league title. As long as Arsenal can guarantee three points in games they can win, then Manchester United and Chelsea will be in despair.
Arsenal will be confident of continuing to win the next games and will be confident of giving their opponents despair with the remaining eight rounds. Arsenal have good chances at the moment, and even have a bit of a lead and they have the chance to make mistakes in the rest of the game. But with Manchester United and Chelsea, there is no chance for them to make mistakes, because if they make a mistake in the process, it is likely that the title race is over early.
Even Manchester United and Chelsea are mature teams with amazing perseverance and resilience, but under such pressure, it is difficult for them to always make mistakes, and it is indeed difficult for them to consistently perform well under such pressure.
Arsenal's morale is now booming, and the current Arsenal seems to be constantly ushering in good news. The Gunners at home to West Ham were already full of confidence, and with Arsenal welcoming back Cesc Fabregas from injury, Alexander Song returning from a one-round suspension, Arsenal's squad began to gradually become more complete.
In the front line, Xiao Qing and Bendtner continued to play as two strikers, while Campbell continued to replace the injured Galla and Vermaelen in central defense; With Alexander Song and Cesc Fabregas back in the starting line-up, as well as the attacking and defensive core of midfield, Arsenal are naturally quite sure of winning the game.
West Ham manager Gianfranco Gianfranco Zola has brought on attacking players Diamanti, Mido, Franco and Stanislas, and such a squad may be able to cause some problems for Arsenal for a while, but it may still give Arsenal three points. Although Arsenal claims to be the best attacking firepower in Europe, not every team will be afraid of Arsenal's attacking firepower. West Ham will be looking to attack Arsenal's defence at the Emirates Stadium and will be looking to try to win a game. Anyway, the pressure of their relegation is not too big, so it is better to try new tactics.
At the start of the game, West Ham striker Midow picked up the ball from the left, while Franco flanked it down the middle but stopped it straight to Almunia. West Ham showed great vigor at the beginning, and although Arsenal was not eager to seize the initiative with West Ham at the first time, the very patient Arsenal was not in a hurry to gain or lose at all.
Arsenal are very patient to attack in Xu Tu after establishing their footing, and for Arsenal they are also very confident in the team's attacking ability. They don't need to attack at all, because as long as Arsenal play tactics, then they can score at any time. For Arsenal, their task in this game is to score goals and win, and they are confident as well.
In the fifth minute of the game, Arsenal scored with patience and attack, which was Arsenal's first attempt at goal in this game, but Arsenal's efficient performance to ensure the quality of the attack brought enough confidence to the Gunners fans; First, Alexander Song broke the ball in the back field and handed it to Arshavin on the left, the Russians and Klich combined with a one-two cross from Klich, and the first drop was pushed by the opponent, but Denilson got the ball and Xiao Qing on the edge of the penalty area to kick the wall again, and the Brazilian shot with his right foot in the arc of the penalty area and hit the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal. 1-0, Arsenal scored in just five minutes of the opening period!
The celebration began once again at the Emirates Stadium, and the performance was undoubtedly quite uplifting for Arsenal fans, and Arsenal's perfect start seemed to prove that the victory of this game would definitely belong to Arsenal, and even that it would be a smooth victory.
However, Nasri suffered a knee injury in the thirteenth minute and received brief treatment on the sidelines, and in the 25th minute, Nasri sent the ball behind him, and West Ham goalkeeper Green got the ball before Bendtner. The referee then verbally warned him for knocking down Cesc Fabregas from behind, and Behrami protested to him that Fabregas had faked a fall.
In the 39th minute, Diamanti swept down Bendtner, and the referee showed the first yellow card of the game. Campbell was also booked for a foul on a tackle a minute later.
The game was a little dull, but soon there was a chorus of boos at the Emirates Stadium. In the 44th minute, West Ham's long ball was hoisted into the box, Vermaelen was brought down in a scramble with West Ham striker Franco, and the referee gave Vermaelen a red card and awarded a penalty.
Slow motion showed only slight physical contact between the two men, with Arsene Wenger furious on the sidelines, although Diamanti's penalty was saved by Almunia! It was also with the excellent performance of the door god that Arsenal escaped by luck, but such a performance was naturally very unhappy for Arsenal; Because Arsenal now have one less person on the field after a controversial decision, which is definitely quite a disadvantage for Arsenal. Although Arsenal is still leading the score, it is not good news that the second half is 11 out of 10.
As the skies began to rain in the second half, Arsene Wenger did not make a substitution but dropped Alexander Song back to the back and Arsenal began to gradually abandon their midfield defence, and they needed to strengthen the holes in the backline. For Arsenal, the absence of one man on the pitch is undoubtedly a rather uncomfortable situation, as it means that Arsenal may need to run more on the pitch to make up for the void left by the absence of one man.
While some might think that it might be better for Arsenal to remove a striker at this time, the stubborn old French man doesn't think so, because he has confidence in the team's attack, and he believes that even with one less man on the field, Arsenal can still use their attacking ability to win the game. (To be continued......)