"Are you thinking about changing your position...."

"Sorry coach, I didn't understand. It's not that I don't understand, it's that I don't understand it. You said change the position... What is the meaning? Sun Xiang asked tentatively.

"It's literal." Arsene Wenger replied directly, "I've thought about it, and I'd like to put you in a new position and give it a try." ”

"A new location?" Sun Xiang was thinking in his mind where his possible position was.

His current position is somewhat similar to that of a left winger, but only as a winger in formation, and his actual position is more in midfield.

Because he's not very used to having the ball on the edge of the box, he always has to make choices in a short period of time.

"Coach, where are you going to put me?" Sun Xiang asked.

Arsene Wenger pulled out a tactical board with everything marked on it.

"Sun, I want to put you on the front line."

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On November 22, 2018, Arsenal welcomed Jose Mourinho's Manchester United at home.

Earlier in the day, Manchester City and Chelsea both finished their respective games with all three points, which put Arsenal and Manchester United in the spotlight.

If Arsenal are not to be overtaken by Manchester City and continue to have any hopes of fighting for the top spot, they will have to win at home.

"Alain, did you get the starting lineup?"

Before the game, Martin Taylor and Alan Smith sat in the broadcast box and chatted about starting the game.

Because they are attracted to a change of position at the same time.

"Martin, I think that's what Wenger said about the new change."

Arsenal's starting line-up for this game was astonishing, with almost no changes in the midfield and back, only changes up front.

From 3-4-3 to 3-5-1-1.

Goalkeepers: No. 33 Petrèch;

Defenders: No. 6 Koscielny, No. 20 Mustafi, No. 18 Monreal;

Midfielders: No. 24 Bellerin, No. 29 Xhaka. 18 Cazorla, 10 Wilshere, 23 Welbeck;

Shadow striker No. 9 Lacazette, and on top of the arrow position is No. 4 Sun Xiang.

That's what Arsene Wenger has changed, as he has pushed Sun Xiang up front and dropped last season's striker Alexandre Lacazette back.

It was a risky move for Arsenal, as was it for Arsene Wenger and Sun Xiang.

"How much do you think Sun has a role up front." Martin asked.

Alan Smith thought for a moment: "This is really not clear, Sun has played in this position before, but he is not responsible for scoring goals. Now he is a goalscorer, I don't know how he will play. ”

The answers to these questions will have to be left in the game to be revealed.

With the referee's whistle, the much-anticipated match finally began.

Sun Xiang, who played as a striker, served first and then ran to the back of the Manchester United team.

Lacazette was behind Sun Xiang, delivering cannonballs to the former.

This scene should have been reversed at the start of the season.

With this completely unforeseen formation, Manchester United's defence was somewhat unmanageable, relying on the attacking quartet of Romelu Lukaku, Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata to press up front.

In the face of the attack of four people, Mustafi and others stabilized their positions and did not let the opponent infiltrate easily.

In attack, after the attacking coordination and formation change, Arsenal's central side was a little unmobile in the opening stages, but fortunately they gradually found the clues to attack. And Sun Xiang is also pulling the space left and right without the ball.

Compared with the fast Lacazette, Sun Xiang's speed is a shortcoming, and it is difficult for him to get rid of the defenders just by looking at the speed. But in the same way, Sun Xiang's foot skills are much stronger than Lacazette's, and he can handle the ball at the same time.

Wenger's intention was to let Sun Xiang find an opportunity to hit the goal, and he gave Sun Xiang the absolute right to fire in the front court.

In the 30th minute of the game, Lacazette took advantage of the gap pulled by Sun Xiang to break through along the left side, and after entering the penalty area, he knocked back to the goal, and Sun Xiang, who was outflanked in place, pushed the shot, and the ball was touched by De Gea and hit the post and popped off the bottom line. Then the corner kick opportunity, Sun Xiang, who found the landing point, hit the goal with a header that was also slightly off.

There is also a point that Sun Xiang is also better than Lacazette in terms of heading, at least 10 centimeters in height allows Sun Xiang to contact the ball earlier, coupled with excellent waist and abdominal strength allows Sun Xiang to jump a little higher. If it weren't for Smalling, who is not very strong, this corner would have been a goal.

'Arsenal's attack up front was good, Sun and Alexandre Lacazette were both fantastic, so it looked like it might be a good attempt.' Seeing that Arsenal's attack is on the rise, Martin Taylor said.

"If Sun can really make a successful transition, then he will be the same as Arsenal's previous transformation of Thierry."

Thierry Henry, who first made his debut in Ligue 1 as a left winger, has only scored single-digit goals in each season over the course of several seasons, and has looked rather shabby. It wasn't until late 1998 that he joined Arsenal, switching from wide to central at Arsene Wenger's suggestion. As a result, the Gunners approached their four-year Ligue 1 tally with 17 goals in his first season.

In the following years, he was in even more hot form as a striker, scoring 20+ goals every season.

This change is one of the most successful changes in football.

Now Sun Xiang has also changed from a left winger to a striker, and his performance is still remarkable in the first 30 minutes of the game.

In the 36th minute of the game, Cazorla passed a long pass into the penalty area, Sun Xiang held the ball with his back, turned lightly to shake off Jones' defense, and then shot a cold arrow with his left foot, and De Gea struggled to knock the ball out.

Manchester United soon returned to color.

In the 38th minute, Lukaku and Jesse Lingard hit the wall at Arsenal's back, the latter burst into the box with the ball and fell into a scramble, and knocked the ball to Juan Mata who came forward from behind, and Mata then hit the side-netting of the goal from a tight angle, scaring the Arsenal fans behind the stands into a cold sweat.

In the 42nd minute, Sun Xiang made another killing opportunity in the front.

He got the ball from Alexandre Lacazette down the middle, and in the face of Nemanja Matic's defence, he flicked the ball to Bellerin on the right and then accelerated towards the box. Bellerin's right-footed cross in front of the baseline was met by Sun Xiang, who jumped up to head the ball before Jones, but the ball grazed the left post and flew out. Arsenal missed another great opportunity.

Although the attack did not yield a goal, the fans seemed to have found something more gratifying. Because Sun Xiang, who has become a striker, activated the switch of offensive shooting, he already had three excellent scoring opportunities in the first half.

Such a discovery also brightened the eyes of Martin Taylor in the broadcast seat.

'Alain, maybe Sun can continue his magic up front and I feel like he has a chance to break the goal drought in this game.'

"That's right, Martin, I feel the same way. Sun is like a beast in the attack, which is completely different from his previous style, which makes me look forward to it. ”

Sun Xiang scratched his hair in frustration as he saw the ball slide past the goal, he had never been so eager to shoot and score goals as he was now.

Finally, in the stoppage time of the game, Sun Xiang ushered in his shining moment.