13 April, Wembley Stadium, London.

The FA Cup semi-finals, where Manchester City take on Arsenal, are being played.

With a top-of-the-table game against Liverpool the day before, Manchester City's form has not yet fully recovered, and they are clearly at a disadvantage in this game.

Back after the quarter-finals, Manchester City applied to the FA to postpone the semi-finals.

However, Arsenal did not agree to the postponement, and for this title, Arsenal is determined to win, so it is naturally impossible to give Manchester City a chance to regain their energy.

Since Arsenal did not agree to the postponement of the FA Cup, then Manchester City applied for the postponement of the league, so it will always work, right?

However, the FA rejected their application on the grounds that Manchester City's 29th round of fixtures had been postponed and that it would be difficult to arrange any further postponements.

In the end, the negotiations ended in failure, and City had to accept a two-day arrangement.

To that end, Pellegrini put most of the players who started the last game on the bench this time, sending a squad with most of the substitutes and half of the main players to meet the challenge of Arsenal.

Although Lin Quan stressed that his physical fitness was fine, Pellegrini still put him on the bench.

He didn't want to put a big killer like Lin Quan on the field too early, let him rest a little longer if he could rest for a while, and it would not be too late for Arsenal to let him play when Arsenal ran out of energy in the second half, maybe the effect would be better!

Moreover, the last time at the Emirates Stadium, Manchester City's substitutes almost overturned Arsenal, this time with the addition of a lot of main players, maybe they can beat Arsenal without Lin Quan playing.

This kind of thing happened to Manchester City when the Christmas league was on the fast run, and it managed to survive that time.

As the league draws to a close, City will have fewer and fewer games ahead, and they can rest well as just grit their teeth and get through this toughest period.

"Arsenal are determined to win this game!"

Assistant coach Kusias saw Arsenal's starting line-up and said to Manuel Pellegrini worriedly.

Compared to Manchester City's starting line-up, Arsenal can be said to be the main force, and they specially applied for a three-day postponement of the league, for this FA Cup game, Arsenal may have been preparing for at least a week.

"Arsene Wenger has not won a title for ten years, so naturally he doesn't want to give up this opportunity!"

The other two teams that reached the FA Cup semi-finals this time were not strong, with Hull City and Sheffield being the other two teams in addition to Arsenal and Manchester City.

Hull City are a mid-table team in the Premier League, with average quality.

Sheffield is a team in the third tier of England - League One.

This year's FA Cup has been a frequent upset, with a League One side reaching the semi-finals and even hopefully reaching the final, which is a very rare occurrence even for the FA Cup, which is a hotbed of upsets.

Of course, this situation is inseparable from the early encounter of the giants.

Manchester United fell to Swansea on the outset, Chelsea fell to Manchester City in February and Liverpool were knocked out by Arsenal.

In this way, only Manchester City and Arsenal were left in the final four.

And now, the two teams are drawn together, which gives the other teams a chance.

The cup is a game that is a winner, and there is too much chance, even if it is a team from League One opposite, it cannot be taken lightly, after all, the giants cannot afford to lose.

If you are really eliminated by the other party, it will really be nailed to the pillar of shame.

In the midst of the small talk between the two, the game began.

Arsenal quickly took the initiative from the start, using their physical advantage to suppress City's midfield and then start attacking City's goal.

Manuel Pellegrini knew his players were not in good shape, so he had no intention of battling Arsenal in midfield, so he shrunk his players into the half of the pitch and put on a counter-attacking posture.

This kind of one-legged game often requires only one goal to win the game, so what Manchester City have to do is to make sure their own goal is not breached, while calmly looking for opportunities to counter-attack, and send Arsenal to hell with a lethal blow.

Arsenal also know this, and Arsene Wenger did not opt for Mesut Ozil, opting for a combination of Cazorla and Arteta.

Arteta is stronger defensively and can act as an effective protector behind Cazorla, allowing the Spaniard to concentrate on his attacking strengths.

In this game, Arsene Wenger's tactical focus was on the attacking end.

Arsenal's passing and cutting have always been very flashy, as long as they play what they want to achieve, they don't have to worry about scoring goals.

The question is, can they contain City's counter-attacks?

Thinking of this, Wenger's eyes involuntarily fell on Manchester City's winger, Nasri scared Arsenal enough last time at the Emirates Stadium.

Fortunately, Manchester City's physical fitness is not good, Lin Quan also played the whole game in the last game, and he did not start this game, otherwise, Arsenal's defense will be more difficult.

Should they beat Manchester City and reach the final, Arsenal have more than an 80 per cent chance of winning against either of Hull City or Sheffield.

Therefore, as long as he crosses the mountain of Manchester City, Wenger can claim his first trophy in a decade.

Come on, boys, step over the corpses of Manchester City and get our honor!

Arsene Wenger silently cheered for the players in his heart!

The Arsenal players on the pitch clearly understood this and knew they were very close to the FA Cup.

The desire and longing for the title made them go crazy and launch attack after attack on Manchester City's penalty area.

Ramsey, Podolski, Cazorla and others got shots one after another.

However, their attacks have been defused by Manchester City again and again, and Manchester City have played passively, but their defense is not paper and will not be breached so easily.

After they contracted their defence, Arsenal's vaunted passing tactics were a bit out of the way.

There are so many people inside and outside the opposition box that it's hard to give them enough space to play the cross.

And in the face of the two magic weapons of dense defense - long-range shots and set-pieces, Arsenal's side also failed to seize the opportunity.

Throughout the first half, they had six long-range shots, but none of them could threaten.

After passing the Barcelona level, Manchester City's defensive quality has improved a lot.

Although Arsenal's passing is powerful, there is a big gap compared with Barcelona.

Barcelona are good at catching opponents' mistakes, while Arsenal are good at creating chances on their own.

But either way, they need space to pass and catch the ball.

Therefore, placing a bus can effectively limit this tactic.

Manchester City used such tactics in this game, although they were a little embarrassed, but the outside world could not criticize them for anything.

After all, there are two games in two days, and the players can't bear it even if they are iron men.

Let them rush out and play against Arsenal at this time, then Manchester City may run out of strength after half a game.

And Manchester City are not passive defensively, they are also actively seizing opportunities.

In the first half, they played several threatening counter-attacks, and if it wasn't for the timely foul by Arsenal's defenders who stopped the opponent's attack at the cost of cards, Arsenal would have conceded the goal.

At the end of the first half, the score was still 0-0, and neither side could score.

Arsenal were the first to make personnel changes in the second half, with Arsene Wenger opting to bring on French centre-forward Olivier Giroud to replace Podolski.

Giroud is a fulcrum centre-forward, tall and strong who can carry the ball with his back to his team-mates.

He is also good at his feet, and he is also good at aerial duels and headers.

Bringing him on the pitch, whether it's as a fulcrum up front or fighting for the top in the box, is a good option.

Now that City are shrinking their defence and swinging their buses, it is important to increase the efficiency of their use of set-pieces.

The change quickly paid off, and in the 55th minute, Arsenal were awarded another set-piece opportunity.

Cazorla's free-kick was hoisted into the penalty area, and Giroud pressed Manchester City's defenders to fight for the head, but unfortunately he couldn't make a splash when he shook his header at the goal, and the header was soft and easily confiscated by Joe Hart.

Giroud touched his head, not very happy with his header.

But after his teammates saw that he could really fight for the top, their confidence increased one by one, and the next free kicks and corners came to him for this point.

Such a move aroused Manchester City's vigilance, but helplessly, Manchester City's tall defender only had one Lescott, while Arsenal had two high points: Mertesacker at 1.98 meters and Giroud at 1.93 meters.

With both men rushing into the City penalty area, Lescott could only opt for the most dangerous player to defend.

A few minutes later, Arsenal were awarded another corner.

Cazorla's corner was taken and Giroud fought for the top of the ball, which was of high quality.

Seeing the opponent's header hit the goal, Joe Hart almost subconsciously raised his arm, and then stopped the ball in the process of waving his arm.

After blocking the ball, Joe Hart was stunned, as was Giroud.

Headers are always difficult to defend because of the proximity and speed, leaving the goalkeeper with little time to react.

Giroud didn't expect Joe Hart to react in time, let alone actually pounce.

It is worthy of the British country, and it is really strong.

Joe Hart was secretly lucky in his heart, where did he have time to react, he just wanted to subconsciously raise his arms, this time it was really all luck.

Seeing Giroud so active, Lescote immediately abandoned Mertesacker and set his sights on him.

Not only that, but when defending him, Manchester City's defenders also used some small movements to prevent him from attacking the goal comfortably.

This strategy defused the crisis for the time being, and Arsenal began to fall back into a situation where they were unable to find the back of the net.

But Giroud was clever enough to change tactics as soon as he realised he was being targeted.

In the 76th minute, Arsenal's corner kick was taken, and Giroud pressed Manchester City defender Lescott to grab the header again.

However, during the jump, Lescott pulled him very covertly, so that he could not attack the goal in the air.

Giroud was in the air and saw Ramsey retreating to no man's land at the edge of the penalty area, so he didn't hesitate to ferry the ball to the opposition.

This choice was unexpected by the Manchester City players, who had chosen to attack the goal by themselves on the other side of the previous few times, but they didn't expect to pass the ball this time.

The Manchester City players closest to Ramsey rushed towards Ramsey almost immediately, but Ramsey was quicker than them.

Before the Manchester City players pressed over, he glanced at the goalkeeper's position and hit the goal with his feet.

The shot was aimed at the top left corner of the net, and Joe Hart had just been attracted by Giroud on the right side of the box, standing close to the right side of the goal, and it was too late to make a flying save.

With a bang, the football flew into Manchester City's goal under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands of fans at Wembley Stadium.

Arsenal finally scored after storming most of the half!

There was a loud bang, and the sought-after fans who came to Wembley Stadium collectively fell into a boiling and frenzy.

Arsenal are ahead!

We're ahead of the curve!

Well done, Ramsey!

On the field, after scoring a goal, Ramsey excitedly took off his jersey and ran wildly along the pitch!

His teammates chased him after him, and after catching up with him, he threw him to the ground and celebrated wildly.

This goal was so crucial that Arsenal's players began to get a little impatient after a long period of attack.

If they don't score again, their mentality may go wrong again, and they may collapse at the last minute.

However, at this critical juncture, Ramsey stepped up and stabilized the army with a goal that pulled Arsenal back from the brink of collapse.

"Well done, Aron!"

Arteta rubbed Ramsey's hair vigorously and said to him excitedly.

"It's Giroud!"

Ramsey didn't forget his good brother who provided the assist, and if Giroud hadn't spotted his movement just now, Ramsey wouldn't have had a chance to shoot at all.

"Hehe, I saw you running, so I passed, I didn't expect you to really score the ball, I knew I would have passed the ball to you earlier!"

Giroud was also very excited, he only got an assist in a few dozen minutes on the pitch, although he didn't score, but he can help the team win or even win the championship, it will be worth it!

On the sidelines, Arsene Wenger also fell into a frenzy after seeing Ramsey score.

He clenched his fists hard, gritted his teeth and shook wildly, the expression on his face looked very hideous, not at all gentle and elegant as before.

The professor has been waiting for this moment for too long, and he has been depressed for too long!

It's been 10 years!

It's been ten years!

No one knows better than him what that goal means!

However, at this moment, he saw with the peripheral eye of his eyes that Manchester City's number 10 was standing on the sidelines and ready to play.

After coming on the field, Lin Quan silently walked to his goal, patted Joe Hart's shoulder, who was venting his emotions on the lawn, scooped the ball out of the net, and returned to the center circle with the football.

Lin Quan put the ball on the tee point, looked at the Arsenal fans who were celebrating frantically with his hands on his hips, the expression on his face was very calm, and he could not see negative emotions such as frustration and impatience.

Lin Quan's appearance shocked Wenger, no, the game is not over yet, and it can't be taken lightly!

There are too many times that the sought-after has dropped the chain at critical moments, which not only scares Arsenal fans, but even Wenger himself is a little afraid.

Thinking of this, Wenger quickly made tactical adjustments and let the players retreat across the board.

It's too risky to go on the offensive at this time!

Now that Lin Quan is on the field, Manchester City will definitely strengthen the attack next.

If they are still in front, there is no space at the back, and it is easy to give Manchester City a chance.

But if you defend with all your might, with the strength of Arsenal, it will not be difficult to hold on to these last ten minutes!

It's just that, in the face of Lin Quan, who is going all out, can his defenders really defend against it?

Thinking of this, Wenger looked at the bench next to him and called Gibbs over and asked him to warm up and prepare to add another defender to strengthen the defense.

The quality is not enough, the number of people is to make up, and five defenders are enough, right?

(End of chapter)