Chapter 699
On October 15th, the 8th round of the 2016/2017 Premier League season, Arsenal played against Swansea at home.
In this game, Arsenal defeated Swansea with a score of 3:2.
But the whole process was not easy.
Arsenal scored two consecutive goals in 30 minutes in the first half, gaining a certain advantage.
But in the 42nd minute, Wilshere made some dangerous moves in the penalty area when he dropped back to defend, resulting in Arsenal being awarded a penalty kick and a yellow card.
Wilshere, who was carrying a yellow card, still couldn’t hold back his temper, and kicked the opposing player Jack Cole angrily in the 70 minutes of the second half, causing two yellows to turn one red.
Arsenal had to adopt a more conservative defensive stance with one less man fighting.
On the other hand, Swansea is aggressively pressing up. With one more player, their offense has become much smoother.
Spanish player Borja Bastog’s arched shot from the penalty area line accurately hit the upper right corner of Arsenal’s goal and equalized the score.
In the 89th minute, Arsenal found a counterattack opportunity when they retracted their defense across the board.
Le Kai held the ball all the way to the opponent’s rib area, rubbed his left foot in a rapid arc and flew towards the opponent’s big penalty area.
Lukaku got rid of the opponent’s defender in the penalty area, flew all the way to the back point, headed the ball into the goal, and got the lore.
In the end, Arsenal won the game 3:2 Swansea without any risk.
Wilshere’s impulse almost caused some trouble for Arsenal, but Mourinho did not refute him.
After all, in addition to the first foul, the second foul was to run for the ball, but the leg was raised too high.
Of course, the suspicion that Wilshere waited on purpose cannot be ruled out.
But Mourinho still did not reprimand, after all, to a large extent, he ordered Wilshere to play like this.
Lucky is famous!
And Wilshere is now going to achieve his own ‘bad’ reputation!
Since it’s notorious, then you can’t leave the red card!
Fortunately, the referee is more lenient. Two yellows turned into one red and a direct red card are two different concepts.
In the absence of additional penalties, Wilshere was only suspended for one game.
In other words, in the next round of competition, Wilshere will not be able to travel with the team.
Fortunately, Arsenal’s opponent in the next round is the newly promoted Middlesbrough, which is not a strong opponent.
Suspensions in different schedules also have different meanings.
At least judging from the current situation, the price of this red card is not too great.
After the league ended, Arsenal quickly prepared for the Europa League.
The current standings for the entire Europa League Group A are as follows.
1: Fenerbahce, 1 win, 1 draw and 0 loss, 4 points.
2: Solya, 1 win, 1 draw and 0 loss, 4 points.
3: Arsenal, 1 win, 0 draws and 1 loss, 3 points.
4: Feyenoord, 0 wins, 0 draws and 2 losses, 0 points.
After two rounds of competition, Arsenal actually appeared in the third place in the group points, which is extremely surprising.
Even a lot of media are reporting on this matter.
However, combined with the fact that Arsenal upset Fenerbahce in the first round of the group stage, it is not impossible.
And Fenerbahce was also tied by Soraya.
For Arsenal, they only need to win the third round, and they can get back on track.
And Arsenal fans also firmly believe that Arsenal will not lose any more games.
On October 21st, Solna Club came to London to prepare to face Arsenal.
Even though Arsenal’s current situation in the standings is not very good, they are still the most threatening opponents for the teams in this group.
Zorya just drew with Fenerbahce in the away game, and their morale is pretty good.
But the moment they entered the Emirates Stadium, they still felt a huge sense of oppression.
The cheers of the mountains and tsunami made them feel as if they were suffocated.
Looking at Arsenal again, all the main players played in the game, full of oppression.
The captains of both sides shook hands and chose sides.
Arsenal attacked first.
The starting lineups of both sides are as follows:
Arsenal (4-2-3-1):
Goalkeeper: Martinez.
Defenders: Bellerin, Jimenez, Hummels, Robertson.
Midfielders: Aubameyang, Kanter, Wilshere, Lucky, Mane.
Forward: Lukaku.
Solja (4-4-1-1):
Goalkeeper: Shevchenko.
Defenders: Sobol, Foster, Sivakov, Kamenyuka.
Midfielders: Petlyak, Chajekovsky, Grichshin, Karavaev, Ljubenovic.
Forward: Curacci.
”Sorya’s coach, Verni Dubu, is playing again with the 4-4-1-1 formation with which they drew with Fenerbahce in the last round, and now they are playing the same formation. I want to replicate the original situation at the Emirates Stadium, but Arsenal is not Fenerbahce, facing a complete Arsenal, can Zorya resist the opponent’s attack?”
From the tone of the commentator, it can be heard , They are not optimistic about Zorya.
The last time Fenerbahce won Arsenal, the big reason was that Lucky was not in the team, and Arsenal as a whole encountered a state problem.
But now Arsenal’s state has recovered, and Lucky has also returned to Arsenal.
The return of the backbone has made Arsenal’s overall competitive ability show an upward trend again.
In such a situation, let alone Zorya, Fenerbahce is also choking.
But Zorya still has certain expectations.
After the game started, they even took the initiative to complete a sneak attack and took the lead in launching the attack.
However, after this attack, Arsenal took control of the ball and slowly eroded the rhythm under the leadership of Lucky, constantly putting pressure on Zorya.
Soon, Arsenal pressed into the opponent’s penalty area.
Then keep hitting the high ball.
Lukaku is like that Tigger, constantly jumping in the penalty area, constantly fighting for the top.
Relying on Lukaku’s tonnage, the pressure he put on Solja’s defense is enormous.
Not to mention, Aubameyang and Mane are also watching.
Wilshere and Lucky also stepped forward, ready to shoot long shots at any time near the penalty area line.
Kanter also controls the landing point in the rear area, and the forward pressure of the overall formation made Solya extremely uncomfortable.
All they can do is keep making clearances, and then drive out of the field with big feet.
They can’t even pass effectively, being tackled or intercepted in less than three passes on average.
Even sometimes, they can lose the ball with their own belts.
”This is the difference in strength!”
Paul Mosen shook his head.
He had to admit that the gap in strength between Soya and Arsenal was too great.
Arsenal’s counter-robbing ability is already excellent, and facing Solya is even more accurate.
Not to mention Lucky, even Mane and Aubameyang also grabbed a few good strikes and counterattacked on the spot.
However, Zorya’s toughness is also very good, relying on the iron wall to constantly block Arsenal’s offense.
But pure defense cannot last long. In 34 minutes, Wilshere feigned two consecutive shots near the penalty area line. .
Mane received the ball and poked it, and the ball hit the opponent’s defender’s calf and bounced up the middle.
After a scuffle, Lukaku poked the ball into the opponent’s goal in the scuffle.
Arsenal scored the leading goal.
This goal made Soya’s heart vented all of a sudden.
Before, they could persist with the expectation of a possible draw, but after scoring, they were a little overwhelmed.
They didn’t think about scoring goals.
After all, at the Emirates Stadium, it is not too difficult to blast the goal at Arsenal’s home court!
In the second half, Arsenal continued to exert force.
In the case of Sorya who was almost depressed.
Lucky’s through ball found Aubameyang who suddenly advanced.
The timing of this through ball was just right. In order to create space for Aubameyang, Lukaku even withdrew from the penalty area to confuse the opponent’s defense.
And Aubameyang did not live up to their expectations.
A strong shot blasted Zorya’s goal again.
Arsenal 2:0 Zorya.
This score has basically determined the outcome of the game.
Subsequently, both sides made substitutions.
Zorya replaced three offensive players, while Mourinho started to defend again.
He will not give Zorya a chance.
Zorya wanted to score, but facing Arsenal’s impenetrable walls, they had no chance at all.
And Arsenal also clearly told them what defense is!