One month is short or long, it goes by very quickly.
Arsenal achieved 2 draws and 1 win against the big6 teams, winning against Chelsea and tying with Tottenham and Manchester City.
Arsenal's league performance ranks 3rd.
First place, Liverpool, 52 points
Second place, Manchester City, 48 points
Third place, Arsenal, 45 points
Fourth place, Chelsea, 39 points
Fifth place, Manchester United, 34 points.
The time has come to 2020/01/21, and the semi-finals of the English League Cup have arrived as scheduled.
Leicester City vs Aston Villa,
Arsenal vs Chelsea.
Arsenal clashed with Chelsea again in the semi-finals of the EFL Cup.
Chelsea's local media is already building momentum for this game.
Arsenal have beaten Chelsea many times in the last two seasons.
Chelsea invest a lot every year, and they are only ranked fourth in the Premier League. Both players and fans are a little dissatisfied with this.
So this time, everyone at Chelsea really wants to win against Arsenal.
Although the semi-finals of the EFL Cup are just a tasteless competition, advancing to the finals is actually insignificant.
But for the honor of the team, both sides of the game will go all out.
The EFL Cup commentator explained, "Tuchel and Chelsea are now facing a lot of pressure from public opinion. They have no Champions League games this season and are only ranked 4th in the league. After losing Hazard, they spent 80 million to introduce Haval tz, and the status of Abraham and Mount is up and down. Their current lineup is still not well integrated, and it may take time to adjust."
"Arsenal's recent league results have also been unstable because of injuries to key players in the lineup, such as Xhaka and Martinelli."
"Arsenal will have another month to go, on 2020/02/17, and they will have a knockout match with Real Madrid in the Champions League. One month seems like a long time, but it will pass soon. I hope they are in good shape. Be able to adjust in time.”
The lineup Chelsea sent is,
Goalkeeper: Kepa.
Backcourt: Azpilicueta, Christen, Rudiger, Alonso.
Midfielder: Kovacic, Havertz, Mount.
Frontcourt: Willian, Aubameyang, Pulisic.
The lineup Arsenal sent is,
Goalkeeper: Leno.
Backcourt: Ben White, Gabriel, Papastathopoulos, Bellerin.
Midfielder: Fang Fang, Thomas, Ronaldo.
Frontcourt: Saka, Lacazette, Haaland.
As soon as the game started, the two sides entered into a confrontation.
The fans at Stamford Bridge are very concerned about the outcome of this game.
After the game started, seeing Cecil struggling to pass the ball, they sang Chelsea's team anthem and cheered the home team on.
When Arsenal grabbed the ball, the home fans immediately booed loudly.
Especially when Fang Fang received the pass, many people were booing louder, trying to feel the state of the core midfielder.
It wasn't until 3 minutes later that Kovacic received a pass. He suddenly dribbled the ball through the middle. With the movement of his teammates involved, he sent a through ball.
Aubameyang received a pass in the penalty area, but in the end it was destroyed by Saliba's kick and there was no chance of shooting.
"Kovacic, he was in good shape today. Although he just moved to Chelsea for only 45 million euros, he is now Chelsea's best player."
"It's a pity that Aubameyang didn't seize the opportunity to score"
Chelsea has a slight home advantage. Because it is an English League Cup semi-final, they can attack with confidence.
The final of the EFL Cup will be held on February 27. This is the China Cup that will end in the middle of the season. Whether it is important or not is a matter of opinion.
Tuchel's tactical arrangement was obviously to start with a blitz before Arsenal had fully warmed up.
Arsenal seemed a little out of shape today. They seemed a little inactive when facing Chelsea's passing and running.
The commentator immediately discovered Arsenal's problem, "Are Arsenal tired from recent games? Their attack is not as active as before. We can see that the equations seem to have lost their aggressiveness. Head coach Wenger needs to start Thinking about how they should play this game.”
On the court, Equation does feel a little heavy on its feet.
In addition, this is just a League of Nations Cup game, so everyone despises this game a little bit, maybe they don't even realize it.
The most important thing is that Fang Fang has played many games this month and is in full attendance.
It can be said that not a single dollar of his salary from Arsenal was wasted.
After Wenger saw the opening pass from the sidelines, he became a little anxious and shouted several times to the defense.
So, Saliba and Gabriel had no choice but to cheer each other up and improve their concentration.
The two of them quickly guarded the gap behind them and did not give their opponents a chance to hit the ball behind them.
Four minutes later,
Mount accurately scooped up the pass and lobbed it toward the far corner. The ball missed the far corner post and missed slightly.
Havertz is tall and handsome, and has the ability to dominate the air, but he is a bit unburly. He hit the football and passed it to Aubameyang who was not far away.
Aubameyang volleyed and hit Arsenal's door from a tricky angle.
However, goalkeeper Leno was very focused and fell to the ground to suppress the flying football.
Aubameyang suddenly looked regretful and sighed. It seemed a pity that he could not break through the door of his old club.
Score 0:0
"Arsenal's situation was a bit dangerous. Chelsea's first shot almost broke through their goal."
"Ronaldo seems a little unclear about his position, and because of his poor condition, they have now lost control of the midfield."
"Arsenal have often had possession of the ball in previous games and now they have lost control of the midfield. This is a rare situation. This is a problem that needs to be solved as soon as possible."
Chelsea rushed a bit fiercely, but Fang Fang and Ronaldo failed to resist in front.
Thomas was also a little tired today, which resulted in his interception efficiency not being very high.
Thus,
Saka and Lacazette could only come back to put out the fire and help their teammates reduce the pressure, while Haaland stayed in the frontcourt, ready to launch a counterattack at any time.
However, the situation did not improve. Chelsea relied on the momentum at home and continued to launch a rapid offensive.
Alonso's rimming was very active, which put a lot of pressure on Ben White's defense.
Arsenal's formation was squashed very flat.
Coupled with Kovacic's assists, he quickly stepped in or set up the side to occupy the gap, received the pass from his teammates, and relied on personal breakthroughs or one-two coordination to complete the shot.
Chelsea played on the left for a while and then started playing on the right.
Soon, William dribbled the ball on the right and cut inside. Facing Ben White's defense, he used the change of rhythm of dribbling to break through.
Thomas came over to defend and could only knock down William's wing breakthrough from the side.
Alonso took this free kick from the wing.
Standing in front of the white line,
He carefully observed the direction of the goal.
A beautiful curve ball was kicked from 25 yards on the left wing.
This is a direct attack.
The football crossed the wall with a beautiful arc and fell to the lower right corner of the goal. The net moved.
Chelsea took the lead to break the deadlock
The score is 1:0.
"Alonso's free kicks are becoming more and more accurate. This is also one of Chelsea's ways of scoring goals. Although their frontcourt players may not have a good run-in, the footwork of their backcourt players is definitely top-notch. Alonso and Kovacic has scored in consecutive games."
"Arsenal must now adjust their situation as soon as possible."
Seeing this conceded goal, the entire Arsenal team reacted very heavily.
In the past, Arsenal used free kicks to break the opponent's goal, but now, it was Chelsea who used a free kick to break the deadlock on the field.
Fang Fang felt that as his captain, he should remind his teammates.
Because Xhaka was injured, he did not play in this game, and Ronaldo took over the starting position.
"Wake up, we are third in the league! They are fourth in the league."
Fang Fang clapped his hands and shouted to his teammates, "We can't be confused on the court anymore. This is a semi-final and we must win the game."
Now that the score is behind, Arsenal can only press out the defense and attack Chelsea.
More than twenty minutes have passed since the game.
Fang Fang ran back to the backcourt to catch the ball. At this time, he used all his strength to dribble the ball across the center line like a bulldozer.
Ronaldo cooperated and played a two-on-one with Fang Fang before Chelsea's halftime.
However, Rudiger rushed out and held his position, as if he accidentally knocked down Equation.
Fang Fang fell heavily to the ground and did not receive the ball from Ronaldo.
However, the referee raised his hands to indicate that the game continued and no foul occurred.
With a bang,
Chelsea fans applauded like boos, which was in agreement with the referee's decision.
Chelsea got the ball, but Arsenal angrily grabbed it back and couldn't pass the ball forward.
After Kovacic glanced at Equation, who was still lying on the ground, he had no choice but to kick the football out of the field.
The football was out of bounds, and Haaland and Ronaldo quickly protested to the referee.
"Isn't there a foul for this collision?"
Arsenal's protest was very sensible. If Xhaka was on the field, it would be a different situation.
However, the referee did not relent, shook his head, and said that Arsenal should stop talking nonsense and the game must resume.
"The referee didn't see clearly just now. Rudiger did make a collision. Maybe the referee's line of sight was blocked."
"Arsenal's attack is very threatening this time. This should be the recovery of Arsenal's core. We can see that Fang Fang just took the ball from the backcourt and passed the center line. This did not happen in the first 20 minutes of the game. scene."
Arsenal was in the right place at the right time and neither of them took advantage of it.
After the team doctor came on stage, Fang Fang was helped to stand up.
He really feels that his condition has not reached 50% of what it was before.
However, if his teammates are still in good condition, Fangfang believes that his current physical condition is definitely sufficient.
The problem is that the teammates are also in poor condition.
But now, the score has fallen behind, and the Arsenal team can only bite the bullet and unleash their body's potential.
Soon, Arsenal's offensive intensity increased, and Chelsea also selectively retreated and made defensive counterattacks.
Chelsea's defense is originally very solid. With Rudiger at center back, he is not afraid of conventional offensive methods.
Four minutes later, Fang Fang received a long pass from his teammate. In the narrow space, everyone thought he would stop the ball and make a mistake.
After all, in everyone's opinion, Fang Fang didn't expect the football to fall where he was, and just raised his right foot in a hurry.
but,
The football seemed to be stuck to his feet without any rebound.
The football was stopped in front of him.
Kovacic and Mount, who were very close, rushed over. This was the person holding the ball.
Faced with this situation, the choice of the equation was very reasonable. He was able to deliver the ball in time and accurately find a forward route for the ball.
Harland received the pass, he flicked the football, turned around and shot suddenly. The football drew a diagonal line and hit the right post.
Two minutes later, Saka received the diagonal pass, took two steps forward, and immediately swept the football to the center.
Harland leaked in the middle, and Equation followed up with a low kick.
But Rudiger caught up in time and stretched out his foot to block the low shot!
"omg! It was only a little bit close. The equation was restored. His several consecutive passes and receptions were reasonable. Arsenal regained control of the midfield rhythm."
"It's a pity that there are only 3 minutes left."
The first half time slipped away unknowingly. Arsenal seemed to have just entered the rhythm of the game, and then it was halftime.
In the locker room, both teams were seriously preparing for adjustments in the second half.
Fang Fang was eating a banana while listening carefully to what the head coach said.
Soon, the second half begins.
Arsenal took the ball and immediately launched an attack.
Soon, Haaland kicked a quality long shot, but the football was still held by the goalkeeper.
This time, Chelsea chose to control the ball. They passed it slowly and suddenly were not in a hurry to start attacking. They wanted to lure Arsenal to counterattack and consume Arsenal's physical energy.
In this regard, the equation is very clear about the opponent's ideas and will not let the opponent's ideas succeed.
Fifty-second minute,
Saka, Haaland, and Fang Fang jointly intercepted Chelsea’s pass.
Haaland retreated and kicked a pass.
Instead, Equation rushed into the penalty area on the left, 8 meters away from the goal.
He didn't stop the ball and fired a fierce volley.
The goalkeeper immediately fell to the ground, his hand blocking the path of the goal, but the football was so fast that it crashed into the goal a second faster.
Arsenal equalized the score
The score is 1:1.
"goooooooooooall——"
"Equation's volley scored the goal! He helped the team equalize the score."
"Both sides returned to the starting line and Arsenal did not give up the game."
Seeing that the score was equalized, Chelsea coach Tuchel's face sank slightly.
The game was indeed not that simple. Although Arsenal played ugly in the first half, they were like a sleeping lion.
Once the lion wakes up, it is still very dangerous.
(End of chapter)
