Chapter 364 The battle to win the Premier League!(1/2)
Before officially facing Juventus on April 15, Chelsea still has four Premier League games to play.
Their opponents are Southampton, Hull City, Stoke City, and Arsenal.
The first opponent, Southampton, has now revealed its disadvantage in terms of lineup thickness. Its recent momentum is not as strong as it was at the beginning of the season, and its ranking has dropped to seventh place in the standings.
Moreover, since the game against Southampton is at home, it is actually not a problem for Chelsea.
Therefore, in Chelsea's home game against Southampton in the 28th round of the Chelsea Premier League on March 15, Chelsea won the game relatively easily.
Although Southampton scored the first point with Pele's header in the opening stage, Chelsea quickly responded and relied on Lukaku, B-seat, and Marcos Arsenal, who had just returned from injury.
Ronso's goal defeated the opponent 3:1.
However, when they faced Hull City away from home on March 22, who were fighting for relegation, Tiger City performed to a very high level.
They scored two goals in a row after falling behind 0:2, and finally drew with Chelsea at home!
This also made the British media lament after the game: "The relegation team at the end of the season is really not easy to mess with! The temptation of 100 million euros!"
This score also made Chelsea's plan to win the championship in March failed.
Of course, since Manchester City also won these two rounds of games, in fact, even if Chelsea wins Hull City, they will not be able to win the championship in advance.
After all, this is only the 29th round. Want to win the championship 9 rounds in advance? It’s too exaggerated.
You know, before this season, the fastest winning record in Premier League history was held by Manchester United.
They won the championship five rounds early in the season, that is, after 33 rounds!
So judging from Chelsea's current momentum, it should be relatively easy to break this record.
Then the next step is the home game against Stoke City on April 5.
This is also a battle of "revenge" for Chelsea!
Because the only game Chelsea was tied in the first half of the season was against Stoke City.
If they cannot defeat Stoke City, then Chelsea will not be able to defeat all Premier League teams this season!
However, after leaving the blessing of the Britannia Stadium, "City in the Sky" also lost its magic at Stamford Bridge.
They were quickly defeated by Chelsea's indiscriminate bombardment, and finally suffered a 0:4 defeat.
After this round, Chelsea is only one step away from the championship.
They have 28 wins and 2 draws with 86 points. In these two rounds, although Manchester City won both games, they only had 64 points. Chelsea's lead is still as high as 22 points!
There are eight rounds left in the league and they are 22 points ahead. In other words, as long as Chelsea win the next round, they will win the Premier League championship this season seven rounds in advance!
However, Pan Yi still needs to think carefully about the next few games.
After the away game against Arsenal on April 12, it will be immediately followed by the home game against Juventus in the Champions League quarter-finals on April 15, then the away game against Tottenham on April 19, and then immediately the away game on April 22
Second leg against Juventus.
In other words, within 10 days, Chelsea will play four games in a row against Juventus and North London!
The most important part of this game, for Chelsea, is of course the two Champions League games against Juventus.
But Pan Yi doesn’t want to give up the other two Premier League games directly.
After all, if we can win the Premier League record seven games ahead of schedule, it will greatly improve the morale of the entire team.
In addition, these two Premier League opponents are both London rivals, and Tottenham are mortal enemies. Of course, no one hopes to lose to them.
As Chelsea's opponent, Arsenal head coach Arsene Wenger has also said that he definitely does not want Chelsea, an enemy from the same city, to celebrate the championship at the Emirates Stadium!
Of course, for Wenger, what is more important is that he needs these three points.
After some good performances in recent rounds, Arsenal's points have reached the third position. Although there is no hope of winning the championship, there is still hope for fourth place.
On the premise that there are not too many games left in the league, every game and every point is important.
They have been eliminated from the Champions League, so the league and FA Cup are their last battlefields.
In addition, without the multi-faceted pressure of the European war, Arsenal will definitely go all out in this home game!
Moreover, if Chelsea can be prevented from winning the championship, and then let Chelsea go to Tottenham's home court to celebrate the championship in the next round, this can be regarded as a "gift" to their mortal enemy.
For the outside world, there are several gimmicks in this game.
One of them is that Arsenal eliminated Chelsea in the FA Cup, and that was the only game Chelsea actually lost in all competitions this season.
So for Chelsea, this is also a real battle of revenge!
Also, this is the first time that Cech, Gnabry and Martin have officially faced each other in the Premier League after exchanging clubs.
The battle for championship, the battle for fourth place, bg6 civil war, London derby, revenge battle, old club battle...
Precisely because there are so many topics, this contest between the two London teams has also attracted widespread attention from global media and fans!
Wenger stands in the home team's dressing room at the Emirates Stadium.
In front of him were the eleven players he carefully selected.
The goalkeeper is Czech veteran Cech.
Since the departure of legendary England goalkeeper David Seaman and German goalkeeper Kai Mann, Arsenal's goalkeeper position has been in frequent turmoil.
First it was Fabianski, and then due to his unstable performance, Szczesny gradually took the main position.
But Wenger was actually not very satisfied with Szczesny, so he introduced Colombian goalkeeper Ospina from Nice this summer, but the result was still unsatisfactory.
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So Wenger found a way to discuss with Pan Yi the loan of veteran goalkeeper Petr Cech.
Cech has always won the love of fans with his outstanding and stable performance. Although his peak period was at Chelsea, even when he came to Arsenal at an age close to retirement, he still guaranteed the confidence of Arsenal's defense.
Therefore, he has also secured his position as the main goalkeeper.
In Wenger's plan, Cech will definitely be bought out after the end of this season. As for Szczesny and Ospina, they can only wait and see if anyone takes over.
Letting Cech play against Chelsea, the professor also believes that he will perform well against his old club and try to keep the goal!
Wenger's lineup today is 4231.
On the defense line, from left to right are Monreal, Koscielny, Merdesack and Bellerín.
The midfield double midfielder is Cazorla and Cochran, and the frontcourt attacking trio is Sanchez, Wilshere and Ramsey.
At the front is center Giroud.
This is almost the strongest that Arsenal can currently field, and it is also the guarantee that they can grab points and compete for fourth place recently.
Wenger's eyes swept over the eleven players one after another and received positive feedback from the players.
Everyone looked at the professor and prepared to listen to his speech.
"I believe everyone knows how important today's game is to us!"
"We are currently ranked third, but our points are only one point more than Manchester United behind us, and not much more than fifth-place Liverpool."
"In other words, if we lose today's game, we will probably fall to fourth or even fifth, and it will be difficult to guarantee our Champions League spot."
"Therefore, we must win this game! Even if the opponent is Chelsea, who is ranked first!"
When Wenger said this, he still looked at the players in front of him.
He also saw everyone’s determined eyes.
Especially captain Arteta.
Although due to his increasing age, he is now less and less able to play in the team and his retirement has been put on the agenda, he is still an important member of the locker room.
He will also use his mental strength to inspire the young players in the team.
Wenger went on to say:
"Our opponent Chelsea is very strong. They have done a very good job both offensively and defensively. They have remained undefeated in the Premier League so far and have adjusted very well."
"But they are not invincible. Don't forget, we once defeated them in the FA Cup!"
"Moreover, they still have to face the pressure of the Champions League quarter-finals, so it is difficult to let go in today's game."
"Judging from their roster, they have sent a lot of rotation players. They probably want to solidly defend our home court first, and then wait for opportunities to counterattack."
"It is precisely because Chelsea's defense is very good and the counterattack is very sharp, so we cannot give our opponents any chance!"
"We must seize the initiative from the beginning of the game and put pressure on Chelsea from the first minute of the game."
"This requires our frontcourt players to stay focused at all times and harass Chelsea's midfielder and backfielder. It also requires our midfielder to put enough pressure on the opponent."
When he said this, Wenger once again emphasized his tone and reminded his players:
"We must end this battle by scoring a goal in the shortest possible time!"
Wenger has been coaching Arsenal for so long, so it’s impossible not to be unclear about Arsenal’s strengths and weaknesses.
Arsenal's players are more experienced, but they are also older and will be weaker in fighting a protracted game.
In other words, the longer it takes, the more disadvantageous it will be for Arsenal.
Since Arsenal's advantage is offense, they have to attack quickly. From the beginning of the game, they swept through Chelsea's defense zone like an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.
As long as they can score one goal, Arsenal can take control of the initiative. If they score two goals, they are almost guaranteed to win.
"Finally, I want to say that tonight, we will definitely be able to bring this victory to the fans at the Emirates Stadium!"
"As long as everyone here works together, this is not difficult to do!"
"Perhaps Chelsea will still win the Premier League championship early, but it will never be today!"
The players, led by captain Arteta, also roared in response.
To be continued...