In the face of the ridicule and cynicism from the outside world.
Chelsea responded on the field!
2 to 1!
Chelsea not only beat a strong team for the first time this season, but also pulled down the insufferably arrogant Manchester City!
Mancini was flushed with success in the opening period. In the second minute, he rushed out of the technical area to celebrate Balotelli's lightning goal. Around the 12th minute, the visiting fans at the scene sang and the Italian waved to them, looking pleased with himself.
But except for the first 20 minutes, Chelsea's momentum was like a rainbow in the rest of the time. 16 to 7 in shots, 5 to 1 in corners, and 22 to 11 in crosses. The key figures were all dominated by the Blues. In the last 45 minutes, the ball possession ratio was 57.2% to 42.8%. Di Matteo's team forced the opponent into a corner.
In the 29th minute, Di Matteo whispered a few words to Drogba to ask about his injury. A minute later, he called Mata to the sidelines to lay out the tactics.
Chelsea equalized the score in the 34th minute. The former Manchester City winger, Sturridge, bypassed Clichy and broke into the right side of the penalty area to pass. The undefended Meireles scored with a volley from eight yards out!
Chelsea reversed the score in the 82nd minute. Lampard passed the ball and Sturridge shot from the right side of the penalty area into Lescott's hands. Lampard's penalty shot went into the middle of the net.
The Blues won the battle between the powerhouses!
Finally, they could breathe a sigh of relief!
At the critical juncture of life and death, Di Matteo immediately made some changes after taking over the team.
First, he adjusted the high defensive strategy. In these few games, Chelsea played a pragmatic shrinking defense to compress the space between the lines.
Against Valencia, the Blues won with 34% of the ball possession and scored three goals. Against Manchester City, the opponent did not have many chances.
Di Matteo said after the game, "We have found a moderate way of pressing. The players feel very comfortable. The space between our lines is compressed less. The team's defense has been good recently."
In the last four games, Chelsea only conceded one goal against Manchester City. Compared to the beginning of the season, their defense had improved greatly.
After crossing the gates of hell, DiMatteo could confidently continue to challenge the whole world and make Neville, Nasri, and the other Manchester United and Manchester City people shut up together.
Di Matteo said, "You can search online. It's all criticism of Chelsea and the players. They say that our players are not good and that these players are not competitive. But we beat Newcastle in the away game, we beat Valencia to get first place in the group, and we beat the league leaders. These facts show that these players can get through the difficulties. Chelsea is competitive! "
Chelsea was definitely competitive. After all, they were not even halfway through the league yet.
At the same time, the other championship contending teams now had to thank Chelsea. The other teams were naturally happy to see who could defeat the league leader and make the leader lose points.
After 15 rounds of the league tournament, the competition at the top of the Premier League table became extremely fierce.
Manchester City, 37 minutes.
Liverpool 36 points.
Manchester United 35 points.
Chelsea got 31 points.
Arsenal 29 points.
Even Chelsea was only six points away from Manchester City!
The competition for the Premier League title this season seemed to have entered a chaotic situation where heroes were vying for supremacy!
Fleet Street was the most excited. The suspense in the Premier League was not like in the past two seasons. Liverpool had established a big advantage in the middle of the season. Although it did not kill the suspense of the league title race, it made people foresee the trend later. People were looking forward to Liverpool's Waterloo, but it did not happen.
This season was good. The good show of the competition between the powerhouses had begun again!
For the other powerhouses, the Premier League's devilish schedule had not yet begun, but Liverpool's had already begun because they were going to the Club World Cup.
Liverpool took five days to travel to Asia and defeated Al-Sadd with a relatively conservative lineup in Japan. Then, they sent their strongest lineup to defeat Santos in the final to win the title!
This consumption was very detrimental to Liverpool.
In the 16th round of the league tournament, Manchester City would face Arsenal, who had a good record recently, at home. This made Fleet Street think that Manchester City's position as the leading team might not be guaranteed!
Once Manchester City could not beat Arsenal and Liverpool won, then the throne of the Premier League's leading team would change hands.
However, Chelsea, who played first, did not continue their form of winning all four games in all competitions. Probably the Premier League teams also suddenly realized that Chelsea was not a drowning dog who could be beaten up by anyone.
It was better to be humble and cautious when facing a strong team.
Wigan Athletic forced Chelsea to a 1: 1 draw at home.
When the opponent began to shrink their defensive line and focus on defense, Di Matteo's Chelsea's ability to play positional games was still a shortcoming.
He was the exact opposite of Andre Villas-Boas. The Portuguese young manager was too radical, and he was too pragmatic.
Manchester United took down Queen's Park Rangers 2: 0 in the away game. Since the disastrous losses to Manchester City and Liverpool, Manchester United broke out an amazing fighting power under Ferguson's control. The stability of their form was terrifying!
Liverpool visited Villa Park. After returning to the United Kingdom, Liverpool was in good form with the excitement of winning the Club World Cup. Although it was a difficult battle, Liverpool defeated Aston Villa 2: 0 in the away game with Qin Xiong's world-class shot outside the penalty area and Gerard's goal in the corner attack.
At the end of this round of the league tournament, the finale began.
Manchester City's home game VS Arsenal!
In this thrilling battle, the players from both sides created a lot of opportunities to score. In the end, it was Silva's golden goal that helped the Blue Moon Legion pull themselves out of the quagmire and continue to advance triumphantly on the league's scoreboard!
Manchester City took down Arsenal 1: 0 in their home game!
Arsenal's leading striker, Robin van Persie, who was in hot form this season, could not save Arsenal from defeat in this game.
He was the focus of the game, and it could even be said that he was the focus of the English Premier League now.
Because many clubs wanted Van Persie, who consistently scored goals, and because Van Persie was in Arsenal, he was not as unobtainable as the other star players.
Just like the Manchester City fans, shortly after the start of the game, the Blue Moon fans on the sidelines sang a song about Van Persie and mocking Arsenal as if they had discussed it beforehand. "Van Persie is ours, you're just our satellite club, Van Persie is ours …"
Mancini, who won the battle between the powerhouses, also added insult to injury after the game by having ideas about Van Persie.
"There is no doubt that Robin van Persie is unparalleled. His role is just like Agüero's importance to our team. His recent performance is simply fantastic. He has scored all kinds of unparalleled goals."
Manchester City's players also added fuel to the fire, as if they were calling out to Van Persie.
Richards, the defender, said, "Van Persie is simply too important. His 33 goals this year are amazing. If Arsenal can keep Van Persie, then they will have the hope of competing for the title. "
Lescott said, "Although I'm not willing to exchange him for any striker in our team, it's great that he can play for us. We welcome any world-class star player to join the team, and Van Persie is one of them. He is currently Arsenal's biggest and main threat. "
Wenger was probably going to explode after hearing the comments of Manchester City's general. At the same time, he hated Manchester City to the core.
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