In November, the temperature dropped significantly. The United Kingdom did not have a rainy season and a dry season. Precipitation was more average throughout the year, which meant that there were almost ten days of rain every month.
However, the feeling of rain when the temperature was high and when the temperature was low was naturally different.
For technical teams, the rain would definitely affect their performance. For teams that paid attention to ground passes, the slippery field would naturally affect their efficiency and ball control skills.
In the fourth game of the Champions League group stage, Qin Xiong and his teammates successfully defeated the visiting Panathinaikos with a score of 2: 1 at Highbury. They were at the top of the group with a record of three wins and one draw in four games. PSV Eindhoven was second with three wins and one loss behind Arsenal by one point.
Arsenal was six points ahead of Panathinaikos, who was third in the group. They were basically locked in a place to qualify. However, if they wanted to win the group, they could not afford to lose the next game against PSV Eindhoven.
The third game in eight days made Arsenal suffer a lot.
In the 12th round of the Premier League, Arsenal visited Crystal Palace. The opponent set up an iron bucket formation to defend tightly. They took advantage of Touré's mistake to break the goal first because of the rain. It was not until the last moment of the game that Vieira scored the equalizer goal in the corner scuffle, allowing Arsenal to retreat from Shehurst Park.
The competitive situation of the Premier League season became clear when the schedule approached the 13th.
The Double-Header?
Well, it should be the Double-Header.
However, the main characters were no longer Manchester United and Arsenal, but Arsenal and Chelsea.
Even though Arsenal had achieved a brilliant result of ten wins and two draws at the start of the new season, they were only three points ahead of Chelsea. As for Manchester United, they had lost to Portsmouth in the last round and had a draw in the Manchester derby in this round. They were already 16 points behind Arsenal and only had 12 rounds of the league tournament.
This meant that Manchester United's disqualification to compete for the league title was not a hype, because Manchester United not only had to overtake Arsenal by as many as 16 points, but they also had to overtake Chelsea by 13 points!
It was still possible with only one opponent, but it was unlikely that both Chelsea and Arsenal would be turned around at the same time, especially since Manchester United did not show enough strength to win the league title this season.
Qin Xiong began to experience the tight schedule of the Premier League and the high intensity of the games. In a large period of time, there was almost one game every four days on average.
The Premier League, the Champions League, and the Premier League had just finished a cycle of three matches in eight days, and the EFL Cup was in front of them three days later.
He felt that his stamina could not take it anymore. Fortunately, Wenger would let him rest for the EFL Cup, so he would not be on the main roster for the competition.
Arsenal defeated Everton by 3: 1 in the EFL Cup with a rotating lineup and successfully advanced to the top eight of the season's EFL Cup.
After Qin Xiong returned to London from the FIFA match in October, he spent his spare time learning how to drive, learning theoretical knowledge and British traffic laws. Not only did he have a personal coach to teach him how to drive on the road, but he also had Cesc to give him pointers from the side occasionally.
In the 13th round of the Premier League, the London derby was here again!
But in front of Arsenal's eyes, it was no longer the London derby that was hyped up by the media, but the real London derby, a battle between the seven sisters of North London's coexisting mortal enemies!
Tottenham Hotspur VS Arsenal!
After living in Amsterdam for nearly a year, Qin Xiong could not absolutely understand the meaning of the derby's rivalry and where the rivalry came from.
Ajax and PSV Eindhoven were teams from two different cities. What kind of conflict would there be between the fans? Other than competition, it was still competition.
But after living in London for just three months, Qin Xiong had his own understanding of the derby within the city.
Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal's stadiums were so close to each other. The two clubs competed for too many things in the same territory. The conflict of interest was also very big because the club's development relied on the fan market. It was conceivable that in North London, Arsenal hated Tottenham Hotspur, and Tottenham Hotspur hated Arsenal. Interest was the most essential reason.
Because the fans supported different things and were so close to each other, it was inevitable that there would be conflicts and conflicts.
And what about the players?
Could they stay out of it?
No!
Qin Xiong lived in North London, where there were thousands of families. He was a star, not an unknown ordinary person. In this small piece of land, he met the locals all the time. There was no guarantee that when you went shopping or went to eat, even if you just wandered around, you would meet Arsenal fans who would greet you kindly.
Players were not moral saints, and neither were fans. There would always be some arch-rival fans who would provoke, humiliate, and try to provoke you when they saw you. They would make you lose your composure and then leak the news to the media. They would do anything to tarnish your reputation, which would make them very happy and proud.
Qin Xiong had encountered such a thing. He was humiliated by Tottenham Hotspur fans in the streets. They shouted abuse at him, said things like telling him to go back to China, or made some obscene gestures.
He could not avoid it. He could not move from North London and spend more time with the team to participate in training and games.
So what happened to him would also happen to his other teammates, such as Henry, Vieira, Lauren, Pires and so on.
Similarly, would Tottenham Hotspur's star players be fine?
No, they also encountered the same thing.
This allowed the hatred to spread into your life and subtly made you inherit the will of the club and the fans to hate your arch-rival!
Qin Xiong's thinking in the past was very superficial.
As a Chinese, he came to England to play football. What did the hatred between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal have to do with him? How many times can we meet on the field in a year? It was only a few days of war. It would be over after a sleep.
But the reality was that when you lived here, you were influenced by the football culture here, whether it was good or bad, good or evil, and this city derby was no longer a routine game!
Qin Xiong could not angrily respond to the provocation of Tottenham Hotspur fans on the street. Wouldn't that be playing right into their hands and letting the other side's malice succeed?
So he would hope to meet Tottenham Hotspur and teach them a lesson in the game! At the same time, he would also respond to the countless Tottenham Hotspur fans!
Let them be disappointed, painful and tormented!
F * * k, that would be very satisfying!
There were some things that were tacitly understood.
Qin Xiong did not have to talk to his teammates about his life experiences and ask them if they had also encountered malicious Tottenham Hotspur fans? What about him? Did he have such an experience?
From the state of preparation and the change in attitude, it was obvious that his teammates hated Tottenham Hotspur to the core. And there was a very obvious sign. The longer the players played for Arsenal, the more they valued the game against Tottenham Hotspur. This meant that they had lived in North London for a longer period of time, and the frequency of encountering Tottenham Hotspur fans would be higher.
If the game against Manchester United was a battle of honor, status and the king of the land, then the game against Tottenham Hotspur was a battle of the club, fans and the dignity of the players! The former was based on competition. Even if they lost, it was not shameful! But if they lost to Tottenham Hotspur, it would not only be shameful, it would be humiliating!
The hatred and anger that had been suppressed in the bottom of their hearts for a long time needed to be vented, but they were defeated by their opponents. Of course, it would be humiliating!
It would make you unable to raise your head, not only on the field, but also in your life outside the field. When you meet Tottenham Hotspur fans again, what would your mentality be like?
.....
White Hart Lane, what a poetic name.
It was Tottenham Hotspur's home ground, at the other end of Seven Sisters Street, opposite Highbury.
Before noon on November 13th, traffic on Seven Sisters Street was paralyzed. The distance from Highbury to White Hart Lane was only three miles, separated by a bridge.
It was such a short distance. If there were no obstructions, it would not take more than ten minutes by car. If it was fast, five minutes would be enough. But on the day of the game between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, walking would definitely be faster than driving. Driving? If they were lucky, they could cover the distance of five thousand meters in an hour.
Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal fans flooded into White Hart Lane. A confrontation was brewing in the stands in the stadium half an hour before the game. A large number of police officers were outside the field to maintain order on the streets to prevent conflicts between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal fans.
This might be a relatively safe game in London. After all, the fan base in North London was relatively well-off. If it were the fans of the East London derby, who were 99% blue-collar, the London Police Force would need to mobilize at least half of the police force and borrow people from other places to maintain order inside and outside the stadium.
With 40 minutes to go before the game, Arsenal's bus drove into White Hart Lane.
Qin Xiong, whose expression was as cold as a warrior's, got off the bus and walked steadily into the stadium passageway.
It was the first derby of his career against his nemesis in the same city. He really had the resolve to beat his opponent to death!
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