The 34th round of the English Premier League at Highbury left all the spectators dumbfounded.
Not to mention, the Everton fans in the stands did not know what kind of mood to face the game.
They had rushed to London from Merseyside and enthusiastically supported the team to challenge Arsenal. Before the game, they had talked loudly and ambitiously about Everton's chances to win at Highbury. In the end, the game had only started for more than five minutes. In just a little more than five minutes, the game seemed to be over!
They had looked forward to it for a week, prepared so many cheering banners, and brought their family or friends to Highbury. Their beloved Everton, the Everton led by Moyes, had only let the fans watch five fucking minutes of the match!
Should they continue to stay here? Would it be a kind of torture?
Should they get up and leave? Wasn't the price of these five minutes too high?
In fact, even the Arsenal fans were a little dizzy.
Some fans rubbed their eyes and patted their heads in a daze. They even pinched their companions' arms to see if they were dreaming.
Could it be that they dreamed of what they thought of during the day? Every day, they looked forward to Arsenal's unstoppable victory in the league, and then had a dream that they did not even realize?
Taking down the fourth-placed team in the league by three goals in five minutes?
Three-goal?
How could there be such a good thing in the world?
Moyes was completely confused.
What was going on?
Wenger's reaction also seemed to be slow. It took a long time for him to keep applauding the team.
He did not expect the game to enter the path of Arsenal's victory so easily.
Everton was in a mess. They were flustered and did not know what to do in the game.
Attack?
But it seemed that they would concede the goal if they attacked.
Defend?
Damn it! They were three goals behind, how could they defend!
The reason why Everton wanted to overturn Arsenal in this away game was not only to prove themselves, but also because of the pressure on the league table. They needed to suppress Liverpool and fight for every point!
Arsenal was also under pressure. The battle with Chelsea was not over yet. Now, every game in the league was like a battle with Chelsea. They could not draw with their opponents in the league. They had to win!
Every goal and every victory was a competition with Chelsea!
The game became extremely simple. Arsenal did not want to expend more energy, so the pace was slower. The offense and defense were balanced, and Qin Xiong controlled the overall situation in the midfield.
As long as Everton dared to press forward, Arsenal would immediately let Qin Xiong speed up. The combination of passing and cutting made Everton's heart jump.
Everton had already broken down.
Just five minutes into the game, they were already behind by three goals, and they were already completely at a loss as to how to play this game.
There was no doubt that Moyes was capable. However, in such a critical battle and in a situation where the situation had taken a turn for the worse since the beginning, it was difficult for his on-the-spot command to be effective. Perhaps even he himself did not know how to adjust the situation to save the situation.
In fact, under such circumstances, if Everton did not have the determination to reverse the situation, then even if he lost, it would not be a miserable loss.
However, after a season, they had accumulated a strong self-confidence. They always thought that being ranked fourth in the league meant that they were on par with the BIG4 group. Therefore, they were unwilling to give up and tried to salvage the situation.
Such thoughts caused them to completely break down in the game, and it turned into a nightmare that they could not bear to look back on.
In the 23rd minute of the first half, Qin Xiong sent a diagonal straight pass from the midfield. Pirès cut inside from the side and crossed to the middle. It was a very simple routine. Henry shoveled the ball and shot it into the goal again. The King of Highbury scored a hat-trick!
Everton was behind by four goals. They seemed to be a little resigned to their fate and began to defend to the extreme.
This caused them to fall into a passive position in Highbury, where they were beaten up.
The mentality of the Arsenal players was completely relaxed.
Qin Xiong and Vieira repeatedly shot long shots from outside the penalty area. Before the end of the first half, Qin Xiong's long shot caused the Everton goalkeeper to make a save and Ljungberg's rebound shot into the goal in the penalty area!
At the end of the first half, the score board showed a bloody score.
5:0！
Arsenal removed the pressure of competing with Chelsea. They were bound to win the game, but they did not retreat and not attack because Arsenal needed to establish a greater goal difference advantage.
In a better mental state, Arsenal played with ease. In the 55th minute, Qin Xiong passed a free kick from the left side of the front field. Arsenal scored with a header from behind the penalty area.
The atmosphere in Highbury was completely crazy!
Moyes sat on the substitutes' bench like stagnant water. He did not expect Arsenal to trample Everton so effortlessly on their home ground and wantonly ravage them.
Wrong!
Completely wrong!
He should not have misjudged Arsenal!
They should have just defended and counterattacked. Why did they have to take the initiative to attack?
He also wanted a classic battle to prove that he was not worse than the BIG4 group's managers!
Ferguson, Benítez, Wenger, Mourinho.
Moyes also wanted to stand side by side with these managers!
But now, it was as if he had led the team to Highbury and directly knelt before Arsenal!
In the 59th minute of the game, Arsenal made a substitution!
When Qin Xiong and Henry came off the field hand in hand, Highbury was filled with thunderous cheers. All the Arsenal fans in the stadium stood up and applauded!
Wenger hugged his two disciples with joy on the sidelines. Then, Fàbregas and Robin van Persie were brought on.
After coming off the field, Henry and Qin Xiong, who were sitting on the substitutes' bench, were still locked onto by the live broadcast cameras.
After Henry scored a hat-trick in the game, he had scored 33 goals in the Premier League. Not only did he leave his competitors far behind in the league's goalscoring charts, he was also far ahead in the European top league's goalscoring charts!
And after Qin Xiong scored four assists in the game, he had broken the Premier League's single-season assist record!
His assists in the league had reached 30!
There were two types of assists in the Premier League.
One of them was from before 2000. At that time, the single-season assist leader was Beckham, who had 35 assists.
But the assists of that era were not recognized by the modern era.
That was because the Premier League's assist statistics were vague. For example, if a player's shot was blocked and his teammate scored, it would be counted as an assist. Or, if a player created a free kick in the penalty area, it would be counted as an assist. Another example was when a player created a free kick and another player scored. There would be two assists. One would be the player who created the free kick and the other would be the player who created the free kick after being violated.
And the Premier League's single-season assist record was recognized by Opta's statistics in recent years. It was Qin Xiong's teammate, Henry!
25 assists in a single season.
According to the Premier League's assist statistics before 2000, Qin Xiong should have added another assist in this game, let alone this season.
And according to the professional statistics after 2000, Qin Xiong's assists had reached 30, breaking Henry's record and becoming the Premier League's record holder for the most assists in a single season.
But Qin Xiong had an unspoken ambition in his heart.
He wanted to break Beckham's assist record if he could!
Even if the statistical standards for his assist record were different from Beckham's, he wanted to become the Premier League's best assist player in a single season while helping the team move towards the title!
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