Arsenal, whose morale was greatly boosted after the double victory over Real Madrid, faced the challenge of Liverpool at their home ground, Highbury, over the weekend.
There were only ten rounds left in the Premier League.
Arsenal was only three points ahead of Chelsea.
It was now the stage where every point had to be fought for.
Fortunately, the team's fighting spirit and morale were very strong.
In contrast, Liverpool's morale was low.
As the defending champions of the Champions League, their home and away double defeat by Benfica was a shocking upset.
At Highbury, Benítez knew that Arsenal was at the forefront at this time and was unwilling to face Arsenal head-on. He made a slightly conservative tactical arrangement.
The game was in a stalemate for a while, but at the start of the second half, Qin Xiong's direct free kick caused Reina's save to slip. Fàbregas shot in front of the goal and sent the ball into the goal.
After Arsenal took the lead to break the goal, Liverpool had to take the initiative to attack, which allowed Arsenal's second goal to come quickly. In the 67th minute of the game, Qin Xiong broke into the right side of the penalty area to receive Pires' cross and head the ball to the front of the goal, assisting Henry to shoot the ball into Liverpool's goal.
Liverpool pressed forward with a two-goal deficit. Wenger made a conservative substitution strategy and brought off some of the main players to rest. It was not until the game's injury stoppage time that Liverpool pulled a goal back.
2:1
Arsenal defeated Liverpool at home and continued to maintain their three-point lead over Chelsea.
Wenger's happy harvest this season was not only Qin Xiong's rapid growth, but also Fàbregas's maturity. In addition to Henry's excellent form in the second half of the season and the imminent return of Campbell and Ashley Cole, Arsenal's overall form was much better than expected at the most critical stage of the season's end.
Without the consumption of the FA Cup, Arsenal only had to deal with the Premier League and the Champions League at this stage. The Champions League 14 final would not be played until the end of March. Before that, Arsenal could concentrate on the league tournament and the players' physical control was relatively better.
The 30th round of the Premier League.
Arsenal continued to hold the fort at home and welcomed the challenge of their London neighbor, Charlton.
Arsenal, who switched between offense and defense smoothly, easily defeated Charlton at home. The score of 4: 0 came as no surprise to Fleet Street. If Arsenal were to go all out, they were fully capable of creating a massacre score.
But what shocked Fleet Street, as well as Arsenal, was that in the same round of the game, Chelsea lost to Craven Cottage.
Lost 0: 1 to Fulham!
"After being eliminated by Barcelona in the Champions League, Chelsea's morale was obviously hit by being kept out of the top eight. Coupled with the huge mental pressure of chasing Arsenal for a long time this season, Chelsea's performance is not as stable as before. Will this failure be a watershed in the Premier League title race? With eight rounds left in the league, the six-point gap cannot be underestimated. If Chelsea can't take advantage of Arsenal's distraction in the Champions League to catch up with their opponents, then Chelsea may still lose the title in a heroic way this season! "
In the 31st round of the Premier League, as Arsenal had to prepare for the home game against Juventus in four days, Wenger sent out a relatively conservative lineup in the away game. Henry, Qin Xiong, and Pires did not play. The veteran Bergkamp played his last remaining heat, Campbell recovered from his injury to find the feeling of the game, and Ashley Cole entered the substitute list to give him some game time.
The games at the end of the season were not easy to play. The teams ranked in the middle had no desire to play. On the contrary, the teams aiming for the European spots and the teams fighting to avoid relegation were the most difficult bones to chew.
Arsenal's unbeaten record in the league was almost broken by Portsmouth. In the end, they forced a thrilling 1: 1 draw with their opponent, thus achieving their 31st unbeaten game in the Premier League this season.
Chelsea returned to their home ground and defeated the visiting Manchester City by 2: 0, narrowing the point gap with Arsenal to four points.
For Arsenal, the most difficult game at the end of the season had arrived.
There was only a one-week gap between the two rounds of the Champions League 14 finals. For these two games, it was bound to affect the league.
Losing points to Portsmouth was not an accident. Under the influence of the Champions League, there was also the score against Manchester United immediately after the second round.
The worst result, of course, was that Arsenal would not only be eliminated from the Champions League, but also be reversed by Chelsea at this stage or further shorten the point gap.
Wenger began to encourage the team in the team to cheer up and overcome these difficulties with tenacious fighting spirit. For the time being, they should not have too much mental pressure. They should play one game at a time, concentrate on facing the present, and not think too far ahead.
The famous Italian manager Capello led the Bianconeri Juventus to parachute into London!
In addition to the hot news about the meeting between Arsenal and Juventus in the Champions League 14 finals, it was also the first time Patrick Vieira would wear the Juventus jersey and return to Highbury for the first time to play.
Arsenal had not only gotten used to the absence of Vieira, Campbell, Ashley Cole this season, but also Lauren's decline in form as he was thrown into the cold palace by Wenger.
The outside world had always thought that Arsenal was not the strongest in the current squad, but this situation had to be looked at rationally. The strongest players could not be stacked together to form the strongest squad.
After more than half of the season, although there was a gap in strength that could not be crossed, he did not become a time bomb in Arsenal's defensive line. Flamini was not a good full back, but in terms of defensive efficiency, he was not far behind Ashley Cole. In the tactical strategy that Wenger formulated according to the team's situation, Arsenal's team chemistry was the best at the moment.
Juventus had a major hidden danger in the first round of the Champions League 14 finals: Nedved could not play due to injury!
Nedved's absence in the first round of the game was a great advantage for Arsenal.
Capello tried to play down the issue as much as possible in the pre-match press conference to avoid damaging the team's confidence and not show weakness in front of the opponent.
As a manager with a strong hand, Capello naturally would not bet the outcome of the game on a single player. He was more confident in himself.
With him around, Juventus would have no problem!
Wenger also avoided talking about Nedved's absence in the pre-match press conference. Instead, he had to explain why Campbell and Ashley Cole were on the substitutes' bench.
"The team's current situation is relatively good. The return of Campbell and Cole is crucial to the team, but I will choose when to let them back into the starting list based on their physical condition and game feel. Senderos and Flamini have performed well this season. I still trust them in the upcoming game against Juventus!"
On the night of March 29.
The Premier League champion Arsenal and the Serie A champion Juventus were in a fierce battle in the Champions League 14 finals!
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