"The 37th round of the Premier League is about to begin. The defending champions, Arsenal, will be in Highbury against the mid-ranked Wigan Athletic. The atmosphere in Highbury today is beyond imagination. The whole stadium is fluttering with Arsenal's flag. Every fan has shown a fanatical side because today is Highbury's curtain call. After this game, Highbury will completely walk into history. Next season, Arsenal will move to a new stadium and a new era will come!
After the 37th round, Arsenal occupied the leading position in the standings. They had been leading from the first round of the league tournament until today. It could be said that from the first day of the league tournament, they had made the teams behind them despair one after another!
They were now four points ahead of the second-ranked Chelsea. If they could win this game, Arsenal would announce their successful title defense a round earlier! Ushering in Arsenal's third consecutive league title in the Premier League era!
It was definitely a great achievement, but no one was sure that Arsenal would be able to win the game today. Many of the Wigan Athletic players had already made it clear in interviews before the game that they would not let Arsenal easily reach the podium!
Arsenal's starting lineup today: 451.
Goalkeeper: Lehmann.
Defenders: Eboue, Touré, Campbell, Ashley Cole.
Midfielders: Ljungberg, Fàbregas, Qin Xiong, Silva, Pires.
Striker: Henry.
Arsenal's lineup today was the strongest Arsenal. This game might be Arsenal's last challenge before the Champions League final. If they could not win today, it might have a negative impact on their psychological state because it would be unexpected to win the title in the last round and not in Highbury.
Wigan Athletic's starting lineup today: 442.
Goalkeeper: Pollitt.
Defenders: Chimbonda, De Jeu, Henry Coutts, Baines.
Midfielders: Tayal, Brad, Francis, Mahon.
Strikers: Roberts, Kamara. "
Basically, no team in the Premier League dared to come to Highbury with a two-striker formation, but it also depended on the situation.
For example, today, Wigan Athletic had deployed two forwards, but their offensive and defensive system was actually an arrangement of eight players defending and two attacking. In other words, they did not let the midfielders take the initiative to participate in the attack.
From the start of the match, Wigan Athletic's defensive line and midfield line were pulled back for defense, compressing the space in the danger zone and trying to avoid being penetrated by Arsenal's direct plug.
However, Arsenal's attack was not hindered too much.
In the second minute of the game, Qin Xiong got rid of Brad horizontally in front of the penalty area. Then, he moved nimbly in front of Francis and continued to move the ball horizontally to create a space for a shot. He seemed to turn a blind eye to Wigan Athletic's defensive line and directly blasted out a trademark long shot!
The football spun powerfully toward Wigan Athletic's goal. The goalkeeper, Pollitt, broke out in a cold sweat. He had misjudged from the beginning. It looked like Qin Xiong's long shot was more like an S-shaped trajectory!
Bang!
The football hit the crossbar and bounced back!
"Qin Xiong almost scored for Arsenal at the start of the match! It's a pity that his wonderful long shot was blocked by the crossbar! Listen, the battle song praising Qin Xiong is already coming out from the Highbury stands! The Arsenal fans' love for Qin Xiong has reached its peak recently. Qin Xiong, the rookie king of last season, has made a leap this season. Now we have to admit that he is already a superstar! "
Qin Xiong ran to the backfield without changing his expression and began to defend.
Wigan Athletic's two midfielders defended against Qin Xiong's players. Brad and Francis looked at each other helplessly. It seemed that both of them had a tacit understanding and sighed in their hearts.
When Qin Xiong first arrived last season, everyone thought he was a rookie and would certainly not be able to adapt to the fierce competitive atmosphere of the Premier League. As a result, he was lost in the birthplace of modern football.
However, in the final stage of the second season, Qin Xiong had not only adapted to the Premier League, but had also become stronger. He played with ease on the field and even frightened many Premier League teams' defensive players!
They could not defend!
Wigan Athletic played the traditional English long ball and did not consider the midfield line to advance to the front field.
In the sixth minute of the game, Ljungberg fired a long shot from the periphery.
Three minutes later, Qin Xiong passed the ball from the right side in front of the penalty area to the back of the goal. Pirès seized the opportunity to use his foot to shoot and was only a hair's breadth away from breaking the goal.
In the 16th minute of the game, Henry received Qin Xiong's pass from the left side of the midfield and began a solo raid.
Highbury's King used the difference in the rhythm of the ball to change direction. Tayal and Chimbonda were quickly broken through by Henry's change of direction. However, when he turned into the penalty area in the middle, Henry's shooting space and angle became very small. He returned the ball to the top of the arc of the penalty area.
Brad and Francis, who were closely marking Qin Xiong, followed closely. However, they did not expect Qin Xiong to choose to miss the ball when the football rolled over.
The two men watched in astonishment as Qin Xiong rushed into the penalty area without looking back. However, the football rolled to the rear side.
When the two men looked back, they saw Fàbregas running up from behind with a restrained aura!
The Spanish genius directly received the ball and volleyed. The football flew directly into the penalty area, but was blocked by the defender, Henry Coutz, with his body.
Qin Xiong had been running forward just now because he knew that Fàbregas would follow up from the back to do a long shot. He rushed into the penalty area to look for a second opportunity to attack.
At this time, the football that was blocked by Henry Coutz happened to bounce in front of Qin Xiong. He subconsciously used his stomach to block the ball. Taking advantage of the momentum, he ran forward and rushed past Henry Coutz, directly forming a one-on-one situation!
The goalkeeper, Pollitt, was out of his wits as he abandoned the goal and rushed towards Qin Xiong. Qin Xiong's ankle shook and the football was casually kicked by him towards the bottom left corner of the goal!
The moment the football rolled into the goal, Qin Xiong was about to run to celebrate the goal, but he saw the referee running from behind with both hands to indicate that the goal was invalid!
He also blew for Qin Xiong's foul in the penalty area.
"Qin Xiong's goal just now was blown off! Why did the referee whistle to indicate that it was a foul? Oh, he was judging Qin Xiong's handball in the penalty area. When he used his body to hit the ball in front of Henry Coutz, there was a suspicion of handball. But we saw through the slow-motion replay that Qin Xiong's hand did not touch the football. This should be a misjudgment! "
Wenger stood on the sidelines with one hand on his hip and the other hand gesturing to protest to the fourth official with righteous indignation.
Qin Xiong smiled and exchanged a few words with the referee on the field.
He was not a powder keg that would explode at the slightest touch.
The situation just now was indeed a little difficult to judge. After all, his hand was very close to the football hitting the side of his stomach. His movements were very coherent, which inevitably gave people the illusion that he had handballed.
After a friendly negotiation with the referee, Qin Xiong regained his serious expression and walked to the backfield.
The Arsenal fans in the stands at Highbury did not agree. They began to boo the referee.
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