The boos in the Highbury stadium not only put pressure on the referee, but also on the Arsenal players. The fans' intense reaction reflected that they were also very nervous.
Arsenal needed to score a goal and win this game!
Lock in the league title and start a glorious era of the Premier League that was on par with Manchester United!
In the 24th minute of the game, Ljungberg broke through Ma Hong on the right and passed the ball diagonally to the middle. Qin Xiong directly used his heel to return the ball in front of Francis. Fàbregas did not stop the ball behind him. He rushed up and directly sent a penetrating straight ball with the arch of his foot.
The football rolled past Francis. The rhythm was so fast that Francis could not react at all. The football directly passed through the narrow gap between Baines and Henry Coutts. Henry inserted diagonally behind Henry Coutts from between Henry Coutts and De Jeu. He half-turned at the top corner of the penalty area and pushed the ball to the far corner of the goal.
The goalkeeper, Pollitt, had already surrendered. But just as the football was about to roll into the goal, the right back, Chimbonda, came to the rescue in the nick of time and released the football on the goal line with a long kick!
"Chimbonda has done a great job! He destroyed Henry's goal that he was determined to get! If he had been a step later, Wigan Athletic's gate would have been declared lost! "
The Wigan Athletic players felt a little nervous. They did not expect Arsenal's offense to be stronger now than it was in the first half of the season!
In fact, the most obvious change was not Qin Xiong, because Qin Xiong's toughness last season was already deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. It was just that after further improvement this season, he gradually surpassed the level of a first-class player.
The most important thing was the growth of Fàbregas!
He already had the style of a general in the middle and backfield organization and his grasp of the situation on the field. He was young but mature and could take charge alone!
Fàbregas was now confident. He was no longer trembling with fear like when he first became the main force. Occasionally, his mentality in the game was like treading on thin ice.
He was very grateful to Qin Xiong in his heart. In many cases, it was Qin Xiong and Henry who stepped forward to save the team in key games. They also covered up the mediocre performances of many of their teammates and did not let them stand on the cusp of media reports. If that was the case, the psychological pressure would be huge!
At the same time, Qin Xiong's stronger image and presence in the front field forced the opponent to invest more in marking Qin Xiong, further weakening the restrictions on Fàbregas and giving him a relaxed environment to grow steadily.
In addition, Fàbregas had exchanged pointers with Qin Xiong during training, and Qin Xiong had unreservedly told him about his experience and drove him in the competition. That was how he had not only gained a firm foothold in a short season, but was also hailed as one of the supernovas by the outside world.
Perhaps in the past, Qin Xiong was chasing after Henry's footsteps. Now, one of the driving forces for Fàbregas to move forward every day was to catch up with Qin Xiong!
Seeing that Arsenal had launched a barrage of attacks but failed to break the goal, Qin Xiong suddenly walked back to the backfield and said to Fàbregas, "Change the rhythm."
Fàbregas immediately understood.
Next, he and Qin Xiong interacted with passing in the midfield to slow down the pace of the game. The frequency of passing, cutting, and running decreased, and the Wigan Athletic players were bound to be affected.
What else could it be?
Arsenal controlled the football. The attacking players did not run around as fast as lightning. As the passive defensive side, were they supposed to run around blindly?
About four minutes later, when Qin Xiong saw that the opponent's rhythm was almost static, he ran from the midfield to the front field. Fàbregas passed the ball to the left side to Pires, who poked the ball to the nearby Qin Xiong with the tip of his foot under Tayal's close marking.
Qin Xiong stopped the ball and pulled the ball to the right side at the same time. In front of him, Brad was a little frightened and did not dare to rush up to snatch the ball. Qin Xiong suddenly kicked the ball over the top and sent it straight out!
Bang!
It startled the Wigan Athletic defenders.
They felt that the pace of the game had changed significantly.
Qin Xiong suddenly sped up when he passed the ball, and Ljungberg cut inside from the flank like a sharp knife, which had an extremely obvious acceleration effect!
Ljungberg rushed behind Henry Coutts and Baines, and Qin Xiong's pass over the top came as scheduled. He had no space to stop the ball, and directly jumped to head the ball into the middle.
Qin Xiong's pass, coupled with Ljungberg's wind-like cut inside, had driven Wigan Athletic's defensive line to retreat behind.
And because Arsenal controlled the change in pace, Wigan Athletic was a little caught off guard. They sped up and clearly felt that they could not keep up with the speed of Arsenal's attack!
This was the embodiment of the wisdom of a rhythm controller in the game!
The change in the overall rhythm made the opponent's defensive rhythm unable to keep up!
Ljungberg's header was ferried to the middle of the goal. Henry's forward plug was unstoppable, and it looked like a one-on-one ball!
But Henry had only one choice: a header!
He used his slightly streamlined head to head the ball, and the football flew directly in the direction of the goal. With the goalkeeper, Pollitt, unable to reverse the situation, Henry and the audience watched in disbelief as the football brushed the top edge of the crossbar and flew out of the end line!
"Oh my God! Henry missed a great opportunity. He really is not good at headers! Such a good opportunity, so close to the goal, and the goal range is so big in front of him. As long as the ball is not headed into the range of Pollitt's body, the ball will be there! But Henry still managed to head it off! "
Henry himself felt incredulous. He thought he had controlled the strength and angle of the header, but the trajectory of the football's flight seemed to be different from what he had expected.
Perhaps the research of the German medical professor was correct. His head was not the same as that of ordinary people. He lacked the smoothness of controlling the angle of the header, which led to the unsatisfactory effect of his header.
Henry walked to the midfield with a sullen face. He had no other thoughts other than helplessness.
As one of the top three players in the world, and even in terms of statistics, the number one striker in European football today, he was almost perfect. What was not perfect was his header ability.
That had become the final word.
The Wigan Athletic players felt wonderful.
They played the game with a strategy of eight players defending and two attacking players.
But it was unclear whether it was because of their lack of desire or other reasons, but they did not show absolute tenacity, which led to the team's defensive line being surrounded by danger.
But despite the danger, the team did not concede a goal!
The situation was strange.
It was not that they defended well, but that Arsenal squandered a good opportunity!
Football games were sometimes unclear. All kinds of strange factors could lead to the result of the game and the process of the game being completely different.
But it made the Wigan Athletic players feel relieved.
Arsenal could not grasp the opportunity, so they could not blame others!
Instead, they relaxed and were happy to see Arsenal's lack of luck.
Let's just play like this, Arsenal won't be able to score anyway!
The championship title will be decided in the final game.
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