Although Nottingham Forest's defeat of Manchester United was not considered an upset, the media still expressed some surprise at the result. The general view was that the Forest team would fall under the pincer attack of the four powerhouses. They did not expect them to beat Manchester United instead.
The news from Maine Road was as good for Twain as their home win over Manchester United — after stopping Liverpool, Manchester City had forced a draw with Everton. In this way, even though the 33rd round of matches had not yet been played, the Forest team had completed the reversal and overtaken Everton. With 56 points, they ranked above Everton, who had 55 points, and rose to fourth place!
Since March this year, Kevin Keegan, who had been unable to lead Manchester City, quietly stepped down. His replacement was the assistant manager at the time, Stuart Pearce, who became the caretaker manager of Manchester City. The club had not stopped looking for a new manager. But after a round of searching, they found that the truly suitable candidate for the club was right in front of them — Pearce was the best manager of Manchester City. There was no need to look for someone outside.
Manchester City had won 15 points under his leadership in eight games, achieving the best result in Manchester City's ten years in the Premier League. If there were no surprises, the Manager of the Year award for April should be Pearce's.
The Manchester City team he led had a new look. It was no surprise that they could force a draw with two teams from Liverpool.
Pearce came from Nottingham Forest, and Twain had no evidence to say that Pearce deliberately helped the Forest team. After all, Manchester City also had to survive and work hard for the UEFA Europa League spot. But he still kept his gratitude to Pearce in his heart. If he had a chance to see him in the future, he must thank him in person. Whether he accepted it or not.
Arsenal tied with Chelsea in the away game. This result basically meant that unless a miracle happened, Chelsea had already taken the league title this season.
They had a brilliant start, but ended up in such a state. The entire Arsenal team was uncomfortable. They desperately needed a way to vent, like a volcano crater.
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On April 23rd, just after sending off Manchester United, the Forest team won another opponent in the City Ground — Liverpool. Twain also put in a lot of effort in this game, although he knew that Benítez might not do his best in this game because Liverpool was still facing the Champions League final. The Champions League final was obviously more important than the league tournament.
But knowing in his heart did not mean that he should relax his demands on himself. Tang En's tactics and lineup were exactly the same as the one that defeated Manchester United at home.
Sure enough, as he expected, Liverpool did not deploy their main force in this game. They only deployed half of their main force. Benítez was saving his strength for the Champions League final.
The Liverpool players' minds did not seem to be on the game. Without any suspense, Tang En led his team to avenge their crushing defeat at Anfield in the first half of the season. A 1: 0 victory over an absent-minded Liverpool.
At the end of the match, Tang En, who had taken advantage of Benítez, beamed with happiness as he shook hands with Benítez to congratulate him on winning the Champions League.
"I think AC Milan may underestimate the enemy, Mr. Benítez. You have a good chance of winning. "He winked at Benítez.
Benítez did not understand what Twain meant, but he still smiled politely and thanked him.
After sending Benítez off, the assistant manager, David Kerslake, quickly walked up and said to Tang En, "Everton is level again."
Tang En turned to look at Kerslake.
His assistant nodded. "News just came from Goodison Park. The match over there was over, 1: 1. They were forced into a draw by Birmingham City. They had almost lost the match. Birmingham City's Heskey scored in the first five minutes. It wasn't until the 86th minute that Everton equalized through Duncan Ferguson. "
After listening to Kerslake's narration, Tang En shook his head. "What a pity. If they had lost, I could have had a good night's sleep tonight. But this is not bad. David, Moyes can't hold on any longer. Everton can't hold on any longer. "
Kerslake nodded his head vigorously in agreement.
Tang En was right. After this match, they would also have one match less. Forest was ranked fourth with 59 points. Everton, on the other hand, accumulated 56 points after consecutive draws and was ranked fifth. They were two points higher than sixth place Liverpool, but three points behind fourth place Forest. Even if they tied with the Forest team, they would be ranked below the Forest team because of the goal difference disadvantage. Therefore, these three points were not just the difference between winning and losing a game.
After fighting hard for a season, there were many players who could not hold on as they entered the final sprint stage. Everton was just one of them.
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On April 26th, in the 33rd round of the league tournament, Forest challenged Chelsea in an away game. This might be Everton's chance. As long as Forest lost to Chelsea in an away game and Everton won against Arsenal in an away game, they would share the same points and have a chance to compete in the final three rounds. However, it was not impossible for Forest to lose to Chelsea in an away game. The possibility might not be low, but it would be difficult for Everton to win against Arsenal in an away game.
Tony Twain knew this, of course.
He did not expect to win against a Chelsea in good form at home. Furthermore, his team had won against Mourinho at home in the first half of the season. The manager would certainly want to return to Stamford Bridge to redeem himself. Therefore, Forest's goal for this game was not to win, but not to lose. To compete with Chelsea in patience, Tang En was not afraid of not scoring, nor was he afraid of a draw. He wanted a draw. By the time Chelsea became impatient from his shameless tactics, a point for this game would be in the bag.
As for Mourinho? He would probably feel that he had made a profit by drawing against Arsenal at home. But he would certainly be unhappy with a draw against Nottingham Forest at home.
Tang En liked to do things that made his opponents unhappy. It was his principle. He was not a good person who would consider his opponents thoroughly.
In the away game, Forest used a more conservative tactic than Chelsea had used against Arsenal in the previous game, hoarding a large number of players in their own half of the field. Tang En's goal was clear: to defend a point.
Chelsea was naturally unwilling to let go of this opportunity for revenge. From the start of the game, they constantly launched attacks against Forest's hinterland. Forest made use of Wood's wide range of running and tough physical qualities to disrupt Chelsea's midfield organization.
Chelsea's ace, Robben, was the type of player who needed space for him to sprint and make all sorts of feints. Forest's goal of hoarding a large number of players in the backfield was to not give Robben and Duff such space. Without space, the threat of Robben and Duff was minimized. The two flanks could not fight, and the middle faced a dense defense. Wanting to score under such circumstances required not only strength, but also a lot of luck.
But unfortunately, luck was not on Chelsea's side today.
The score displayed on the big screen at Stamford Bridge had not changed since the start of the game: 0: 0. (To be continued. If you want to know what happens next, please log on to WWW. CMFU. com. More chapters. Support the author. Support original reading!)
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