Before facing Liverpool, Chelsea still have three games to play.

On October 29, the League Cup away game against York City.

November 1, the 10th round of the Premier League, a home game against Queens Park Rangers.

November 6, the fourth round of the Champions League group stage, away game against Roma.

Then there will be an away game against Liverpool on November 8th.

The schedule of these games is also very tight!

The fourth round of the League Cup against York City took place on the third day after playing Manchester United.

Therefore, Pan Yi rested all the players who played in the Manchester United game and used a completely different lineup to play in the League Cup.

It also happens that Seat B and Gary Cahill are back from injury, and this game can be regarded as a return to form for them.

It's just that because the "5-1-4 poke" was used in the last game against Manchester United, both centers were thrown up at once, so in this game Pan Yi used Oscar to play as a shadow forward in the middle, which can be regarded as coming.

A frontless formation!

Forward: Schürrle, Oscar, Seat B.

Midfielder: Cancelo, Ramirez, Loftus-Cheek, Azpilicueta.

Defenders: Ake, Christensen, Gary Cahill.

Goalkeeper: Cech.

Chelsea's opponent today, York City, is a typical "big city team".

What is Ayutthaya Squad?

The city is very famous, but the team is not famous.

As we all know, due to economic, demographic, historical and other reasons, the strong football clubs in a country are often concentrated in big cities.

Among the five major European leagues, whether it is London, the capital of the United Kingdom, Paris, the capital of France, Rome and Milan in Italy, Munich in Germany, Madrid, and Barcelona in Spain, there are numerous and strong teams in these big cities.<

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If you are outside the five major leagues, this situation seems to be more obvious.

Like Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Lisbon in Portugal, Kiev in Ukraine, Zagreb in Croatia, Belgrade in Serbia...

It also includes places as far away as South America, including Buenos Aires in Argentina, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, etc.

These cities bring together almost all the best teams in the country.

But there are exceptions to everything.

There are also some big cities, but they don’t have any particularly good teams.

Just like Berlin, the capital of Germany.

Their main team, Hertha Berlin, plays in the Bundesliga all year round, but its reputation is really not that great.

Union Berlin plays in low-level leagues most of the time.

Not to mention comparing these two teams with Bundesliga leaders like Bayern Munich, even compared with teams like Schalke 04 and Leku Watson, they are not on the same level.

Except for Berlin, Germany, including big cities like Frankfurt, Cologne, and Bremen, cannot have a truly wealthy team.

Of course, there is actually Hamburg, the second largest city in Germany, here, but it is still the defending Champions League champion in this world line, so it is excluded for the time being.

There are so many "big city teams" in Germany, perhaps because of the German league's 50 1 policy, which makes even big cities unable to attract investors, and nature is not directly proportional to the city's attractiveness.

There are relatively few examples from other countries.

The famous water city of Venice in Italy, its team is also a lift in Serie A and Serie B. Except for the Uruguayan star Recoba who once played for it, it really leaves little impression on the fans.

There are actually cities like this in the UK.

Birmingham is the second largest international city in the UK.

But there are Birmingham, West Bromwich Albion, Aston Villa... there are many teams in this city, but none can be called a powerful team.

Of course, compared with Chelsea's opponent York City today, these are nothing!

York is a truly famous historical and cultural city in the UK. For nearly 2000 years, York has been the capital of Northern England, with a status equivalent to today's London.

In the city, there are also places of interest such as York Minster, which attract tourists from all over the world to visit every year.

As well as being a tourist attraction, York is also a transport hub, education and commercial centre, as it is a major railway interchange and is the meeting point between the Pennines and the UK's east coast.

New York in the United States is cool, right? Its name means "New York City" - although it can also be translated as "Xinxiang".

But as the main club in this famous city, York City's name is much bleaker.

In their nearly 100-year history, their most impressive performance is in the second tier of England, which is equivalent to 15th place in the current English Championship.

And this was already forty years ago.

They spend more time in the third and fourth tiers, and since they were relegated from English League Two in the 2003-2004 season, they have spent seven or eight years in the fifth tier, which is the National League.

Mix.

That is already within the scope of amateur leagues.

Although York City has always maintained its status as a professional club, it was only in the 2011-2012 season that they returned to League Two.

After struggling to avoid relegation the following season, they finished seventh in the 2013-2014 season and qualified for the promotion play-offs.

But unfortunately, they lost to Fleetwood (Vardy’s parent team) in the semi-finals and failed to be promoted to League One.

This season, the English League Two has played 15 rounds, and York City is only ranked 22nd among 24 teams, and is in danger of being relegated.

But their performance in the League Cup was very good.

In the first three rounds, they defeated Blackpool, Leicester City, and Norwich respectively, and were able to advance to today's fourth round, which is the top 16, and can have a head-to-head showdown with Chelsea! -

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York City's home stadium is Busham Crescent Stadium, with a capacity of more than 9,000 spectators.

This is already a very good stadium in the lower leagues.

But the problem is that this is a stadium that was built in the 1930s and 1940s. The stadium even suffered air raids and was damaged by bombs during World War II.

Even after many renovations later, its infrastructure is still relatively dilapidated.

On the day of the game, it rained heavily, and then there was a large area of ​​water on the stadium.

After inspection by the referee team, they felt that the venue was still acceptable, so they decided to continue the game as usual.

But as the game progressed, the rain became heavier and there was more and more water.

When players play football on the court, every kick they kick will create a wave of waves, and every kick they step on will be filled with water, just like a water fight.

In this case, Chelsea players with more delicate footwork will obviously be more affected.

As for York City, their head coach Wilcox is obviously more familiar with York City's weather and venue. He has early arranged a lineup with high center Jack Hyde as the core of the attack, focusing on defensive counterattacks and long pass rush.

Hang.

This is obviously a very correct strategy.

With the strength of a League Two team, how can it possibly compete with a Premier League powerhouse like Chelsea?

As for physical fitness, they are not afraid of Chelsea.

In fact, York City relied on this move to defeat Premier League teams like Leicester City.

Today happens to be a rainy day again, and the field is muddy. It’s the right time and the right place, and everyone is in the right place. York City is becoming more and more confident as they play.

Chelsea's game is a bit difficult.

In fact, this strikerless formation is rarely used today, and the players will have some problems in some coordination.

And because the court was covered in water, the ball became slippery and heavy, making it harder to control than usual. Chelsea's passing and receiving errors increased many times more than usual.

And their lineup is not easy to imitate York City in playing high football.

After all, the two center forwards are not there, and there is not even an authentic center on the field. Should Oscar be allowed to compete for headers in front?

All these factors made the first half of the game extremely uncomfortable, and it was difficult for Chelsea to get any decent shooting opportunities.

A funny thing happened in the 35th minute.

Loftus-Cheek kicked the ball into the frontcourt with a big kick. York City center back Keith Lowe made a big kick to make a clearance but missed it, and the ball leaked behind.

Oscar quickly caught up and got rid of the tall and bulky defender by swiping the ball hard.

At this time, York City goalkeeper Oleinik attacked. The moment he fell to the ground, Oscar moved to the right and shook him over.

At this time, although Oscar's shooting angle is relatively small, the opposite goal is already empty.

So Oscar gave a gentle push in the direction of the goal, and then turned around to celebrate the goal.

But the ball was rolling toward the goal. It was about to roll into the goal, but it stopped!

A puddle of mud in front of the goal "stopped" the ball on the goal line!

The ball didn't go in!
To be continued...