Chapter 967
A week later, Premier League teams, who had a short respite, reintroduced to the cruel championship and relegation battle.
After the last round of the fight, the situation of championship and relegation became clearer.
Chelsea, which tied, is already 9 points behind the top. With 11 rounds left in the league, there are basically only the possibility of winning the championship theoretically.
Arsenal was unexpectedly tied by deputy squad leader Birmingham, not only losing the lead in points, but also suffered a significant blow to morale. For a young team, this is almost more terrifying than losing two points.
Manchester United seized the opportunity. In the last round, their exciting victory not only narrowed the gap between the top scorer and the top scorer to 3 points, but also announced to the outside world that the Premier League overlord Red Devils is back. Now the media and fans say that it has been the era of Red Army Red Devils competition again, which is the best proof.
As for Liverpool, they have always been the favorites of the championship. Even if they were overtaken by Arsenal several times, their popularity has never changed. The reason why Liverpool is so strong is that Liverpool has two more stars than Arsenal, one is Chen Yu and the other is Gerald. Both of them have the ability to change the game with their own strength. Arsenal's players are too young, and captain Fabregas is only 21 years old. Such a team is difficult for fans and media to have too much confidence in them. Young people are passionate, but they have too much ups and downs. If they play smoothly, they are unstoppable and unsuccessful, and they may be defeated. How can fans and media believe that they can shake Liverpool and Manchester United's dominance.
Relegation is also the focus of the second half of the season. At some point, the attention they receive is not even worse than the championship game.
The league reached 28 rounds, and there was only one unwinning Derby County that was confirmed to be relegated. In addition to Derby County, it was not safe from deputy squad leader Birmingham to 12th place. Such a huge relegation army has also made the relegation battle in the Premier League this season extremely complicated, and of course, it is also extremely exciting.
At this time, every game will become very critical. To put it more harshly, even every goal and conceding will become very important. Maybe when the small points are counted, a goal may make a season of hard work go to waste.
Manchester United and Liverpool are both weak teams in this round of championship teams. Although Chelsea's opponent West Ham United, who still has hope of winning the championship, is not weak, they are worried about relegation and hopeless in the European competition, and are even easier to play than Manchester United and Liverpool's opponents.
Only Arsenal opponent Aston Villa, who suffered setbacks in the last round, is stronger, and they have a great chance of getting a place in the League Cup, so this game is a difficult game for Arsenal.
Big teams like Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United compete for championships every season and have a lot of experience. They know that the most important thing at this time is not to care about other people's games, but to play their own games and do their own good so that they can benefit from other people's mistakes. They cannot win the ball, and no matter how much others lose, they cannot seize the opportunity.
After a week of rest, Liverpool is exhausted now. He played very well against Bolton, who is in urgent need of relegation away. Bolton ranked only 16th and the risk of relegation is very high. Although they are determined to score points on Liverpool, even if they get a point, Liverpool is in a good state and completely crushed them with their strength. They can't even play offensively, and they are beaten down by Liverpool's bombardment.
The final score was 3:1. This 1 goal was about to end the game. Liverpool's players relaxed their mentality and were scored by Bolton to score a goal that saved their face.
Manchester United continued the strong momentum of the last game. Facing Fulham, who urgently needed relegation, they were not ruthless and beat their opponents cleanly 3:0, leaving no chance for Fulham.
Even Chelsea, who had little hope of winning the championship, performed well, defeating West Ham United by 4 goals, allowing them to continue to maintain that faint hope.
Arsenal was tied by Aston Villa at home, which is considered an unpopular, but this unpopularity is also expected by many people. Arsenal is a young team after all. The draw by the deputy squad leader in the last game made their mood fluctuate a lot. Because Liverpool took the lead, Arsenal's young people were very anxious. This game was a home game again, and they were eager to win. Under Aston Villa's experienced defense, their short passes were penetrated and could not open Aston Villa's defense for a while.
Then the young Gunners became more and more urgent and the opportunity they created was not able to seize. Instead, Aston Villa broke through the goal with a counterattack. Then Arsenal became more and more urgent and the more they became less and less likely to start the situation. Seeing that the game was about to end, Arsenal players realized that if this continues, they might have fallen into this game. Although they are young, they are also giant players. They have experienced a lot of big scenes. They are confused for most of the time, and they still wake up at the critical moment of life and death.
Aston Villa saw that there was not much time left, and he bullied Arsenal without a high center forward, so he simply shrank tighter and wanted to use the iron barrel formation to win this victory.
However, once Arsenal became serious and calm, their mercury-like attack became difficult to stop. No matter how tight Aston Villa's defense was, they could pass the ball through the cracks and hit Aston Villa's penalty area several times.
The team's penalty area is similar to that of a woman's penalty area. Once it is hit, the player's heart will panic, and it is easy to make mistakes when panic. Arsenal soon seized the opportunity and scored a goal to equalize by Fabregas.
Later, Arsenal became more and more brave and even hit a goal post. However, because they had too little time, they could only shook hands with Aston Villa at home and made peace.
Arsenal was still the leader before two rounds, leading Liverpool by two points. After two rounds, the situation suddenly changed, and Liverpool led Arsenal by two points to the top.
This change is really unacceptable, but it also confirms the idea of many people. Arsenal can be a mess, but it may be difficult to reach the top. There are still ten rounds of the league left. After being pulled by Liverpool by two points, even if Arsenal loses the initiative to win the championship, including Manchester United, they can only look at Liverpool's face if they want to win the championship.
The biggest beneficiary is Manchester United. After winning consecutive games, Manchester United has quietly caught up with Arsenal, only one point away from Arsenal and only one game away from Liverpool. In other words, Manchester United has now become a powerful team for the championship.
Liverpool has always regarded Manchester United as its biggest opponent. Even when Chelsea was very popular, Liverpool still regarded Manchester United as its enemy. The reason is no different. Chelsea is a rampant. It has made great achievements because of Abramovie's Wizards, and may decline because of Abramovie's unsupport.
But Manchester United is not the case. They have a strong foundation, coach Ferguson is getting stronger, and the team has several talented players. They are chasing behind. Liverpool dare not slackew in the slightest. Once they make a mistake, they may be caught by Manchester United. If Manchester United overtakes at this stage, even if Liverpool has great skills, it will be difficult to reverse again.
So after the game, Liverpool's head coach Benitez issued a declaration of defending the title, saying that every ten rounds of games will be key and every game will be finals. If they want to defend the title successfully, they cannot be slacking off at all.
Finally, Benitez encouraged the players and said that the goal of this season is still to win the triple crown, and they will not retreat no matter how difficult the game is.
There is a reason for Benitez to talk about the goal of the triple-champion at this time, because they will then have another double match in one week and two and three matches. In addition to the league, the FA Cup and the Champions League have also reached a critical moment.
At this time, the club's senior management and coaching staff had some controversy, and the focus of the controversy was how to play the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
Some people think that Liverpool is in short supply, and it is good to deal with the league and the Champions League. It is a bit arrogant to win the triple-tall champion. Moreover, the opponent in the FA Cup quarter-finals is Chelsea. Now Chelsea has no hope in the league and the goal is all in the Champions League and the FA Cup. Chelsea will definitely do their best in this game against Chelsea, and Liverpool still has concerns. In the end, it may have consumed their physical strength in vain, but they were still eliminated.
Another group believes that Liverpool had won the double championship in Europe and the league last season. If there is no enterprising awareness at all this season, how can it deal with thousands of Liverpool fans? So they advocate continuing reforms.
Benitez also specifically asked Chen Yu about his opinion. Chen Yu's attitude was very firm and serious, that is, no matter how difficult it was, he would still strive to win the triple crown.
On the third day after the 28th round of the league, Liverpool took over Anfield and welcomed the revenge of Schalke who came to the home defeat.
In the first leg, Liverpool defeated Schalke 04 with Chen Yu's two away goals, which also gave them a great advantage in the knockout rounds in two rounds. As long as they do not lose more than two goals at home, it is a foregone conclusion to reach the quarterfinals.
Although there is no team in the history of the Champions League that has lost two goals at home and then turned around, Liverpool dare not be arrogant at all. If everyone is right before the interview, they will answer. In the interview, they said that the two-legged game has just been halfway through, and if they want to win, they must persist until the end.
Liverpool, which originally had an absolute advantage, is low-key and modest, but Schalke 04, which is already in a desperate situation, is very high-profile.
Schalke 04 head coach Slomka said that Liverpool has not advanced yet, Schalke 04 has not been eliminated. Although it is extremely difficult to win two goals in Liverpool, it is not impossible. He encouraged the players to give it a try and as long as they play to their true level, they will have no regrets even if they are eliminated in the end.
Schalke 04's players also expressed their intention to create some trouble for Liverpool at Anfield, hoping that Liverpool will attack boldly and contribute a wonderful game to the fans.
Chapter completed!