On November 4, the Premier League match resumed after a one-week break.
In this round of matches, except for the focus of the dialogue between Liverpool and Arsenal, the two giants, there is not much suspense in the other matches.
Last season was an unforgettable season for Arsenal fans.
Because Professor Wenger, who has worked hard at Arsenal for 26 years, chose to retire.
But rather than saying he is retiring, it is more appropriate to say he is forced to resign. Arsenal's performance last year was really poor. A large number of Gunners fans criticized Wenger for being old and having outdated tactical thinking, and even held multiple protests for this reason.
After Arsene Wenger left, the successor to Arsenal's head coach was not the one he designated as his successor. The Gunners' senior management hired the famous Spanish coach Unai Emery.
After listening to Emery's opinions, Arsenal's top management invested another 70 million pounds in this summer's transfer window, poaching several players from Serie A and the Bundesliga to make up for the shortcomings in the lineup.
"After Wenger left, the Gunners led by Emery started low and started high this season. After losing to Manchester City and Chelsea in the first and second rounds, Arsenal has been unbeaten for eight consecutive rounds!"
"At present, 10 rounds of the Premier League have been played. Arsenal's results are 7 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses, with 22 points, ranking fifth in the standings. They are still in the queue for the championship and have not been left behind." Zhan Jun
smiled.
After saying that, under the leadership of referee Clattenburg, players from Liverpool and Arsenal came on the stage to perform some pre-match rituals.
The live broadcast also showed the starting lineups of both sides in a timely manner.
Seeing this starting lineup, Zhan Jun grinned and said: "The legacy Wenger left to Emery can be said to be quite rich. Although Arsenal's legendary and meritorious head coach is no longer there, their players have not been lost."
"Yes." Zhang Lu nodded, "Not only has there been no loss of personnel, the Arsenal club's top management has also made up for the team's shortcomings."
"Arsenal spent a transfer fee of 27 million euros this season to buy the iron waist Torreira from Sampdoria in Serie A. In recent rounds, Torreira partnered with Xhaka, which made Arsenal's midfielder very stiff.
few!"
Liverpool away:(433)
Forwards: Mane, Firmino, Salah
Midfielder: Mo Yang, Henderson, Wijnaldum
Defenders: Robertson, Van Dijk, Gomez, Alexander-Arnold
Goalkeeper: Alisson
"After continuous rotation and rest adjustments on Liverpool's side in this game, Mane, Salah, Henderson and Van Dijk, who were suffering from minor injuries, all returned to action. This shows that Klopp's response to
Pay attention to the game.”
At 18:30, with the whistle of the referee Clattenburg, the only focus game of the 11th round of the Premier League officially started.
Nowadays, Premier League fans know very well that Liverpool and Arsenal are both powerful teams on the upward trajectory.
Although Arsenal has achieved excellent results since the start of the new season, in fact, compared with Liverpool, their results are still less convincing.
Liverpool, so far in the new season, has repeatedly encountered and defeated strong enemies.
Although Arsenal currently has an excellent record of being undefeated, they have not encountered a truly strong enemy.
Therefore, this game for Liverpool is also regarded by many media and fans as the most powerful touchstone for Arsenal.
Coupled with Arsenal's tradition of collapsing at any time in the league over the years, it's hard to say whether they can continue their current unbeaten run.
On the field, as soon as the game started, Arsenal set the tone for their game, which was to press high in the frontcourt and create a home momentum.
After Liverpool kicked off, Mo Yang took the ball in the center circle and directly passed the long ball forward to press Mane on the left side of Arsenal's defense.
Arsenal's formation also retreated very quickly. As soon as Firmino moved from the center to the left to meet Mane, Arsenal's two midfielders, Xhaka and Torreira, were already in position, on the left flank.
Cooperating with the two defenders, he established a numerical advantage and successfully won the ball.
Liverpool, on the other hand, saw the ball was lost and immediately launched a counterattack on the spot.
In less than seven or eight seconds, with the tacit interception of Mo Yang, Mane, and Firmino Henderson, Arsenal was forced to rush the ball forward from the backcourt and directly passed the ball away.
.
Van Dijk got the ball on the left center line of the center circle. He wanted to immediately move forward and pass it to Mo Yang, but when he saw Mo Yang waving his hand and pointing to his left, Van Dijk immediately half-turned and pushed the ball to the sideline.
Next to Robertson.
As a result, as soon as Robertson got the ball, Lacazette, Mkhitaryan and Ozil immediately formed a three-man circle in front and behind the center line of the wing.
Fortunately, Robertson was alert enough and realized the danger the moment the encirclement was formed. He quickly spiked the ball backwards and turned around, passing the ball back to Van Dijk who had retreated. Then the ball returned to the feet of Alisson who ran to the top of the arc.
Alisson stopped the ball and wanted to go directly to the center circle, but after watching for several seconds and not seeing any space, he had no choice but to spike the ball, turn to the right, and push the ball laterally to Arnold on the wing.
As a result, the danger suddenly erupted.
As soon as Arnold stopped the ball with his right foot, Aubameyang rushed in front of him.
Seeing Lacazette roaming near Gomez in the left rib, and Ozil in front of Van Dijk at the top of the arc, he knew very well that he had no ball to pass.
So he quickly spiked the ball toward the sideline, ran a few steps, and thought of making a long pass to the frontcourt.
But Aubameyang seemed to have guessed Arnold's intention. He quickly approached, stretched out his foot to block, just blocked the ball, and got the ball that rolled back to the baseline.
After Arnold made a mistake, he reacted very quickly, turned around and chased after him, and neatly blocked Aubameyang on the outside. The two of them entered the penalty area from the sideline of the penalty area.
Before the baseline, Aubameyang found himself stuck behind Arnold, and while running, he suddenly passed an inverted triangle back to Ozil who was advancing in the middle of the penalty area.
Before the penalty kick, Van Dijk and Ozil started at the same time, but when they came to the path of the ball, Ozil was squeezed away by Van Dijk without even struggling, and the ball was cleared out of the sideline.
On the sidelines, Gunners new coach Emery was applauding with a smile on his face, seemingly very satisfied with the team's sudden counterattack.
Emery knows very well how dangerous the pressing defensive strategy he set for this game is against a team like Liverpool.
Once Liverpool seizes the opportunity to attack, Liverpool's counterattack speed is likely to directly bring fatal consequences to them.
But this is the new football philosophy he brought to Arsenal.
Although dangerous, the benefits are also very rich.
In any field in this world, high risk also means high reward.
This kind of counterattack starting from the opponent's half can not only form a very dangerous second attack, but also greatly reduce the pressure on the defensive players in the backcourt.
Not far away from Emery, Klopp was sitting firmly on the coaching bench, chatting and laughing with his assistant Peter, and seemed not to care about the scene he just discovered.
Before the game, Klopp had already studied Arsenal thoroughly.
Arsenal's wolf pack-style counter attack and containment cut off their passing routes and steal the ball from all angles. Although the threat is indeed great, the hidden dangers it brings to themselves are also not small.
As long as Mo Yang is on the court, Klopp never worries that his team will not be able to catch the opponent's tactical loopholes.
More than his offensive efficiency, Klopp is not afraid of any team on the planet.
Because he has the best all-around midfielder on the planet.