Chapter 302: Getting the Start
The biggest winner of the League Cup semi-final draw in the 2017-2018 season was undoubtedly Liverpool. In addition to Bristol City, which was the weakest in the semi-finals, the opponents drawn in the past quarter-finals were equally easy. Millwall, a team with Bristol City. Lestore City is a Championship team with almost the same strength, so Liverpool fans believe that the team they support will easily advance to the League Cup final!
What really makes Liverpool fans happy is the timing of the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final, which happens to be before facing Manchester City at Anfield.
At that time, Liverpool will challenge Bristol City as a guest, while Manchester City will face Arsenal at home. It is clear who puts in more energy.
However, for the Liverpool team, they still need to make their own preparations first. It is particularly important to challenge Arsenal as a guest in the 19th round of the 2017-2018 Premier League season.
Klopp, who has already tied Mourinho's half-time record of 52 points in charge of Chelsea in the 2005-2006 season, is ambitious and has decided to raise this record by three points!
Defeating Arsenal as a guest is the goal of the entire Liverpool team!
The focus of Arsenal's home game against Liverpool is the first game of the 19th round of the 2017-2018 season. In order to maintain sufficient fan attention, the Premier League has arranged the game between the two teams separately on Saturday night at 7:45 pm It's going on, which is 3:45 a.m. Imperial City time.
Although this time period is not suitable for Chinese fans to watch football, the two teams have huge popularity in China, and fans can't hold back their expectations and wait patiently.
Liverpool is a strong contender for the Premier League title this season. Their good playing style and Chinese-American player Li Qing are the fundamental factors why most Chinese fans decide to stay up late to watch the game.
The other part are die-hard Arsenal fans. This season is Wenger's 22nd season coaching Arsenal. According to the current fifth place in the Premier League, both the club's senior management and the fans are very dissatisfied. Therefore, Wenger, who has been in charge of Arsenal for 22 years, is very dissatisfied. It is possible that he will leave North London at the end of this season and will never see Wenger sitting in the coaching bench at the Emirates Stadium again.
Arsenal's home game against Liverpool is likely to be the last home game in the Wenger era in which Arsenal leads Arsenal against Liverpool.
At the regular press conference before the game, Wenger was full of confidence, saying that his team's morale and condition were fine, and they were ready to face the devil's Christmas schedule.
Liverpool head coach Klopp, who was interviewed by the media, still had the same passionate expression and was full of confidence in the next game.
Before the start of the 19th round of the Premier League in the 2017-2018 season, Liverpool ranked first with 17 wins, 1 draw and 52 points. Manchester City ranked second with a difference of two points. Manchester United, which had previously lost points, was already 12 points behind Liverpool and ranked third. Chelsea of 4 ranks fourth with 37 points, Arsenal ranks fifth with 34 points, and sixth place is not Tottenham, but Burnley who performed well.
Closer to home, on the day of the game, the Emirates Stadium, which can accommodate 60,000 fans, was packed.
The two teams have met a total of 51 times in the history of the Premier League. Liverpool has a slight advantage with 19 wins, 17 draws and 15 losses. However, the three meetings between the two teams last season ended with Liverpool winning, plus the first-round false draw at Anfield Stadium. In the double red meeting, Liverpool has completed four consecutive defeats against Arsenal.
Liverpool fans are full of confidence and believe that their team will defeat Arsenal away from home and maintain their league points advantage.
Manchester City coach Guardiola, Manchester United coach Mourinho, Chelsea coach Conte and Tottenham coach Pochettino are all waiting for the end of this game. Compared with those who expect a draw between the two teams, these four teams The team's head coach prefers Liverpool to lose at the Emirates Stadium, especially Manchester United head coach Mourinho and Manchester City head coach Guardiola.
Needless to say, Guardiola, the opponent they faced in this round, Bournemouth, won't be a surprise at home. As long as Liverpool loses points, they will immediately catch up or overtake!
In fact, even if Liverpool loses as a guest, Manchester United will not directly benefit. However, the Premier League half-time points record was set by the former Chelsea coach and current Manchester United coach Mourinho in the 2005-2006 season.
Because no record creator wants to be surpassed by others.
…
"wuwuwuwuuuuuuuu——"
When Liverpool player Li Qing got the football, there was a burst of boos in the sky above the Emirates Stadium, and he immediately raised his eyebrows in displeasure.
Sanchez, Lacazette and Iwobi all pounced on Li Qing, who was obviously stunned, trying to launch a collective siege and catch him off guard!
If we can steal the ball from the beginning of the game and launch an efficient counterattack, our chances of defeating the leader Liverpool will be greatly increased!
The faster Ivobi took the lead and stretched out his foot to poke the football that was stepped on by Li Qing's left foot.
At this moment, Li Qing pulled his left foot back and quickly moved the football to the left with the outside instep. Iwobi's pupils shrank suddenly as he pounced too hard. It was too late to brake suddenly and he could only watch helplessly. Watching the football pass under the crotch against the ground.
Li Qing started on the spot, bypassed Iwobi, and passed the ball forward. Sanchez, who was 1.7 meters tall and had a relatively low center of gravity, turned a corner while running quickly and bumped into Li Qing with his strong body.
Unexpectedly, Li Qing was already prepared. He raised his left hand and moved the football forward to the right with the inside of the instep of his left foot. At the same time, he used the huge reaction force brought by Sanchez to rush out in the direction of the football.
Ozil and Xhaka rushed out aggressively. Li Qing no longer showed off his excellent foot skills. He poked the toe of his left foot and handed the ball to Firmino, who retreated to support him. The latter defended Koscielny with his back. In this situation, he directly knocked the ball to Salah who was attacking on the right.
Liverpool's offense has rapidly developed from the center to the right, and the commentator's attention in the commentary box is still immersed in Li Qing's superb foot skills to overcome Iwobi and Sanchez.
Salah's dribbling on the right is not as entertaining as Li Qing's, but he and Arnold's passing and cutting cooperation are good, and Liverpool's first threatening shot in the game was launched from the right.
Arnold received Salah's direct pass and cut into the attacking half. After attracting enough defensive attention, he pretended to look at Firmino in the penalty area and Salah who was advancing forward, and actually quickly passed the ball to the big goalkeeper. This is a rarely visited area in front of the top of the penalty area.
The broadcast screen quickly switched to the action of football, and Sky TV commentator Andy Gray suddenly shouted: "Lee——"
When Xhaka saw Li Qing swinging his left foot to meet the ball, his hands were naturally behind his back, trying to block the shot with his flesh and blood.
What he didn't expect was that Li didn't kick the football with his lowered left foot. Instead, he used the inside of the instep of his left foot to move the football to the left front and passed Xhaka before picking up his left foot again.
At this time, there were no Arsenal defenders three meters in front of him.
"Oops!"
Arsenal head coach Arsene Wenger looked at Li Qing's back and felt strongly uneasy.
In the eyes of the desperate Arsenal fans, the football was like a shell, and it hit the left post of the goal hard, making a crisp sound - bang!
"Oh-My-God!" Sky TV commentator Andy Gray's voice rose an octave: "The home goalpost stood up! Arsenal was saved!"
