Chapter 761: The First Game of 2020

Chapter 761 The first match of 2020...

The first day of 2020, Emirates Stadium, London, England.

At 21 o'clock in the evening, a focus match of the st round of the Premier League kicked off at the Emirates Stadium, with Arsenal facing Manchester United.

On December 12 last year, Arteta replaced Emery, who had a poor record, and became the head coach of Arsenal. So today's game is also the first time that Arteta has faced Manchester United since he became the head coach of Arsenal.

In the past four seasons, Arsenal is the team that has defeated Manchester United the most.

Since Mourinho became Manchester United's head coach, Manchester United has only lost 5 games in the Premier League, 2 of which were lost to Arsenal.

First, on May 2017, 5, in the 7th round of the Premier League, Manchester United, who was competing for the championship on multiple fronts, lost 36:0 to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium and had to postpone the championship celebration that had been prepared.

Then came the 30th round of the Premier League last season, also at the Emirates Stadium. Manchester United, who had extended their unbeaten record in the Premier League to 68 games, had their unbeaten record ended by the Gunners at home.

It can be said that, to some extent, Arsenal is the nemesis of Manchester United, which dominates the Premier League and even Europe. They first almost let Manchester United's first Premier League title in the post-Ferguson era slip away, and then ended Manchester United's terrifying record of 68 unbeaten Premier League games.

However, looking at the past 30 encounters between the two sides, Arsenal's record is somewhat embarrassing. They only won 5 times, while Manchester United won 25 and drew 19 in the remaining 5 games.

In the entire history of the Premier League, the two sides have met 55 times before, and Manchester United has achieved 27 wins, 14 draws and 14 losses, with a winning rate of nearly %, which can be called Arsenal's nemesis.

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It is worth mentioning that Bruno was not on the field in the two recent losses to Arsenal by Manchester United. In his career, Bruno has won all 10 matches against Arsenal, 8 of which were after joining Manchester United. In these 10 games, Bruno scored 13 goals and assisted 6 times, almost averaging 2 goals per game, making him a real nemesis of Arsenal.

After Arteta took over as coach of Arsenal, the Gunners have not tasted the fruits of victory. The results of 3 games are 2 draws and 1 loss. The first game was a 0-0 draw with Everton away from home. The second game was the Boxing Day battle a week ago. Arsenal was again tied 1-1 by Bournemouth away from home. Then in the final battle of 2019, they lost 1-2 to Chelsea at home.

Therefore, Arteta is also facing considerable pressure at present.

In fact, Arsenal's recent form is very bad. In the past November and December, the Gunners played a total of 11 games in all competitions, with an embarrassing record of 12 win, 13 draws and 1 losses, and only won one victory in the Premier League away challenge to West Ham United.

Such performance also made Arsenal rank 20th in the Premier League standings with only 5 wins, 9 draws and 6 losses after 12 rounds of the Premier League.

For Arsenal, the home game against Manchester United is a game that they have to win, because the cost of losing may be unbearable for all Arsenal players!

Faced with such huge pressure, Arsenal played very actively after the start of the game and took the lead early.

In the 8th minute, Maguire failed to create offside after falling back, Kolasinac's cross from the left side of the penalty area hit Lindelof and deflected, and the unguarded Pepe shot into the net from 10 yards.

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Arsenal's goal made the whole stadium agitated. The fans were full of passion. Every time the team took the ball and passed the ball, they would cheer and applaud warmly.

The Arsenal players on the field were also infected, and they all ran more actively, and their condition was obviously mobilized.

The most obvious phenomenon is that not long after Manchester United kicked the ball out again, the ball was quickly snatched by Arsenal, and it was near the midline. Afterwards, Arsenal began to pass back and reorganize, but the team steadily pressed forward.

The tempo of the entire game was also brought up.

Of course, Manchester United is not a weak team that can be bullied at will. Accustomed to big scenes, they quickly stabilized their position and launched a counterattack under the leadership of captain Bruno.

Soon, Manchester United reorganized an attack.

Bruno pulled to the right to receive the ball, and after receiving the pass, he quickly cut diagonally, but this time Arsenal was prepared. Kolasinac kept entangled with him all the way, and Xhaka also took the initiative to retreat to participate in the defense.

Bruno quickly passed the ball to Gundogan and continued to rush diagonally towards the top of the penalty area.

After getting the ball, Gundogan took two steps forward and immediately passed the ball directly to the right side of Arsenal's penalty area.

At this time, Harry Kane, who was originally ambushing at the front of the penalty area, quickly ran to the right side of the penalty area, but David Luiz followed him all the way.

The England centre-forward tried to get rid of David Luiz's cross as he stopped the ball.

As long as he passes the ball in, Bruno can quickly come up and grab the ball.

But David Luiz was clearly prepared and blocked him from behind. Harry Kane had no choice but to turn around and protect the ball, and when he saw Cancelo coming up, he immediately passed the ball back.

The Portuguese right-back had already reached a position almost in balance with the top of the penalty area, but he was sticking to the right side. He wanted to go down the bottom, but Xhaka followed him closely.

Cancelo was not sure, and when he saw that Harry Kane had not had time to return to the middle of the penalty area, he decisively chose to stop suddenly and dribble the ball into the inside.

Just at this moment, Bruno ran back from the front and raised his hand to ask for the ball again.

Obviously, he saw his opportunity!

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Bruno did see an opportunity.

Arsenal's defense was indeed very solid. Even when Manchester United was running back and forth, their entire back line remained very neat.

However, no matter how solid the defense is, there will inevitably be loopholes. The problem with Arsenal's defense is that they pressed too high, especially when Bruno retreated to the right side of the penalty area to receive Cancelo's pass, their entire defense line almost pressed to the penalty spot.

Papastathopoulos defended in the top area of ​​the penalty area, Torreira moved to the right side of the top area, and the two protected the front of the penalty area.

It can be said that Arsenal’s two lines of defense are already very tight.

It can be seen that Arteta has done a lot of work after taking over Arsenal. At least Arsenal's defensive strength has been greatly improved.

Under such circumstances, it would be difficult for Manchester United to open up if they attacked head-on.

But now the pace is very fast, and the defense line is pressed slightly forward. It is obvious that they are wary of Bruno's long-range shooting ability and worried that he will suddenly kick the ball after receiving it. This is no joke.

When Bruno received the ball, he clearly grasped the situation on the field through his own observation.

He chose to pass the ball horizontally to Gundogan, who had temporarily broken away from Torreira's defense, and he quickly changed direction and ran behind Kolasinac at the fastest speed.

Gundogan also understood what he meant. When Bruno just started, he quickly passed the ball directly into the penalty area and passed it to the bottom line through the gap between Kolasinac and David Luiz.

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Bruno started very quickly, and in an instant he shook off Kolasinac and rushed directly into the penalty area.

David Luiz's reaction speed was also fast. He chased back quickly, but was still one step ahead of Bruno.

Bruno caught the ball outside the right corner of the small penalty area, and David Luiz was almost parallel to him.

At this time, Bruno has three choices.

First, he can pass the ball horizontally to the middle, Harry Kane is no longer offside, and Rashford follows at the back post.

But whether it was Xhaka or Niles, they were blocking in front of them, and passing the ball horizontally might not find them.

Another option is to stop and dribble the ball, try to shake off David Luiz and then shoot with his left foot, but since Papastathopoulos and others have returned to the small penalty area, the possibility of this shot is not high.

The last option is also the boldest, which is to speed up to the bottom line and then directly hit the goal yourself.

Being in the right corner of the small penalty area, the shooting angle is already very small. If you take a step further to the baseline, the shooting angle will be even smaller. It's hard to say whether you can even take off the ball by then.

Relatively speaking, the first option is the safest and most reasonable choice.

If his teammates can seize the opportunity to score a goal, Bruno will be the credit, but if they fail to score, Bruno will not be blamed.

It can be said that this is the best choice to ensure harvest in droughts and floods. No matter whether it succeeds or not, he will be appreciated.

The third option is the riskiest. If you score, it will be better. If you don't score, you will definitely be called selfish.

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All this information flashed through Bruno's mind the moment he received the ball, and he made the decision in an instant.

Bruno almost accelerated with the ball the moment he received it, after a brief pause.

David Luiz just instinctively followed Bruno's stop, and then was left behind.

After Bruno shook off David Luiz, he quickly caught up and started shooting.

Arsenal goalkeeper Leno bent down to prepare for the save and stood next to the right post.

At that moment, Bruno noticed that there was an extremely narrow gap between his left foot and the goal post. Bruno judged that the ball could pass through this gap.

This judgment comes from his usual training. The right post and Leno's left foot are like the two poles he uses in training. All Bruno needs to do is shoot the ball between the two poles.

He kicked right away without any hesitation!

In order to better avoid Leno's left foot, he deliberately hit a rebound ball.

Leno was also very focused. He kept his eyes on Bruno. After seeing Bruno shake off David Luiz, he knew that Bruno was going to shoot. He immediately bent down to prepare for the save, while also guessing at what angle Bruno would shoot.

As a result, Bruno chose the near corner, which was a somewhat surprising choice.