Chapter 302: Grab the Start
The biggest winner of the 2017-2018 League Cup semi-final draw is Liverpool. In addition to the weakest Bristol City in the semi-finals, the opponent drawn in the past quarter-finals was also easy, Millwall, a Championship team with almost the same strength as Bristol City. Therefore, Liverpool fans believe that the team they support will easily advance to the League Cup final!
What really makes Liverpool fans happy is that the first round of the League Cup semi-final is scheduled before the Anfield match against Manchester City.
At that time, Liverpool will challenge Bristol City as a guest, while Manchester City will play against Arsenal at home. It is clear who will put more energy.
However, the entire Liverpool team still needs to do their own preparations first. The 19th round of the 2017-2018 Premier League season, which is a guest challenge against Arsenal, is particularly important.
Klopp, who has already tied Mourinho's record of 52 points in the first half of the 2005-2006 season when he coached Chelsea, is ambitious. He 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 at 7:45 pm on Saturday, which is 3:45 am in the capital time.
Although this time period is not suitable for Chinese fans to watch the game, the two teams are very well-known in China, and fans can't help but wait for it.
Liverpool is a strong contender for the Premier League championship this season. The beautiful play and the Chinese player Li Qing are the fundamental factors for most Chinese fans to stay up late to watch the game.
Another part is the hardcore Arsenal fans. This season is Wenger's 22nd season as Arsenal coach. According to the current fifth place in the Premier League, both the club's top management and fans are very dissatisfied. Therefore, Wenger, who has been in charge of Arsenal for 22 years, is likely to leave North London after the end of this season. At that time, Wenger will never be seen sitting in the coaching seat of the Emirates Stadium again.
Arsenal's home game against Liverpool in the league is likely to be the last home game of Wenger's era.
At the routine press conference before the game, Wenger was full of confidence, saying that his team's fighting spirit and state were fine and they were ready to face the devil's Christmas schedule.
Liverpool coach Klopp, who was interviewed by the media, still had that 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 and 1 draw and 52 points, Manchester City ranked second with a difference of two points, Manchester United, which had lost points before, was already 12 points behind Liverpool, Chelsea ranked fourth with 37 points, Arsenal ranked fifth with 34 points, and the sixth place was not Tottenham, but Burnley, which performed well.
Back to the point, on the day of the game, the Emirates Stadium, which can accommodate 60,000 fans, was full.
The two teams have played against each other 51 times in the history of the Premier League, with Liverpool having a slight advantage with 19 wins, 17 draws and 15 losses. However, the three encounters between the two teams last season ended with Liverpool's victory. In addition to the pseudo-Reds 2-0 at Anfield in the first round, Liverpool has completed a four-game winning streak against Arsenal.
Liverpool fans are full of confidence and believe that their team will beat Arsenal away from home, thus continuing to maintain the 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 the two teams to draw, the coaches of these four teams hope that Liverpool will lose at the Emirates Stadium, especially Manchester United coach Mourinho and Manchester City coach Guardiola.
Guardiola is needless to say. It is not surprising that they will win at home against Bournemouth, their opponent in this round. As long as Liverpool loses points, they will immediately catch up or overtake!
In fact, even if Liverpool loses as a guest, it will not be Manchester United's turn to benefit directly, but the Premier League half-time points record was set by former Chelsea coach and current Manchester United coach Mourinho in the 2005-2006 season.
Because any record maker does not want to be surpassed by others.
…
"wuwuwuwuuuuuuuu——"
Liverpool player Li Qing got the ball, and there was a burst of boos over the Emirates Stadium. He raised his eyebrows and was very unhappy.
Sanchez, Lacazette and Iwobi rushed towards Li Qing, who was obviously stunned for a moment, and wanted to attack him collectively and catch him off guard!
If they can steal the ball and make an efficient counterattack from the beginning of the game, the hope of defeating the leader Liverpool will be greatly increased!
Iwobi, who was faster, took the lead and poked the ball stepped on by Li Qing's left foot.
At this moment, Li Qing pulled his left foot back and quickly pushed the ball to the left with the outside of his foot. Iwobi, who jumped too hard, had his pupils shrink suddenly. It was too late to brake suddenly. He could only watch the ball pass through his crotch along the ground.
Li Qing started on the spot, bypassed Iwobi, and pushed the ball forward. Sanchez was 1.7 meters tall and had a low center of gravity. He turned a corner while running quickly and hit Li Qing with his strong body.
Li Qing was prepared. He raised his left hand and pushed the ball to the right front with the inside of his left foot. At the same time, he used the huge reaction force brought by Sanchez to rush in the direction of the ball.
Ozil and Xhaka rushed out aggressively. Li Qing did not show off his excellent footwork. He poked the ball with his left toe and passed it to Firmino who retreated to receive the ball. The latter knocked the ball directly to Salah who was attacking on the right with his back to Koscielny.
Liverpool's attack has quickly developed from the middle to the right. The commentator in the commentary booth is still immersed in Li Qing's superb footwork to pass Iwobi and Sanchez.
Salah's dribbling on the right is not as spectacular as Li Qing's, but his passing and cutting cooperation with Arnold is good, and Liverpool's first threatening shot of the whole game was launched from the right.
Arnold received Salah's straight pass and cut into the attacking ribs. After attracting enough defensive attention, he pretended to look at Firmino in the penalty area and Salah who was advancing to the front point, and actually passed the ball quickly to the rarely visited area in front of the top of the penalty area.
The broadcast screen quickly switched shots as the ball moved, and Sky TV commentator Andy Gray suddenly shouted: "Li--"
Xhaka saw Li Qing raise his left foot to meet the ball, and naturally put his hands behind his back, trying to block the shot with his flesh and blood.
Unexpectedly, Li did not kick the ball with his left foot, but used the inside of his left foot to move the ball to the left front, and then swung his left foot again after shaking off Xhaka.
At this time, there was no Arsenal defender within three meters in front of him.
"Oops!"
Arsenal coach Wenger looked at Li Qing's back and felt a strong sense of uneasiness.
Like a cannonball, the football hit the left post of the goal fiercely in the eyes of desperate Arsenal fans, making a crisp sound-bang!
"Oh-My-God!" Sky TV commentator Andy Gray's voice rose eight degrees: "The home goal post stood up! Saved Arsenal!"