December 31, 2016, Emirates Stadium, London, England.
What is happening here today is a London derby in this season's Premier League, against Arsenal and Crystal Palace.
Today’s starting lineups for both teams are as follows:
Home team Arsenal, head coach Arsene Wenger, formation 4231
Cech
The back four from left to right is Monreal, Koscielny, Gabriel and Bellerin.
Double midfielder Xhaka and Elneny
The front three from left to right are Sanchez, Iwobi and Perez.
Olivier Giroud
Visiting team Crystal Palace, head coach Tong Yi, formation 4213
Alisson
Back four from left to right Cancelo, Rudiger, Van Dijk and Carvajal
Double defensive midfielder Casemiro and Kante
Single attacking midfielder De Bruyne
The front three from left to right Salah, Ibrahimovic and Kylian Mbappe
Almost all the main players of both teams played, especially the Crystal Palace side, which showed their main players. It can be seen that the Crystal Palace people are determined to win this game.
When seeing this starting lineup, Wenger and others were also very serious.
Sure enough, Crystal Palace attaches as much importance to this game as they do, and this game will definitely be a tough battle.
However, fortunately, they were already prepared for a hard fight before the game.
Therefore, they have nothing to worry about at this time.
They are very confident in their team and tactics. They feel that Arsenal have a chance to defeat Crystal Palace in this game.
beep!
Referee Atkinson blew the whistle to start the game, and the home team Arsenal kicked off first.
Arsenal came up and wanted to control the ball and move forward steadily. But at this moment, the Crystal Palace players surged up like a sea in an instant and launched a crazy high press. This time the bayonet saw red.
, without any temptation.
Fortunately, Wenger and others had made such a plan before the game, so the Arsenal players did not panic.
After passing the ball continuously, they calmly passed the football back to the back line under pressure.
Ibrahimovic rushed forward quickly and pounced on the Arsenal defender.
Gabriel crossed the ball and passed the ball to Koscielny, who didn't wait for Ibrahimovic to pounce on him, then directly passed the ball forward and drove the ball towards the frontcourt.
Arsenal's series of reverse passes in the midfield and backfield are to give Giroud time to advance forward. Now that Giroud is in place, they can directly pass the ball long and take advantage of Giroud's lob.
Sanchez and Perez have already moved forward quickly and are ready to respond.
There was even Iwobi responding from behind.
In this way, Arsenal will have many contact points, and Giroud will have more choices. It will be more difficult for Crystal Palace to defend. This is Arsenal's opportunity.
Obviously, water Crystal Palace's defense should pay more attention to Sanchez and Perez on the wings, because they are closest to the Crystal Palace goal. As for Iwobi, the midfielder's contact point, the defense should focus on
Weakness ignored some.
This is a great opportunity for Arsenal.
Iwobi is a good choice point.
The Arsenal fans were a little excited when they saw this. Arsenal's offense was coming out, which should be able to threaten the Crystal Palace goal. With luck, Arsenal can score a goal as soon as they come up.
This is simply a dream start!
Boom!
The football that flew over quickly was pushed out by Van Dijk who jumped up at the same time. Giroud did not grab Van Dijk.
this……
Arsenal's attack ended before it even started, which was beyond the expectations of Arsenal fans. I had imagined everything, but I didn't imagine that Giroud would fail in the high-altitude ball competition with Van Dijk.
damn it!
The Crystal Palace must have made special arrangements. Otherwise, how could Van Dijk have the upper hand?
Wenger also immediately turned his head and looked at Tong Yi on the other side, his heart trembled!
This Chinese soft-boiled man guessed Arsenal's tactical arrangement before the game and made corresponding arrangements?
On second thought, Wenger also felt that Arsenal's tactics were not difficult to guess.
After all, Crystal Palace's high-position pressing ability is too strong. Arsenal may not be able to easily confront the opponent head-on, so the long pass and lob tactics are the most suitable.
If they can think of it, Tong Yi can naturally think of it too.
Moreover, many teams have used this tactic against Crystal Palace before.
However, this tactic is really very different from Arsenal's. Arsenal's side almost directly plays long passes to the goal. Most of them control the pass from the ground, and Arsenal suddenly makes a long pass.
The probability of passing, rushing and hanging is extremely low. But they didn't expect that they did it, and they were guessed by Tong Yi on the opposite side.
This Chinese soft-boiled man is indeed quite talented.
Of course, Tong Yi is actually not sure that Arsenal will change their tactics and use the long pass and lob tactics that they rarely use. But it is indeed possible, and Tong Yi has only made a plan in this regard.
, just in case.
Unexpectedly, Wenger really let down his posture and directly played a long pass.
It seems that Wenger and Arsenal are very determined to win this game.
Then, this game will definitely not be easy to play.
Moreover, Tong Yi also believes that Arsenal will definitely not only prepare a long pass and lob tactic for this game. There will definitely be changes in the future. As for how it will change, it depends on how the game develops.
Tong Yi was shocked. This match was better than he expected.
It's much harder to kick.
As expected, Arsenal’s reputation is not in vain.
The football that was targeted flew towards Casemiro quickly, and Iwobi immediately rushed forward, hoping to take advantage of Casemiro's unpreparedness, rush from behind Casemiro, and grab the football first.
Unexpectedly, Casemiro seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He blocked the line and did not stop the ball. He immediately swept the football to the wing. The football rolled to Cancelo on the wing. Arsenal.
Perez on the side immediately turned around and quickly pounced on Cancelo who was holding the ball.
After Cancelo took two steps forward with the ball, he quickly passed the football to De Bruyne who retreated to get the ball.
Just when De Bruyne was about to receive the ball, Arsenal's defensive midfielder Xhaka also followed him near the midfield and directly stuck to De Bruyne from deep, preventing De Bruyne from turning around easily. He even tried to
The behind is interfering with De Bruyne, making it difficult for De Bruyne to hit the ball, and it is best to make mistakes.
It seems that Xhaka also has a special mission in this game, he should stick to De Bruyne.
However, De Bruyne did not stop the ball at all, but swept the ball to Cancelo who continued to advance from the wing.
Cancelo's speed exploded, and Perez accelerated violently but could not catch up.
Arsenal's defensive players became a little nervous.
Crystal Palace's offense advanced very quickly, and the rhythm of the offensive and defensive transitions was really fast.
After De Bruyne passed the football, he immediately turned around and prepared to step in from behind to form more contact points, giving the players with the ball more passing options and reducing the pressure on the ball holder.
However, as soon as he turned around, he was directly dragged to the ground by Xhaka.
Xhaka's intention is obvious, which is to use fouls to interrupt Crystal Palace's offense. Even if he cannot interrupt Crystal Palace's offense, he cannot let De Bruyne participate in the offense and increase pressure on his defensive players.
After the foul, Xhaka immediately raised his hand to indicate to the referee that he had committed a foul.
He hoped that the referee would stop the game immediately. In this case, Crystal Palace's quick counterattack would completely collapse. But the referee ignored it at all and even made a gesture that was beneficial to the offense. In this regard, Xhaka
He didn’t feel disappointed either. This was what he expected!
As long as it can delay De Bruyne from participating in the offense, the foul is worth it.
And this foul should not result in a yellow card.
He immediately accelerated and rushed back to defend.
At this time, Cancelo on the wing had already reached the penalty area on the wing with the ball.
Arsenal's full-back Bellerin immediately rushed forward. He could no longer let Cancelo move forward with the ball. Moreover, he stepped forward to slow down Cancelo's progress and also to steal the ball for his teammate Perez.
It was time to return to defense, and then the two of them attacked from behind and directly killed Cancelo. This time the crisis was resolved.
But how could Cancelo let Bellerin succeed?
Your midfielder Xhaka You went to delay De Bruyne, haven't you come back yet?
Laterally changing to cut inward, Cancelo went directly to the center and into the space left by Xhaka.
very dangerous.
If there is no one in this position to block or intercept, Cancelo will have the opportunity to shoot directly from a long distance.
As a result, Elneny immediately moved sideways and quickly pounced on Cancelo. At the same time, Koscielny in the penalty area also immediately pushed out, blocking Cancelo's long-range shot while pressing towards Cancelo.
Luo, put pressure on Cancelo.
At the same time, Xhaka in the replay also rushed towards Cancelo quickly.
Attacked from three sides!
Full of pressure!
But Cancelo didn't panic at all. He didn't look like a newcomer or a young player at all. Seeing the three A's heading towards him, he acted very calmly. Just as Elneny was about to rush in front of him.
At that moment, Cancelo saw the right opportunity and directly poked the football out - a cross!
The football passed quickly from Elneny's two.
It rolled quickly between the legs and rolled directly behind him.
Elneny immediately united his legs, but it was too late and the football quickly rolled behind him.
Erneny was shocked, and he immediately turned around and looked over.
He saw Mbappe on the wing of Crystal Palace already cutting inside and rushing towards the football.
Danger, this is really too dangerous!
Arsenal's full-back Monreal on the other side was pushed up and Carvajal was pushed to the wing. There was no one in the middle to stop Mbappe.
Danger, very dangerous!
Gabriel in the penalty area had no choice but to put down Ibrahimovic and rush towards Mbappe crazily.
Because he had seen Mbappe's long-range shot with a kick, he rushed out quickly and used his body to block Mbappe's long-range shot. Who knew that Mbappe didn't have a long-range shot at all, but a fake shot?
With one dunk, he dunked directly past Gabriel who was rushing out, and then there was a huge gap in front of him.
Mbappe didn't hesitate this time and shot directly.
With a bang, Mbappe hit the football firmly and hit the ground with his kick!
The football clung to the turf and shot toward the goal at a rapid pace.
Mbappe quickly broke through to the left and suddenly volleyed into the lower right corner of the corner. The ball was very fast. Cech in front of the goal reacted, but his body was affected by inertia, and his save was still half a beat too slow.
.The football rolled past his fingertips and rolled into the Arsenal goal from the lower right corner.
In less than three minutes of the first half, Crystal Palace broke through Arsenal's goal and got off to a good start!
The entire Emirates Stadium was completely silent!
Everyone in Arsenal couldn't believe that their team had conceded a goal so quickly. It was unbelievable!
Tong Yi was also a little surprised. The goal came too suddenly, and the game was too smooth, right?