Green Journey

Chapter 257 Return to the team!

The next day, January 1th, Chu, who had rushed back to Leicester City that night after picking up the general from Zurich, Switzerland, went to the training base early in the morning to sell his vacation.

After nearly two weeks of rest, the soft tissue contusion of Chu Zheng's right thumb has only a little pain. Although the fracture has not completely healed, Chu Zheng can no longer feel the pain when turning his thumb.

When he came to the training base, Chu Zheng went to the locker room to change his clothes, then came to the court for a few laps of jogging, and then did some basic ball training.

When the time came to 8 o'clock, Chu Zheng packed up the ball and walked directly to the medical department.

"Hey Chu, Congratulations!"

"Thanks, Max!"

"Hey Chu, Congratulations!!"

"..."

Along the way, every Leicester City employee who encountered Chu Zheng would congratulate Chu Zheng, and some of them would even give Chu Zheng a big hug directly.

"Hey! Congratulations! Chu, do you know? You are the first player from our Leicester City to win the Puskas Award!"

As soon as he approached the medical room, David, the team medical director, stood up and gave Chu Zheng a warm hug.

"Healed well, I think you can return to the team!" After more than ten minutes, David, who had carefully checked Chu Zheng's right hand, came to a conclusion.

Hearing this, the smile on Chu Zheng's face became brighter again.

There was no game in the past two weeks, and he could only watch helplessly. Chu Zheng felt itchy in his bone marrow.

By the time Chu Zheng showed up at the training ground after having breakfast in the restaurant, it was almost 9 o'clock.

As soon as they stepped onto the court, Vardy, Mahris, Kanter, Morgan and others gave Chu Zheng a congratulatory hug one by one, with sincere smiles on their faces.

But soon Chu Zheng discovered that something was wrong with the atmosphere in the team.

Compared with usual times today, Vardy, Mahrez and others seem less active, and it seems that everyone is a little bit preoccupied.

Chu Zheng could probably guess what these guys were worried about.

Since the 1-0 home defeat to Bournemouth in the last round, many European media have hyped Leicester City's decline in the championship team.

Chu Zheng had seen most of those reports.

Chu Zheng had to admit that what the media said was quite bluffing, with a nose and eyes, and some authoritative media even listed detailed data for analysis.

Leicester City started with the match against Liverpool in the 18th round. Counting the recent two games in the English League Cup semi-finals and the third round of the FA Cup, Leicester City has already won five games.

At present, in the Premier League standings, Arsenal, which is in a very good state this year, ranks second, with 40 points, only 3 points behind Leicester City.

Although Chu Zheng knew that his teammates were worrying about gains and losses, he couldn't help it. This was Ranieri's job.

Now that the team has thought fluctuations, Ranieri must intervene in time, otherwise the players' thoughts will continue to spread.

Otherwise, Leicester City is likely to be affected by this kind of thinking about gain and loss, which will affect the overall state of the team.

At that time, it will be a series of disastrous defeats to welcome Leicester City.

Chu Zheng actually felt that this problem could be solved easily.

As long as a game is won heartily, the negative state of the team will disappear without a trace in an instant.

……

At noon, Leicester City embarked on a journey to the White Hart Lane Stadium in North London to play away against Tottenham Hotspur, their opponents in the 21st round of the Premier League.

At 19:30 in the evening London time, the White Hart Lane Stadium, which can accommodate 36200 players, was packed to the brim.

In the domestic LeTV sports live broadcast room, Zhan Jun and Zhang Lu are also ready for battle.

"Since Chu Zheng was injured in the game against Manchester City, he has rested for nearly two weeks!"

"Before the game, Ranieri was interviewed by the media. He didn't say whether he would start Chu Zheng, but he mentioned Chu Zheng's injury."

"Chu Zheng's right hand injury has recovered very well, and now it basically doesn't affect him much in the game."

After Zhan Jun finished speaking, Zhang Lu immediately said, "Chu Zheng's return to the team is a shot in the arm for Leicester City, which has been in a slump recently."

"We all know that Chu Zheng is now in the Leicester City team. He is no longer a simple midfield commander. His hard work on the field actually has a great impact on other Leicester City players. Therefore, it is not a problem at all to say that Chu Zheng is the spiritual leader of Leicester City..."

Zhan Jun nodded, agreed with this, and said with a smile: "If you watch the game carefully enough, you will find that there are some differences in the performance of Leicester City players when Chu Zheng is on the court and not on the court."

"When Chu Zheng was on the court, the other Leicester City players had a more determined attitude in the game, the direction was very clear, and there would be more risky passes."

"But Chu Zheng is not here, Leicester City players sometimes subconsciously play very conservatively, and the number of times they risk taking the ball forward will be significantly reduced when you look at the statistics after the game. Players will still play a little bit confused."

During the chat, the time came to 19:45.

Leicester City and Tottenham players also lined up in the narrow player tunnel at White Hart Lane, waiting for the referee to lead the way.

Chu Zheng was in the middle of the line. He put his hands on Vardy's shoulders in front of him, and the two were talking and laughing.

However, in the Tottenham queue, players kept looking at Chu Zheng frequently, with extremely complicated eyes.

Among them is Sun Xingmin.

Thinking of the record of 21 assists created by Chu Zheng in a single season in the Premier League, Sun Xingmin felt a strong sense of disbelief.

And in addition to Chu Zheng's 21 assists, he also has 10 Premier League goals.

For Sun Xingmin, who has always wanted to compete with Chu Zheng and prove that he is better than Chu Zheng, this super data is like a million-ton mountain that makes people unable to resist.

The only thing that makes Sun Xingmin feel a little lucky is that this guy doesn't seem to be in the national team.

But Sun Xingmin knows that it will be a matter of time before such a super player enters the national team.

I'm afraid that when they face the Chinese team in Asia, they will have a very, very, very headache.

Sun Xingmin has played football in Europe for so long, and he knows exactly what level of player Chu Zheng is in front of him.

Players of this strength are placed on the Asian field, which is tantamount to a nuclear bomb for other teams.

At 19:55, with the appearance of players from both sides, the game squads for Leicester City and Tottenham also appeared one after another.

Leicester City: (442)

Goalkeeper: Schmeichel

Guards: Danny Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fox
Midfielders: Mahrez, Kante, Chu Zheng, Albrighton

Forwards: Shinji Okazaki, Vardy

"Okay!" Seeing Chu Zheng appearing in the starting list, Zhan Jun raised his voice, "Chu Zheng is starting, this game is interesting."

"Last weekend, when Leicester City rotated 8 main players, they drew 2-2 with Tottenham in the FA Cup. This is Leicester City's longest winless record this season."

"Pochettino tried to use Lamela to limit Chu Zheng in the first round of the Premier League match against Leicester City, but it failed in the end."

"As for this game, it's still the same sentence, how will Tottenham limit Chu Zheng, the unprecedented super assist king in the history of the Premier League!"

After the words fell, Tottenham's starting lineup appeared on the screen.

Tottenham Hotspur: (4231)

Forward: Harry Kane

Front midfielder: Ali, Eriksson, Latin America
DM: Tom Carroll, Dale

Defenders: Ben Davies, Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Kyle Walker

Goalkeeper: Lori

"Tottenham's performance so far this season can be said to be extremely good. Except for Leicester City, which only lost one game, it is Tottenham. They have achieved 20 wins, 9 draws and 9 losses in the first 2 rounds of the Premier League. The record, only lost two games."

"It is worth mentioning that this is the fourth time in Tottenham's history that they have reached 20 rounds and only lost 2 games."

"The first three times Tottenham won the league championship in the end."

"So this game can be said to be the tip of the needle!" Zhang Lu smiled.

"Claudio Ranieri wants to keep the 3-point advantage, while Pochettino wants to close the gap with Leicester City and keep hope for the final sprint!"

(End of this chapter)