Legendary Godfather

December 31, 2016, Emirates Stadium, London, England.

What is happening here today is a London derby in the Premier League this season, against Arsenal and Crystal Palace.

Today’s starting lineups for both teams are as follows:

Home team Arsenal, head coach 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 Mbappe

Almost all the main players of both teams played, especially the Crystal Palace side, which used all the 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 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 wanted to control the ball from the start and moved forward steadily. But at this moment, the Crystal Palace players surged up like a sea wave and started a crazy high press. This time, the bayonet is red, there is no 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 here, 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 football to Koscielny. The latter didn't wait for Ibrahimovic to pounce on him, and directly passed the ball towards the frontcourt.

Arsenal's series of reverse passes in the midfield and backfield are to give Giroud time to move 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 has many contact points and Giroud has more choices. It will be even more difficult for Crystal Palace to defend. This is Arsenal's opportunity.

Obviously, water

Crystal Palace's defense should focus more on 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 be weak and neglected.

This is a great opportunity for Arsenal.

Iwobi being approved 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 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 offense ended before it even started, which was beyond the expectations of Arsenal fans. I had imagined everything, but I did not 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 to look at Tong Yi on the other side, and his heart trembled!

This Chinese soft-fan 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 tactic is the most suitable.

If they can think of it, Tong Yi can naturally think of it.

Moreover, many teams have used this tactic against Crystal Palace before.

However, this tactic is really very different from Arsenal's style. Arsenal's side almost directly plays long passes. Most of them control the pass from the ground. The probability of their Arsenal suddenly making a long pass is extremely low. But they didn't expect that when they did this, 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 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 definitely not only prepared 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 spotted 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 without stopping the ball, he immediately swept the football to the wing. The football rolled towards Cancelo on the wing. Perez on Arsenal's 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 near the midfield and directly stuck to De Bruyne from deep, preventing De Bruyne from turning around easily. He even tried to interfere with De Bruyne from behind, making it difficult for De Bruyne to hit the ball, and preferably make mistakes.

It seems that Xhaka also has a special mission in this game, and 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 offense and defense 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 pulled to the ground by Xhaka.

Xhaka's intention was obvious, which was to interrupt Crystal Palace's offense with a foul. Even if he couldn't interrupt Crystal Palace's offense, he couldn't let De Bruyne participate in the offense and put more 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 didn't pay attention at all, and even made an offensive gesture. In this regard, Xhaka did not feel disappointed. 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 came forward. He could no longer let Cancelo hold the ball forward. Moreover, he came forward to slow down Cancelo's progress and to give his teammate Perez time to return to defense. 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 inside, Cancelo went directly to the center and into the space left by Xhaka.

very dangerous.

If no one steps up to block or intercept in this position, 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 immediately pushed out, blocking Cancelo's long-range shot while pressing towards Cancelo to put pressure on Cancelo.

At the same time, Xhaka rushed towards Cancelo in the replay.

Attacked from three sides!

Full of pressure!

But Cancelo didn't panic at all, he didn't look like a newcomer or young player at all. Seeing these three people heading towards him, he acted very calmly. Just when Elneny was about to rush in front of him, Cancelo saw the opportunity and directly poked the football out - 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 rolled quickly behind him.

Erneny was startled, 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 pressed up and Carvajal was pressed on 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 his leg swing, he rushed out quickly and used his body to block Mbappe's long-range shot. Who would have thought that Mbappe didn't take a heavy long-range shot at all, but faked a dunk, directly past Gabriel who rushed out, and then there was a huge gap in front of him.

Mbappe didn't hesitate this time and shot directly.

With a bang, Mbappé hit the football firmly and hit the ground with his kick!

The football clung to the turf and shot toward the back of the goal at a rapid pace.

Mbappe quickly made a horizontal breakthrough to the left, suddenly took off his foot and volleyed into the lower right corner of the reverse corner. The ball speed was very fast. Cech reacted in front of the goal, but his body was affected by inertia, and his save was still half a beat too slow. The football rolled past his fingertips and 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?