In the second half, the teams switched sides. New Manchester United continued to park the bus in front of their goal, while Arsenal maintained their unhurried, measured attacks, as if they were practising attacking routines on the training ground.
New Manchester United tried to make up for the gap in quality through relentless pressing. This gave Arsenal several free-kick opportunities in New Manchester United's half, a few of which were truly heart-stopping. Fortunately, none of them led to another goal.
Time ticked by. In the 52nd minute of the second half, Arsenal's substitute forwards Boa Morte and Upson went to the touchline to warm up, clearly ready to come on at any moment.
Ethan spotted Upson on the sidelines. This future England international was currently just an underused young prospect at Arsenal, only able to get playing time in matches like The FA Cup.
"If I had enough opportunities, I could definitely build an invincible team!" Ethan said fiercely.
If nothing else, with his extra decade-plus of football knowledge, his familiarity with future football superstars, and the funds he currently had at his disposal, it would be more than enough for him to build a super team.
But that was obviously not possible now.
Just as Ethan was lost in thought, something unexpected suddenly happened on the pitch.
New Manchester United's right midfielder Lyons received the ball just outside his own penalty area. As he was about to turn, Arsenal's left-back Winterburn slid in from behind with a fierce tackle, sending both Lyons and the ball out of bounds.
Winterburn got up from the ground, looked at the prostrate Lyons, shrugged indifferently, and started to walk away.
Bruce, who had been nearby, was instantly furious. He charged over and gave Winterburn a hard shove.
It was worth noting that Winterburn had quite a history of animosity with Manchester United players. In 1988, his mockery of a United player missing a penalty nearly led to an all-out brawl between the two teams. Then in 1990, a reckless foul by him caused players from both sides to come to blows, resulting in the most serious mass brawl in the history of the two clubs.
Precisely because of this long-standing feud, when Bruce saw Winterburn scythe down Lyons, he was so enraged that he pushed him to the ground. Winterburn, not one to back down, got up and threw a punch at Bruce.
Players from both teams quickly swarmed around them. Fortunately, the referee reacted quickly and, with the help of the assistant referees, separated the players, preventing a full-scale brawl on the pitch.
"Let's see how the referee will handle this. Winterburn's challenge was certainly excessive, but Bruce's impulsive reaction should also have consequences. Winterburn's punch afterward is equally unforgivable. Now we wait for the referee's decision!"
"Oh, red cards! Two red cards! The referee has shown red cards to both Winterburn and Bruce, sending both players off! The Arsenal players seem very unhappy and are surrounding the referee to protest, but the referee is gesturing for them to calm down and indicating that he may produce more cards!"
"My goodness, who would have thought that in New Manchester United's historic first appearance at Highbury, their first televised match, they would also receive the first red card in the club's history? Remember, in all their previous matches, they had never been shown a straight red card by a referee. This is a first!"
"So many firsts are happening at the same time at Highbury. No wonder everyone says this will be a match for the history books!" Andy Gray commented with a laugh.
But Ethan, standing on the touchline, could not bring himself to laugh at all.
"Ethan, what do we do now?" Walsh walked over to him and asked.
"Is Lyons okay?" Ethan looked into the distance, where Lyons was still receiving temporary treatment from the physio.
"He's fine."
"The physio says it's nothing serious!"
Ethan breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Cassel, who shook his head, indicating that he did not know what to do either.
For a team to have such an incident, with the manager, captain, and key centre-back all being the same person and getting sent off with a red card, this might even be unprecedented in football history.
"My suggestion is to take off Rhodri Giggs and bring on Danny Collins!" Cassel said after thinking for a moment.
"Defend? Jim?"
Cassel nodded. He felt the best course of action now was to defend and avoid conceding more goals.
But Ethan was deeply unwilling. Although he had not charged onto the pitch to join the fight, he had desperately wanted to. Winterburn's tackle from behind was too brutal, and his nonchalant attitude afterward made it worse.
"Take off Rhodri. His stamina is pretty much gone. Bring on David Bell. At the same time, have Danny Collins replace Frank Clark. We'll switch to a 4-3-2 formation. Attack!" Ethan declared fiercely.
Anyway, losing by two goals was still a loss. They might as well go all out and fight them head-on!
Cassel was stunned for a moment, but quickly understood. He smiled at Ethan and immediately went to arrange the tactics. As a veteran Manchester United man, he naturally wanted to see Ethan dare to go all out against Arsenal.
Soon, New Manchester United's substitutions caught Andy Gray's attention.
"Goodness! New Manchester United have made two substitutions at once. They've replaced a midfielder with a centre-back, but also swapped Rhodri Giggs for a striker. Are they planning to keep fighting Arsenal to the bitter end?"
"Oh, wait... foul! Ljungberg has the ball. New Manchester United's left-back Patrice Evra commits a foul!"
"Bergkamp takes the free-kick. Gary Turner heads the ball out of the box before Adams can reach it. Victor Moses gets the ball. Vieira, like a heavy tank, knocks him over. Arsenal foul. The referee awards New Manchester United a set piece."
"Lyons takes the set piece, but David Bell fails to control it under pressure from Bould. The ball is lost!"
The match continued fiercely amid fouls and challenges, with the referee's whistle blowing constantly. Despite being a man down, New Manchester United put up stubborn resistance, especially since the opposition were also down a man.
"Patrice!" Ethan called out to Evra as he came near, signalling for him to push further forward.
The latter nodded.
An opportunity soon arrived.
Ljungberg, that old rival, drifted into the centre to receive the ball but was dispossessed by Victor Moses. Moses looked up to pass, but when he scanned ahead, all he saw were Arsenal players.
"Over here, Victor!" Evra shouted as he sprinted forward desperately.
Moses passed almost without thinking, but his passing technique was not great. The pass was too heavy. While it bypassed Dixon's defensive line, it also made the ball difficult for Evra to reach.
Even so, Evra kept sprinting forward like a bolt of black lightning, piercing through Arsenal's defence. Even as the ball looked about to go out of play, he did not slow down.
Finally, Evra managed to cut the ball back right before the byline, though his momentum carried him over the line. He quickly jumped up from the ground and, before the recovering Dixon could intervene, played a cutback pass. Lyons arrived through the middle like a cavalry charge and sent a curling cross into the box.
Jonathan Matten, the tall striker, had not given up either. While Evra was desperately chasing the ball, he kept pushing toward Arsenal's penalty area. So when Lyons' cross came in, just as everyone thought no one would be there, he suddenly surged ahead of the inattentive Bould and executed a diving header.
The young Manninger could not produce a miracle. He could only watch as Jonathan grabbed the ball from the net and ran back toward the centre circle.
2-1! In the 73rd minute, New Manchester United, relying on unwavering fighting spirit, pulled one back.
This goal completely ignited New Manchester United's momentum and fighting spirit, especially on the left flank, where Evra was exceptionally lively and dominant, almost completely overpowering Ljungberg in their duels.
In the 78th minute, it was Evra again, receiving a diagonal long ball from Lyons on the left, evading Dixon's challenge, and sending in a cross that nearly forced an own goal from Adams.
In the 82nd minute, Evra came again. Just past the halfway line, he unleashed a long-range shot, but the ball was comfortably gathered by Manninger.
In the 85th minute, Lyons won a free-kick in the attacking third. Gary Turner's header skimmed the crossbar and went out.
In the 87th minute, Jonathan Matten was pulled down in the box by Bould. However, the referee's view was blocked, and he missed what should have been a clear penalty.
In the 89th minute, New Manchester United pushed forward through the centre. Smith played a through ball to David Bell, whose shot was parried by Manninger. Adams cleared to the edge of the box, but it fell to Smith, who volleyed it over the bar.
In the 90th minute, Arsenal attacked into New Manchester United's half. Victor Moses intercepted and launched a long ball. David Bell switched play to the left. Evra beat Dixon to the ball and delivered a low cross. Jonathan Matten's shot was denied by the post.
In the final 20 minutes, especially the last 10, New Manchester United seemed to go berserk, bombarding Arsenal's penalty area relentlessly. The entire Highbury stadium fell silent among the Arsenal fans, leaving only the three thousand travelling New Manchester United supporters high in the stands, shouting at the top of their lungs to cheer on their team.
"Come on, Patrice, you're the best!"
"Forward, New Manchester United! Beat Arsenal!"
Although there were only three thousand of them, the energy and volume of their chants were in no way inferior to the Arsenal fans at Highbury.
The match entered stoppage time. Due to the earlier altercation on the pitch, the added time was slightly longer, five minutes.
But the players on the pitch clearly were not concerned about how much time was left. They only noticed that the referee had not blown his whistle yet.
In the 91st minute, Moses intercepted a pass and found Lyons. Lyons looked up and sent a long diagonal ball behind the Arsenal defence.
Dixon, who had been tormented by Evra all match and seemed utterly lost, once again failed to mark Evra. Lyons' pass arrived at the perfect spot just as Evra hit top speed. Dixon could only watch as Evra raced to the byline and sent in a cross.
The young centre-back Upson, who had come on for Adams, headed the ball out of the box. It fell to Lyons near the edge of the penalty area.
Evra's cross had drawn all the Arsenal players into the box, leaving the area around the penalty arc completely unmarked. Lyons did not hesitate and struck it first time.
The ball rocketed toward Arsenal's goal like a cannonball!
(To be continued.)
Lots of bonuses today, why? No reason, just felt like it. Anyway, we hit 200 PS, don't know how, but hopefully, we keep it up. Regardless, thank you so much, guys.
To motivate you even more, I'm reducing the PS goal from 200 to 100 PS for the whole of this month, so more bonuses. And if we reach 10 proper reviews, I'll drop another 5 bonus chapters for each 10 reviews. No limit. Currently, we are at (3/10), so get to work xD