Chapter 205: A Narrowly Safe League Title, Storming the Champions League
The FA Cup curtain fell, and Arsenal players felt as if a thousand-pound burden had been lifted from their shoulders. Fighting on two fronts was indeed slightly easier than fighting on three.
In the time that followed, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester City switched into point-plundering mode.
After thirty-six rounds of the league, Manchester City was the first to fall behind, trailing league leaders Arsenal by four points, with only a theoretical possibility of winning remaining.
Arsenal led the table with ninety points, Chelsea followed closely behind with just a one-point difference, and Manchester City temporarily sat in third with eighty-six points.
These three were the title contenders, while the relegation zone consisted of Norwich, Fulham, and Cardiff City. Among them, Norwich's survival was only theoretically possible, while Fulham still had a glimmer of hope for relegation survival.
Arsenal's opponents for the remaining two rounds were Tottenham and Fulham, who was holding onto its last breath.
Chelsea's opponents were Norwich and Tottenham.
The British media jokingly called Tottenham the "King of the Premier League" because they could decide who the Premier League champion would be—more powerful than the champion itself. Before the match, Tottenham shouted loudly that they would never let their mortal enemy Arsenal win the title. White Hart Lane would become the graveyard of Arsenal's points.
To this, Xia Qi scoffed! He told reporters: "A praying mantis spreading its arms to block a car..."
Amidst an atmosphere thick with the smell of gunpowder, on May 14th, the entire Arsenal team took the bus to White Hart Lane.
Tottenham, sitting in eighth place with seventy-nine points, was a team with "no desires and no demands" (nothing to play for). Logically, they should have played with a relaxed attitude. However, they insisted on creating drama for themselves, wanting to take down Arsenal at home to achieve the reputation of "Uncrowned Kings."
However, their ambition only lasted for twenty-some minutes. After withstanding Tottenham's "three axes" (initial burst of attacks) in the storm, Arsenal began to exert force.
First, De Bruyne sent a diagonal through ball, penetrating Tottenham's defense. After receiving the ball, Xia Qi faced the goalkeeper one-on-one but didn't shoot; instead, he knocked it across to assist Balotelli in scoring the first goal.
Three minutes later, Balotelli grazed a header at the near post, and Xia Qi rushed to the point at the back post, pushing the shot in to score another city (goal).
By the end of the first half, Tottenham trailed 0:2.
After the second half began, it was unknown whether Tottenham was beaten into submission or suffering from "laziness disease," but they lost the initiative of the first half. Many players, like "Fu Huan" (a reference to a player giving up chase), put in the work but not the effort. The standard of play dropped plummetingly, and Arsenal seized the opportunity to pour in three consecutive goals.
In the end, they won a massive 0:5 victory away against the opponent who had spoken wild words.
In the other match, Chelsea defeated Norwich 3:0 at home, simultaneously sending them out of the Premier League.
"No changes in the table. The suspense of the Premier League title remains until the final round."
"Arsenal hosts Fulham, who can secure relegation survival with just one point. Chelsea challenges Tottenham away, who have already declared they won't block Chelsea."
"Although Fulham is weaker than Tottenham, Arsenal's actual pressure is greater than Chelsea's because their opponent will definitely go all out to strive for relegation survival."
Even so, in the pre-match championship predictions, Arsenal still led far ahead with a sixty-four percent probability.
Football experts believed: In the face of absolute strength, all ambitions will vanish into ash and smoke. The ambitious Tottenham had already proven this point.
The English FA (Bamboo Shoes - pun on Zu Xie/FA) organized two identical award ceremonies, heading to Craven Cottage and White Hart Lane respectively.
The four teams in the matches were all London teams.
The host of the London TV Sports Channel proudly stated: "At 4 PM this afternoon, London will become the center of world football. Fans all over the world are watching here.
Regardless of whether the red or blue side lifts the cup, they are both the pride of the city of London..."
May 21st, 3 PM. The entire Arsenal team took the bus to Craven Cottage by the River Thames.
During warm-ups, Xia Qi discovered that in Craven Cottage, which could hold more than thirty thousand people, two-thirds of the seats were occupied by Arsenal fans.
Xia Qi and his teammates smiled knowingly. Whose home ground was this, anyway! The Fulham owner was a bit short-sighted.
However, after the match started, Xia Qi and the others soon couldn't smile anymore. Just over a minute into the opening, Fulham hit a long pass to the back post. Forward Kasami received the ball, made a slight adjustment, and shot successfully.
Fulham led Arsenal 1:0. At this time, the other match between Chelsea and Tottenham had just kicked off.
When the score from Craven Cottage reached White Hart Lane, Tottenham fans shouted loudly: "You guys hurry up and score! A goal means the championship."
Hearing the cheers of the fans, Chelsea players were full of motivation.
However, one cannot eat hot tofu if one is impatient. The more impatient they were, the simpler their play became, and their footwork became messy.
In the following ten-plus minutes, Chelsea took six shots, but simply couldn't score a single one.
Anxious, Mourinho paced back and forth on the sidelines like an ant on a hot pot.
Inside Craven Cottage, Arsenal players were stunned by Fulham's lightning strike.
After sobering up, they flew into a rage, surrounding Fulham players at the edge of the penalty area and pummeling them wildly.
If a weak team wants to take points from a strong team, they must have thick skin and be able to take a beating.
Fulham's "bus parking" defense was still very good. Even though Xia Qi had "cheats" (system assistance), two of his shots were still blocked by opponents using their bodies.
Time passed like this for thirty minutes.
The two matches stood at:
Fulham 1:0 Arsenal (Arsenal 93 points).
Tottenham 0:0 Chelsea (Chelsea 93 points).
If these were the final scores, Arsenal would successfully defend the title due to a superior goal difference.
Under these circumstances, Mourinho was anxious enough to catch fire. He piled five strikers on the forward line but still couldn't score.
To make matters worse (leak in the house during overnight rain), in a defensive play, Lampard received a red card for a tackle from behind.
Before Mourinho could start panicking, Tottenham fans panicked first. They shouted at their own players: "Let him score one!" "Let him score one!"
The faces of Tottenham players and coaches turned green. They could slack off, but they absolutely could not throw the match (match-fixing); this was the bottom line for football professionals.
Scoring still depended on Chelsea themselves.
Soon, time was up. First-half stoppage time.
Fulham only sought one point to succeed in relegation survival.
With three points already in hand, they defended with all their might, only defending and not attacking. By first-half stoppage time, the shot count was 1:12.
Fulham scored with just one shot, while Arsenal bombarded 12 times but happily collected a zero (goose egg).
Suddenly, rhythmic chants rang out over Craven Cottage: "Xia Qi!" "Xia Qi!" "Xia Qi!"
This shouting seemed to possess magic. Xia Qi felt his whole body fill with vitality; even the air in Craven Cottage tasted sweet.
He signaled for the ball. Fulham defender Riether immediately stuck to him. Behind him, another defender, Heitinga, had also positioned himself well.
Xia Qi didn't want to get trapped in a double team, so he dribbled laterally, planning to open up space and make another plan.
Of course, the Fulham defenders couldn't let Xia Qi have his way. Riether and Heitinga followed Xia Qi's movement like dog-skin plasters (sticking tight).
This movement actually gave Xia Qi an opportunity. Although they were physically behind Xia Qi, they were under Xia Qi's "vision."
AI vision is different from human vision.
Xia Qi, who was dribbling laterally, suddenly slammed on the brakes. While Riether crashed into his back, he backheeled the ball, sending the football through the gap between Riether and Heitinga.
Then, the most spectacular scene occurred. Xia Qi didn't turn around but directly retreated backwards, step by step.
Because Riether had crashed into Xia Qi, his center of gravity was unstable. When Xia Qi retreated, Riether was bumped away.
And retreating backward...
This completely exceeded Heitinga's expectations.
Or rather, it exceeded everyone's expectations.
When Xia Qi passed by Heitinga, his face was written full of shock! This was also the expression of all the fans in the stands.
After passing Heitinga, Xia Qi then turned around to receive the ball, followed by a shot. When the football drilled into the net,
Goalkeeper Stockdale's face was full of: Who can tell me what on earth just happened?
"The ball is in! Xia Qi feinted a change of direction, tricking the defenders into shifting. When a flaw appeared in Fulham's defense line, he suddenly retreated to pass the man, turned, and shot—all in one go!"
Perhaps Xia Qi had scored too many "unbelievable" goals, so surprisingly no one questioned why he could grow "eyes" on the back of his head??
1:1!
This was the score at the end of the first half. Meanwhile, in the other match, the score between Chelsea and Tottenham was still 0:0.
The pressure was given to Mourinho.
After the "hairdryer treatment" during halftime, the ten-man Chelsea played quite methodically after the second half began.
Of course, this was also due to Tottenham players holding back.
Regardless, Chelsea finally scored a crucial goal in the 56th minute.
With this 0:1 narrow victory, Chelsea had 95 points, overtaking Arsenal's 94 points.
A 1:1 draw was no longer enough to win the title!
Over Craven Cottage, the rhythmic chants rang out again: "Xia Qi!" "Xia Qi!" "Xia Qi!"
Fulham fans listened with fear and trembling.
They must get one point to avoid relegation. At this moment, it was like standing on the edge of a cliff; if Arsenal took one step further, they would fall into the abyss.
Fulham players also became nervous. Facing Xia Qi's offense, three to five people often surrounded him alone.
However, the more it was like this, the faster they collapsed.
Xia Qi in AI state would not get hot-headed. Even if the cheering of Arsenal fans lifted the roof of Craven Cottage,
Xia Qi remained very calm. In the dense "forest of legs," he precisely found a passing route.
The first time, the ball was passed out. Balotelli's counterattack was a tiny bit slow; he forced a shot but couldn't put power behind it.
The football was hugged into his chest by goalkeeper Stockdale.
The second time, Balotelli was prepared early. Meeting the grounder sent by Xia Qi, he knocked it diagonally, not being greedy for credit.
At the back post, Walcott pushed it in lightly to score.
1:2!
In the 68th minute of the second half, Arsenal turned defeat into victory, reclaiming the top spot in the table.
From then on, the gloom over Craven Cottage was swept away.
For league points, to stay in the Premier League, the entire Fulham army attacked.
Against Arsenal, this was undoubtedly seeking their own death. Thinking of the shame of 12 shots resulting in zero goals in the first half,
Arsenal's generals began their "revenge." First, Balotelli received a through ball from De Bruyne and blasted a rod-straight shot from the edge of the penalty area.
1:3!
Arsenal led by two goals.
Subsequently, Xia Qi scored a brace (two goals), locking his league goal count at 82, and 105 goals across all competitions this season.
1:6 was the final score.
After the whistle blew, Fulham players collapsed on the ground one by one; several players burst into loud tears.
For some of them, there would never be a chance to play in the Premier League again; they would end their football careers in the Championship.
In another stadium, players wearing blue jerseys also shed tears...
This is the cruelty of competitive sports: there is only one winner, bar none.
...
...
This was the second time Xia Qi had lifted the Premier League trophy, but he was still very excited!
Just like the first time, from the locker room to the pitch and back to the locker room, they celebrated tirelessly.
Finally, with the help of club staff, they got on the open-top bus, holding the trophy, and returned to the Colney training base.
On the return journey, fans asked: "Is there a parade celebration tonight?"
Xia Qi answered dominantly: "No, we are still missing a beautiful trophy (Big Ears Cup). Wait until the 'Fifth Princess' arrives, then we will celebrate together."
The fans immediately erupted in cheers that made the city of London tremble three times:
"Arsenal! Long live!"
(END CHAPTER)
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