December 1st.
Arsenal faced Wigan Athletic in the English League Cup quarter-finals.
Arsenal still fielded a light squad for this match, with almost all reserves starting.
Clearly, Wenger did not intend to go further in this competition.
But unfortunately, whether Wigan Athletic was too weak or Arsenal's reserves and academy players were too eager to prove themselves, it's unclear.
Thanks to a goal from Nicklas Bendtner and an own goal from Wigan Athletic defender Alcaraz, Arsenal defeated Wigan Athletic 2-0, advancing to the English League Cup semi-finals.
Arsène Wenger was speechless seeing that despite his deliberate efforts to concede, they still won.
But he had nothing to say. He couldn't possibly tell reporters in an interview that he wanted to lose but couldn't, could he?
If that were the case, Arsenal would definitely be targeted by the Football Association in their subsequent matches.
Even if the English League Cup is a somewhat insignificant competition.
But you cannot speak ill of it in public, otherwise the club behind you will suffer because of your words.
Wenger has been immersed in the Premier League for many years and has long understood these intricacies. He knows what to say and what not to say.
...
December 4th.
The sixteenth round of the Premier League kicked off, with Arsenal hosting Fulham, the visiting 'Cottagers'.
This match was considered by the media to be without suspense before the game, and the match indeed unfolded as such.
In the 14th minute of the match.
Arshavin provided a cut-back assist to Nasri at the edge of the penalty area, who volleyed the ball into the net, giving Arsenal a 1-0 lead.
In the 30th minute of the match.
Clint Dempsey assisted Kamara to score a goal, and Fulham equalized the score at 1-1.
In the 33rd minute of the match.
Koscielny collided with someone during a sliding tackle and was ultimately injured and left the field.
This was the only bad news for Arsenal in this match.
After Koscielny left the field, Wenger was forced to substitute in the Swiss player Djourou.
In the 40th minute of the match.
Rosicky sent a long ball over the top, and Fly sprinted offside, easily shaking off Fulham's defense.
Facing the advancing goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, Fly slowed down, seized the opportunity, and slotted the ball through Mark Schwarzer's legs with a push shot, giving Arsenal a 2-1 lead again.
In the 63rd minute of the match.
Wenger substituted Van Persie for Rosicky.
In the 74th minute of the match.
Wenger substituted Walcott for Wilshere.
In the 76th minute of the match.
Van Persie assisted Nasri, who had made a forward run, to slot the ball into the near corner with a tight-angle push shot, extending Arsenal's lead to 3-1.
In the 81st minute of the match.
Arsenal's defensive midfielder Alexandre Song intercepted the ball in midfield, and Arsenal launched a counter-attack on the spot.
After Nasri's dribble, the ball was only 35 meters from the goal.
Facing the defense of Fulham defender Hangeland, Nasri passed the ball to Van Persie in the center.
Van Persie volleyed the ball without stopping, and it was saved by Mark Schwarzer.
But the ball was not cleared from the dangerous area, and Fly rapidly advanced, scoring the rebound before the Fulham defender could clear the ball, sealing the victory for Arsenal at 4-1.
In the final 10 minutes, Fulham basically just waited for the game to end, with little resistance.
Nasri, who was awarded the Man of the Match after the game, accepted an interview.
The reporters were visibly unenthusiastic when interviewing Nasri, because the person they truly wanted to interview was Fly, the current super hot topic.
But Fly did not give them this opportunity and directly slipped away and escaped.
With his brace in this match, Fly has scored 28 goals in 15 League appearances this season, averaging nearly two goals per game.
Meanwhile, Drogba, who is currently ranked second in the Premier League top scorers list, only has 9 goals.
It can be said that Fly has completely secured the Premier League Golden Boot this season.
Betting companies have now completely closed the odds entry for the Premier League Golden Boot this season.
It is conceivable that even betting companies feel that continuing to offer odds at this point is simply giving money away to the 'leeks' (gamblers).
The topic of whether Fly can win the Premier League Golden Boot this season has also ended, and no one is talking about it anymore.
Fly can only express: Invincible, too lonely~~~
.....
December 9th.
Arsenal hosted the visiting Partizan Belgrade.
Including the previous two matches against Wigan Athletic and Fulham, this was Arsenal's third consecutive home game.
But unfortunately, during the three consecutive home games, they did not encounter any strong teams, and the great advantage was not utilized.
For this match against Partizan Belgrade, Wenger almost replicated the lineup from the previous match against Braga.
Since Arsenal had already secured first place in the group and qualified, he was not worried about the outcome of this match at all.
To put it bluntly, even if Arsenal lost by a hundred goals in this match, it would not affect Arsenal's qualification for the knockout stage as group winners.
This is because in the Champions League group stage, in case of a tie in points, the head-to-head record is prioritized over goal difference.
So even if Shakhtar Donetsk won all four of their matches except for the two against Arsenal, they would only accumulate 12 points.
Even if Arsenal lost this match by 100 goals, they would still have 12 points, the same as Shakhtar Donetsk.
In this situation, Arsenal achieved a double victory over Shakhtar Donetsk.
Therefore, even if Arsenal's goal difference was minus 100, they would still be group winners.
For such a predetermined match, Wenger would not field the main players at all.
This is because in the next match after this one, Arsenal will face their most important match of the season.
That is the seventeenth round of the Premier League, where Wenger's Arsenal will visit Old Trafford to face his old rival Sir Alex Ferguson's Red Devils Manchester United.
This can be said to be the most important and most watched match of the season so far!
Affected by a rare cold snap, the United Kingdom experienced the coldest weather in 30 years, with temperatures in many areas plummeting below -10℃, and the city of Manchester, where Manchester United is located, and its surrounding areas experienced continuous snowfall and freezing.
The pitch at Manchester United's home ground, Old Trafford, was severely frozen, making it impossible to ensure the safety of players and spectators. After a pre-match inspection, the Main Referee determined that the pitch conditions did not meet the requirements for the match.
Therefore, Manchester United's sixteenth round Premier League match against Blackpool at home was postponed to January next year.
This means that Manchester United currently has one game in hand and is in second place in the Premier League with 31 points, 15 points behind Arsenal, who have played one more game.
Arsenal has only drawn one League match against Sunderland so far this season, winning all other matches, accumulating 46 points from 16 games (15 wins, 1 draw) and holding a significant lead.
Although the lead is very clear, Wenger has been scared by Arsenal's mid-to-late season collapses in the past few seasons.
Now his expectation is very simple: rotate players in competitions where it is not necessary to push hard, go all out in important matches, secure all possible points first, and build up his early advantage as much as possible.
This way, even if Arsenal experiences a collapse in the mid-to-late season again, they will at least have a strong foundation and won't be directly eliminated, still having hope of competing for the championship.
Wenger's requirement for the first match against Manchester United is simple: as long as they don't lose, it counts as a win.
Even a loss without player injuries would be a good result.
Since December, there has been a continuous stream of injury news for Premier League teams, the main reason being the extremely cold weather. Many players do not warm up properly before the match, making them prone to injuries during the game.
Arsenal has already lost a starting center-back and cannot afford any more casualties.
Arsenal's second match against Partizan Belgrade did not generate much excitement, as the former had already secured first place in the group and qualified, while the latter had already been eliminated from the knockout stage.
Both teams played quite relaxed in what was essentially a formality match.
In the 30th minute of the match.
Hazard created a penalty for Arsenal, which was taken by Van Persie. Van Persie converted the penalty, giving Arsenal a 1-0 lead.
In the 52nd minute of the match.
Moreira assisted Cleo to score a goal for Partizan Belgrade, and Partizan Belgrade equalized the score at 1-1.
In the 73rd minute of the match.
Hazard once again assisted Little Tiger Walcott to cut inside and score a goal, giving Arsenal a 2-1 lead again.
In the 77th minute of the match.
Blaise Matuidi assisted the substitute Nasri to score a goal, sealing the victory for Arsenal at 3-1.
In the 85th minute of the match.
Partizan Belgrade midfielder Medo scored a long-range shot, pulling one goal back for his team, with Partizan Belgrade trailing 2-3.
As the Main Referee's final whistle blew, Arsenal won this formality Champions League group stage match 3-2.
Watching the match on TV at home, Fly felt relieved when he saw that Sagna did not play.
This is because he remembered that in his previous life, Sagna received a red card in the final moments of this match, directly causing Arsenal to be without a starting right-back in their first knockout match against Barcelona at Emirates Stadium.
Fortunately, in this life, thanks to the foundation Fly laid for Arsenal in the previous four matches, Arsène Wenger did not field the starters in such an inconsequential match.
Sagna is almost the only usable right-back in the Arsenal squad, and there is truly no one who can replace him.
Arsène Wenger also knew this, so in this match, he did not even include him in the squad list, allowing him to enjoy watching the team's match at home, just like Fly.
"We've qualified as group winners, let me see which opponents we might face," Fly said, leaning on Taylor's flawless thigh and using his phone to check the standings of other groups.
The group A winners were Arsenal's arch-rivals Tottenham. Fly never expected that their unassuming neighbors could push the defending champions Inter Milan into second place in the group.
This means that Arsenal could potentially face the defending champions in the first round of the knockout stage.
Thinking of this, Fly inwardly cursed, wondering if, given Arsenal's standing in the eyes of UEFA, they would once again be matched with the strongest opponent?
"Whatever, if a god blocks, kill the god; if a Buddha blocks, extinguish the Buddha. A mere Inter Milan, the defeated remnants who couldn't even get past Schalke 04 in the previous life, what is there to fear?"
When he thought of Inter Milan being eliminated by Schalke 04 with a 7-3 aggregate score in the quarter-finals in his previous life, Fly felt that the current Inter Milan was just a paper tiger.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have been unable to defeat even Arsenal's insignificant neighbors and been pushed into second place in the group.
As for the remaining teams - Lyon, Valencia, Copenhagen, Roma, Marseille, and AC Milan - Fly did not pay much attention to them.
Although Lyon is still the dominant force in Ligue 1, at the Champions League level, they can only really challenge Real Madrid; they are not effective against other strong teams.
Valencia, Copenhagen, Roma, and Marseille are typical teams where whoever faces them benefits; none of them are strong contenders.
As for AC Milan, the first opponent Fly faced after joining the Arsenal first team, Fly said that even he could score and assist against AC Milan back then, let alone now?
Putting everything else aside, if they were to face AC Milan, Fly would score at least three goals over two legs; if he scored one less, he would be 5CM shorter, guaranteed.
After looking at all the possibilities, only Inter Milan might pose a slight threat to Arsenal.
After all, they are the defending champions, and what if they suddenly hit top form? Then it would be truly unpredictable.
Fly didn't expect Arsenal to draw opponents like Copenhagen or Valencia, which would guarantee a spot in the quarter-finals anyway.
Given UEFA's usual bias against Arsenal, such favorable draws would certainly not fall to Arsenal.
Fly only hoped that Arsenal would not draw Inter Milan; the remaining opponents would be manageable.
Not a guaranteed win, but definitely an easy ride.