Two days after securing a resounding victory against Liverpool, Li Shiguang led the entire Leeds United team to Riverside Stadium, where they would face Middlesbrough away from home.
However, in order to prepare for the next few big matches, Li Shiguang still rotated several key positions when facing Middlesbrough, a not-so-strong opponent. In the end, after 90 minutes of fierce fighting, Leeds United defeated their opponents with a long-range shot by Camoranesi before the end of the first half, and took away 3 points as they wished.
What pleased Li Shiguang even more was that Chelsea failed to defeat Arsenal in their match, which kicked off at the same time, and the two sides drew 1-1 thanks to goals from Essien and Flamini.
This result has further narrowed the gap between Leeds United and Chelsea, bringing their total points to 36 after today's victory. The two teams are now only 3 points apart!
Moreover, the two teams will face off directly in just half a month. If Leeds United can win this match in half a month, they will overtake Chelsea in the standings!
Of course, this is on the premise that Leeds United cannot lose either of their two matches in the next two weeks, including the rescheduled match against Arsenal the day after tomorrow!
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It has to be said that a major reason why Leeds United's schedule in December was so tough was the inclusion of a rescheduled match against Arsenal. Due to a scheduling conflict with their Champions League group stage games, the FA rescheduled both teams' second-round league match this month.
This adjustment is perfectly reasonable; it's common in European football for leagues to give way to the Champions League.
However, Leeds United's tight schedule in December and the opponents they will face are really giving Li Shiguang a headache.
Including the Liverpool match they've already secured, Leeds United still have one more game each against Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester United, plus two more games against Middlesbrough and Sheffield United in between. This leaves Leeds United with even less rest time than they already have!
After only one day of rest, Leeds United welcomed Arsène Wenger's Arsenal to Elland Road.
In desperation, and in order to limit Arsenal's strong midfield organization, Li Shiguang finally made some adjustments to the lineup for this match, fielding a 3-5-2 formation that he hadn't used in a long time.
In defense, Lahm and Mills, who have been playing almost every game recently, were benched by Li Shiguang, and Kompany, Pique and Silva formed a three-center-back system.
In midfield, the starting two defensive midfielders became Toure and Mascherano, while the more physically fit Bale and Camoranesi took on the full-back positions. Li Shiguang gave these two full-backs high tactical instructions in the locker room today, urging them to increase their running range and be able to attack and defend effectively! Then, in the attacking midfield position, young De Bruyne got a starting opportunity.
The two strikers consist of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Fernando Torres, both of whom are in relatively good physical condition.
On the other hand, while Arsenal also faced the same scheduling problems as Leeds United, they only had two tough matches this month: Chelsea and Leeds United.
So Wenger didn't think much about it today and fielded his full starting lineup, determined to take 3 points away from home!
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Just as Li Shiguang predicted before the match, Arsenal launched a fierce attack on Leeds United through the middle after the game started, thanks to their strong organizational ability. Forwards Henry and Adebayor each had two shots on goal in the first ten minutes of the game, but both were saved by the very focused Schmeichel.
During this period, thanks to Fabregas's ability to pass the ball, Rosicky and Hleb, the two wingers, were constantly looking for gaps in the flanks of Leeds United's defense.
Once the Leeds United defense is drawn to the ball by Fabregas's through ball, they will not hesitate to pass the ball to Henry or Adebayor, who are hiding on the edge of the penalty area, and then the two forwards will take the shot!
As the game continued, Li Shiguang noticed this, so when Gilberto fouled De Bruyne in the center circle and the referee stopped the game, he called Toure over to the sidelines and said a few words to him.
After Leeds United restarted the game, Arsenal's midfield trio started to struggle, and Lee Shiguang's adjustments in midfield gradually proved effective.
The first to be affected is Cesc Fabregas, who is the core of Arsenal's organization.
For the first 20 minutes or so, although he was also a key defensive target for Leeds United, Touré and Mascherano usually only came up to defend him after he received the ball, which gave him many opportunities to pass the ball with one touch. However, recently, the two defensive midfielders of Leeds United have been marking him closely in turn, not giving him any normal chance to receive the ball.
Once Fabregas was contained, Henry and Adebayor lost their source of ammunition.
Seeing that Fabregas was being contained, Wenger also instructed Gilberto to try passing the ball to the two wingers to attempt a breakthrough.
Both Kobel and Camoranesi are formidable opponents, and with Leeds United having a free midfielder who can support both flanks at any time, Arsenal's wing attacks were frequently thwarted, allowing Leeds United to capitalize on the opportunity and launch two counter-attacks.
Under these circumstances, the match reached the 43rd minute, and including stoppage time, there were only 4 minutes left in the first half.
Arsenal are organizing an attack. Gilberto has received a pass from Lehmann and is slowly dribbling the ball toward the center circle while also observing the positions of his teammates.
After taking a quick look around, Gilberto was a little disappointed because Leeds United had already positioned themselves, with each of his three midfield teammates closely marked by a figure in a white jersey. This left Gilberto somewhat conflicted, unsure of which way to pass the ball.
Wenger, standing on the sidelines, noticed this and instinctively shouted to Hleb, who was closest to him, "Alexander! Drop back and receive the ball!"
But what he didn't expect was that this instinctive shout would ultimately cost Arsenal, who were still holding a slight advantage...
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