After a hard-fought victory in their rescheduled match against Arsenal, Leeds United finally caught up with Chelsea in the standings, who also had 39 points. Moreover, they pushed Chelsea to third place on goal difference, now five points behind league leaders Manchester United.
With the Premier League season nearing its halfway point, the standings have become increasingly polarized.
Sir Alex Ferguson, who had been overshadowed by Wenger and Mourinho for the past three years, has finally seen a glimmer of hope. After a major overhaul, Manchester United's squad has finally been brought together by the old manager this year! They are now leading the pack with a record of 14 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss, accumulating 44 points.
Following Manchester United are Leeds United and Chelsea, both with 12 wins, 3 draws, and 2 losses, accumulating 39 points.
Actually, it seems that the points gap between the three teams is not too big, and it is still hard to tell who will be the ultimate winner in this year's Premier League.
But it's almost certain that these three teams will be in the top three, because Arsenal, who are in fourth place, have only managed 29 points after 17 rounds, a full 10 points behind Leeds United and Chelsea! Not to mention Liverpool, who are only one point behind Arsenal.
But when everyone following the Premier League thought there was no suspense in this year's Premier League season.
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Just two days later, in the 18th round of the Premier League, the Premier League's Big Five played a little joke on everyone!
First, Liverpool, the first of the BIG5 to play, won 3-0 away against Charlton, taking 3 points and overtaking Arsenal, who were held to a draw at home by Portsmouth in this round, jumping to fourth place in the standings.
Leeds United, who started their match a little later, surprised everyone by having their four-game winning streak ended at home by visiting Sheffield United.
Li Shiguang was also helpless about the loss. The players were too tired due to the consecutive tough battles in a short period of time. The players, who had only rested for one day after playing against Arsenal, were not in good condition.
Facing a Sheffield United team that was completely holed up in defense, Podolski and Torres, who started the game today, failed to score a single goal despite their best efforts.
Li Shiguang had already accepted the result of a draw.
In the 92nd minute, Sheffield United, who had been holding firm throughout the match, launched a quick counter-attack that led to Kompany committing a handball foul in the penalty area. The referee promptly awarded Leeds United a red card and a penalty, resulting in a 0-1 home defeat for Leeds United and ending their winning streak.
What Li Shiguang found somewhat unpleasant was that this red card also meant that Kompany would be unable to play in the next direct confrontation with Chelsea, a double loss indeed!
The only good news is that after the game, Leeds United finally got seven precious days of rest. Li Shiguang generously gave the players three days off, allowing them to properly adjust their condition.
But Leeds United's upset defeat in this match also gave the media an opportunity.
Especially Charles Walters, who didn't gain much advantage in the last Maicon incident.
In the Manchester Evening News published the following day, he again criticized Lee Shih-shiu: "As I described before, Lee is absolutely an overambitious manager! Compared to Mourinho when he first came to England three years ago, Lee seems far too arrogant! You know, although Mourinho is called 'The Special One,' he came with the title of Champions League-winning manager! What does Lee have? He just brought Leeds United back to the Premier League and won a meaningless League Cup. Then he dared to say that Leeds United's goal this season is to win the league title? Does he think Ferguson and Mourinho are just decorations? I predicted last month that with Leeds United's foundation, they would be absolutely crushed if the schedule were even slightly tight. Look at their performance yesterday, it can only be described as a disaster. I noticed how Lee Shih-shiu looked on the sidelines. He didn't even shout and yell in a fit of impotence and rage, because he knows very well that Leeds United's ceiling is limited! In the next two rounds, they still have to face the powerful Chelsea and Manchester United. I look forward to seeing Lee Shih-shiu's exasperated look after Leeds United loses!"
Charles's highly controversial article also angered Allen, who angrily rushed to Li Shiguang's office at noon with the newspaper in hand.
"Boss! This guy is going too far! I want to get some people to teach him a lesson!"
Li Shiguang, who was studying the video of Chelsea's recent matches, only glanced at the newspaper that Allen had placed on the table. After seeing that the article was signed by Charles, he calmly advised the furious Allen: "You are a general manager of a Premier League club, why bother with this clown? If you find someone to teach him a lesson and things aren't handled properly afterwards, you might end up with a lot of trouble yourself! Don't worry about him, let's talk about results after the season ends. I'd love to see him apologize to me in the newspapers for a whole month, hahahahaha."
“Yeah, I’ll just pretend I got bitten by a dog.” Seeing that his boss wasn’t angry, Allen gradually calmed down. After crumpling the Manchester Evening News into a ball and throwing it into the trash can, he walked back to Li Shiguang’s desk. “By the way, boss, I was so angry with this idiot that I almost forgot about the important matter. Real Madrid just sent another email. They’ve increased their offer for Maicon. Calderon wants to offer 12 million euros plus Wesley in exchange for Maicon.”
Upon hearing Sneijder's name, Li Shiguang frowned, finally shifting his attention from the computer screen to Allen: "Hmm? I haven't been paying much attention to La Liga matches. Has Wesley been playing poorly lately?"
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