Chapter 300 The ball...goes in! ?

The 13th round of the Premier League is definitely a long-awaited round by the media and a grand event for London football, because in this round of competition, there is not only the West London derby between Fulham and Chelsea, but also the more exciting North London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

At the same time, perhaps the FA took into consideration that these two games were very popular, so the match between Arsenal and Tottenham was scheduled for 1 pm, and the match between Chelsea and Fulham was scheduled for 4 pm. In this way, after interviewing the North London Derby, the media reporters can continue to interview the West London Derby. It is really a feast for the football media.

This West London derby is the 69th West London derby in history. In the past 68 games, Fulham has 9 wins, 17 draws and 42 losses. Since Fulham was promoted to the Premier League in the 2001/02 season, they have played against Chelsea in 11 games, with 1 win, 4 draws and 6 losses. The only victory came in March 2003, when only a penalty kick allowed Fulham to win.

However, for fans, historical records are not too important, and even league results are not important. In the derby, the most important thing is to show the team's momentum and never let the opponents in the same city suppress them.

Before the game, many Fulham fans were interviewed by the media. In the survey, 87.5 percent of the fans hoped that a Chelsea player would be injured in this game. More fans hoped that Wang Li would be injured at the beginning of the game, because only in this way could Fulham have a chance to win.

For Fulham fans, they have a contradictory attitude towards Wang Li. As an English fan, of course they hope that Wang Li can keep performing like this, so that the England team can get better results. However, as Fulham fans of an era, they also hope that Wang Li will not perform well in this game, and it would be best if he were to leave the field directly.

This is the contradiction that fans face when choosing between England and their club.

Perros Cooper is a football hooligan.

There is a reason for saying this. Mr. Cooper's family has been Fulham fans for generations and he has great prestige in the fan group. However, last year, because of an incident of breaking into the stadium and fighting, he was permanently banned from entering the stadium to watch games by the English Football Association.

When being interviewed by the media, Mr. Cooper appeared very arrogant. Facing the camera, he made a ferocious expression and directly threatened: "You'd better be careful tomorrow and don't have any accidents. This is our territory." After saying this, he even made a pistol shooting gesture with his right hand, which scared the media interviewing him.

This footage was learned by the local police in Fulham that afternoon, and they became even more worried about the safety of tomorrow's game.

That evening, Wang Li accepted an exclusive interview with the Fulham Post. The interviewer was a young female reporter in her 20s. When talking about the West London derby, Wang Li smiled and said: "I will take every game seriously. I think this is a way to respect my opponent. No matter who the opponent is, I will try my best to score a goal."

The female reporter was not surprised to hear Wang Li's remarks. She knew that this black-haired boy had always been so 'confident'. She turned and asked, "So what do you think of the Fulham fans' intimidation against Chelsea, especially against you? Many fans even hope that you will get injured and leave the field."

"It's nothing big. They are scared, yes, they are scared." Wang Li took a sip of water, put down the bottle and continued: "Chelsea's performance this season is very good, so these fans are scared. They have lost confidence in their team and vented in this way. I will not pay attention to these remarks at all."

"So how many goals do you think you can score in this game?" the female reporter asked with interest.

Wang Li smiled and said, "Of course the more the better. You know, my goal bonus is 30,000 pounds. If I can score 10, it will be 300,000."

She didn't say anything else, but it was obvious that the reporter had understood what Wang Li meant. She blinked her big eyes and looked at Wang Li, saying, "I wish you can score more goals."

It is worth mentioning that after the interview, the female reporter looked at Wang Li seductively and left him a phone number, which made Wang Li, who was not used to living alone, feel moved. However, he thought of Angela and immediately stopped the idea and threw the piece of thin paper into the trash.

………

Both sides attached great importance to this West London derby. In the morning, Mr. Mourinho gathered the whole team early and did some small warm-up exercises at the Chelsea first-team training ground. He also called in a psychologist to help them relieve pre-war stress.

For Chelsea, this game is even more tense than the one against Manchester United, because in the afternoon game, they will definitely be boycotted, intimidated, scolded, threatened, etc. by the home fans. Under such pressure, it becomes very difficult to perform at their normal level, and they may even get injured in the game, which puts a lot of psychological pressure on them.

But Wang Li did not feel any pressure. Now, he had been practicing Xiao Wuxiang Gong for more than a year. Although this body started practicing internal energy very late and his aptitude was mediocre, he had learned so many top-level martial arts moves in his previous life that he would be a third-rate master even in the Tianlong world. It would be almost impossible for these ordinary football players on the field to hurt him during the game.

Since Angela flew to the United States, although the two of them can talk on the phone every day, Wang Li still feels a little annoyed. This West London derby comes at the right time. If the opponent behaves honestly, it will be fine. If a conflict really occurs, he will not show mercy.

Therefore, Wang Li did not have any psychological pressure at all, and was even in the mood to chat and laugh with his teammates.

Time passed quickly, and in a blink of an eye it was already one o'clock in the afternoon. The Chelsea players got on the team bus and headed towards the banks of the Thames.

Fulham's home ground is Cavan Farm, which is located on the banks of the Thames in the Hammersmith and Fulham district of London, England. It has been Fulham's home ground since 1896.

Due to the antiquity of the stadium, at the end of the 2001/2002 season, Fulham budgeted to demolish and rebuild the Cavan Farm Stadium, and the team temporarily moved to Loftus Road. However, due to opposition from many fans, they were eventually forced to give up and announced an £8 million renovation plan in December 2003 to make the Cavan Farm Stadium meet Premier League regulations. The funds mainly came from the transfer fee of Louis Saha to Manchester United.

Perhaps for Chelsea, a team chaired by Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich, £8 million is not a big number and is just a fraction compared to their transfer fee. But for a team like Fulham, it is already a very difficult number to raise and they are only raising funds by selling their stars.

This is another kind of sadness for small clubs.

Fortunately, the stadium improvement project started in January 2004 and was completed in August. This season, Fulham fans can watch games at their familiar Cavan Farm Stadium again.

The journey of Chelsea's bus into Cavan Farm Stadium was not smooth. When they arrived outside the stadium, many Fulham fans wearing white home jerseys with black shoulders had gathered there. Seeing the blue bus coming in this direction, these fans held various banners and surrounded the bus. It was obvious that these fans intended to intimidate the Chelsea players.

“You’re gonna lose the **”

"Go back to Stamford Bridge, you are not welcome at Kayun Farmhouse"

'Outsiders are not welcome at Fulham'

…

The various threatening and abusive slogans made the young players in the car panic. Of course, this refers to the new players who have never been exposed to such a situation, such as the Dutch boy Arjen Robben, Thomas Clarke, etc., while the other players looked calm, obviously they were already accustomed to the scene of the West London Derby.

However, even so, the bus could not move at all, and wanting to get off the bus and walk into the stadium was definitely a wrong choice. In the eyes of these Fulham fans, they might be beaten as soon as they got off the bus.

Fortunately, the local police station in Fulham responded quickly. They sent dozens of police officers to maintain order at the scene. After dozens of minutes of waiting, Chelsea's bus slowly drove into the Carr Farmhouse Stadium.

After arriving at the stadium, Chelsea players, under the guidance of the assistant coach, adapted to the stadium and did some pre-match warm-ups. Half an hour before the start of the game, they all returned to the visiting team's locker room, waiting for head coach Mr. Mourinho, who had just finished the pre-match press conference, to make the final pre-war deployment.

While the head coach had not yet come to the locker room, the players also discussed the game and other news with each other. At this time, the North London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur had ended, and the players had received detailed reports from the reporters---

Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur 5-4 away from home.

Henry, Lauren, Vieira, Ljungberg and Pires scored for Arsenal, while Nabet, Defoe, Ledley King and Kanoute scored for Tottenham. This is also the game with the most goals in a single Premier League game so far this season.

After hearing the final score of the derby, the players could imagine how fierce the match was. Then they thought about today's match. Even though they had seen the gap between the two teams clearly, they could not guarantee that they could win the match. The derby was not like an ordinary match.

"You have seen the atmosphere on the scene." After entering the locker room, Mourinho did not point at the tactical board, but showed a serious expression on his face and said to all the players seriously: "Many people don't care about this game at all, but for Chelsea and Fulham, it is extremely important."

At this point, Mr. Mourinho stretched out his arm and pointed out the window, from where he could clearly see the stadium full of Fulham fans in white jerseys, who were either cheering for their home team, or holding up various large banners, or even holding up large satirical cartoons to intimidate Chelsea.

Seeing the players' expressions, the Portuguese paced in the locker room. After a while, he said, "They have been intimidating us from before the game until now. They want to use this method to prevent us from showing our true strength. Do you know why they do this?"

Captain John Terry immediately said: "They are scared, boss"

Mourinho raised his head and scanned the faces of all the players, saying word by word: "Yes, they are afraid. I believe that after so many games, everyone has some understanding of the team's strength. In this game, I will not allow any failure. Chelsea must win, and it is best to win by a large margin."

"OK, boss."

"We understand, don't worry, boss"

“We definitely will”

…

Seeing that his words had more or less eased the psychological pressure of some players, Mourinho also breathed a sigh of relief. This derby battle was crucial to Chelsea. Although one-third of the Blues fans were allowed to enter the stadium away from home, throughout history, Chelsea fans were not as enthusiastic as Fulham fans. This was mainly because most of the players in the Fulham area only recognized Fulham, and they always thought that Chelsea was an outside team.

For this reason, as a west London team, Chelsea has never been able to compete with Fulham in the Fulham area. Chelsea's fans are mostly from other areas of west London, while most of the fans near the stadium are from the same city's rivals. This makes Chelsea's situation very embarrassing and deepens the hatred between the two teams.

If Chelsea wants to develop further, it needs more support from the grassroots fans. Therefore, the team must win the derby to attract more local Fulham fans.

………

………

Time passed quickly. After Mourinho arranged the team's tactics, the players changed their clothes, walked towards the player tunnel, and prepared to enter the field.

The players of the two teams stared at each other in the player tunnel, and even those who knew each other refused to talk.

At this time, they all represent their respective teams, and their every word and action are closely watched by the media. Fans do not want their favorite stars to greet players from the rival team in the same city.

The referee of this game is the famous "blind whistle" Rennie. This referee, who is known for his "bullying the newly promoted teams", is very strict in enforcing the law. Last season, he directly sent Sir Alex Ferguson off the field.

That was also the only red card Manchester United received last season.

With a light whistle from Reni's mouth, players from both teams began to enter the field.

Today, the Cavan Farm Stadium was packed with people, with nearly 30,000 people present, making the stands that could only accommodate more than 25,000 people seem very crowded. At least two-thirds of the fans were wearing Fulham home team jerseys. Obviously, they were Fulham fans. There were also many Blues fans on both sides of the east and south stands. Although they were also trying their best to cheer for the team, their voices were much worse than those of the home team.

"Andy Cole"

With a roar from the host, the atmosphere among Fulham fans reached its peak. This former Manchester United player, one of the "Dark Wind Duo" and England's main striker across the century, has completely conquered the local fans with 5 goals in more than 10 games since coming to Fulham.

Although Andy Cole is 33 years old this year, his goal-scoring efficiency is still feared by many teams.

"Alan Wang"

After the host mentioned Wang Li's name, there was a sudden booing from the audience. Even though the Blues fans were shouting with all their might, they still couldn't suppress the booing. It was obvious that this was carefully planned by Fulham fans.

Many local Fulham fans had mixed feelings when they saw the black-haired boy who had just walked onto the field. This goal-scoring machine in the Premier League has been playing for Fulham, but unfortunately, he is playing for the team of their city's arch-rivals.

These fans know very well that it is almost impossible for a player like Wang Li to come to Fulham unless he is about to retire, like Andy Cole who just played, but Wang Li is only less than 18 years old.

In this game, this black-haired boy was almost the biggest threat to Fulham fans. All they could do for the team was to boo collectively to try to affect his state.

Unfortunately, this didn't seem to have any effect on Wang Li. After he walked into the court, he turned around and looked around. The big screen even showed that he smiled calmly.

This made the Fulham fans in the stadium angry, and the boos doubled up.

However, Wang Li didn't care at all. He even felt that he was more motivated to score a goal. Scoring a goal amid the anger of thousands of people might give him a greater sense of accomplishment than scoring a goal amid the expectations of thousands of people.

………

In this game, Graham, who has been promoted by Sky TV, also came to the scene. While the captains of the two teams were tossing coins, he began to introduce the starting lineups of the two teams to the fans in front of the TV:

"Fulham used a standard 442 formation in this game. The goalkeeper was Mark Crossley, the defenders were Maurice Waltz, Zaat Wright, Zeshan Rehman and Bocanegra, the midfielders were Malbranque, Diop, Pembridge and Boa Mott, and Andy Cole and Thomas Radzinski were the forwards."

"Fulham's performance since the beginning of the season can be said to be mediocre, but Andy Cole, who joined this season, has performed amazingly. If you don't look at his profile, it's hard to believe that this is the performance of a 33-year-old veteran."

"Let's look at Chelsea again. Mourinho has switched back to his 433 formation. Seeing this derby, he plans to adopt a steady style of play. Cech is the goalkeeper, Paulo Ferreira, Carvalho, Terry and William Gallas are the defenders, Geremi and Lampard are replaced by Makelele in the midfield, and Allen, Drogba and Joe Cole are the forwards."

"We can see that Chelsea's two left-footed wingers Robben and Duff were unable to play in this game. Joe Cole got the chance to play as a left midfielder, while Allen was still a right midfielder. We hope that Allen can continue his outstanding performance in the game."

………

After Graham introduced the starting lineups of the two teams, the two teams were ready to kick off on the field.

“Beep…”

The referee blew a long whistle, signaling the start of the game. Graham kept nagging as the game just started: "Chelsea's performance this season is really eye-catching. I think Allen can still score in the game. It's a pity that he didn't attend the pre-match press conference, but this..."

At this point, Graham paused abruptly, then asked in confusion: "The ball... went in? Oh my God, the ball went in!"