Chapter 571 The Butterfly Effect
As Southampton beat Reading 7-0 away from home, Manchester United lost 1-2 to Manchester City at home, and the points gap between the two teams quickly narrowed to five points.
As for Manchester City, although they beat Manchester United, the gap between them and the top two teams in the league standings is still too far.
When BBC TV's Daily Match analyzed the league situation after this round, the guests almost all held their own opinions.
Charlene Lahiri and Alan Shearer are staunch supporters of Southampton and believe that it will be difficult for Ferguson to solve Manchester United's biggest bottleneck, especially when all the Premier League teams have already figured out Manchester United's tactical weaknesses.
Although Alan Hansen does not have a good relationship with Ferguson, he believes that Manchester United has a good chance of winning the championship this time.
As for Southampton, if they want to win the championship, they can come back next season!
This controversy over the daily match also continued on the pages of major newspapers in the UK and even Europe the next day.
The fierce competition in the Premier League has attracted the attention of all fans around the world.
Whether Southampton can achieve the great feat of a comeback has also attracted the attention of countless fans.
Coincidentally, Atletico Madrid's performance in this season's La Liga is also quite eye-catching. As the league enters its final stage, the Colchoneros still firmly control the position of league leader.
Although the lead is not obvious and they are being chased by Barcelona and may be overthrown at any time, this is undoubtedly the greatest achievement for fans of the La Liga.
After all, the league title has been the exclusive preserve of Real Madrid and Barcelona for the past decade.
Now, Atletico Madrid has finally made a strong revival!
Dark horse teams have emerged in both the Premier League and La Liga, which immediately injected a breath of fresh blood into football fans around the world. Countless fans are scrambling to pay attention to these two teams and the two major leagues.
Especially in the Premier League, Southampton's active promotion in the past two seasons, coupled with its record of defeating many top teams and winning the International Champions Cup, have made fans all over the world talk about this team and have high hopes for it.
Now, the Saints are doing amazing!
It would be even better if we could achieve a reversal!
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After defeating Reading, Southampton faced Lazio in the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
Visiting Italy, Southampton beat Lazio 1-0 away from home thanks to Vidal's crucial goal.
The person who assisted Vidal was Drogba. The Ivorian was still strong and he got the ball in the penalty area and headed it to Vidal, assisting the Chilean midfielder to score the crucial winning goal!
Then came the FA Cup semi-final, where Southampton faced Wigan Athletic.
Although Southampton did not try their best, two goals from Hazard and Sturridge still ensured that Southampton beat Wigan Athletic 2-0 at home and successfully advanced to the final.
In another stadium, Chelsea faced Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.
In the end, Benítez's team relied on the home advantage to defeat Manchester City 2-1 and successfully entered the final.
When Southampton was competing in the FA Cup, Manchester United, who had been eliminated early, defeated Stoke City 2-0 away from home with goals from Van Persie and Carrick.
But this game was very controversial because after Carrick took the lead in the fourth minute, Manchester United was very passive on the field, and Stoke City played well and looked very threatening.
But at the critical moment, the referee gave Manchester United a penalty kick, and Van Persie scored the penalty. In the end, Manchester United won 2-0.
Because Southampton participated in the FA Cup, they played one less game, so Manchester United successfully expanded their points to eight points.
Three days later, Southampton welcomed Lazio at home.
Although Manchester United won and expanded their lead, bringing considerable pressure to Southampton, goals from Ibrahimovic and Gareth Bale ultimately helped Southampton beat the visiting Lazio 2-0 at home.
After two rounds of matches, Southampton eliminated Lazio with a total score of 3-0 and advanced to the semi-finals.
After the draw, Southampton's opponent in the semi-finals is Benfica, a strong team in the Portuguese Super League!
After returning to the Premier League, Southampton ushered in the 34th round, away to challenge Swansea.
Laudrup's team has played quite amazingly this season, continuing Swansea's beautiful football style of the past, which has been talked about by fans, especially Spanish midfielder Michu, who has become the most surprising scorer in the Premier League.
Southampton challenges Swansea away, and everyone in the Saints dare not be careless.
In fact, the game was very hard.
It was not until the 76th minute of the second half that Southampton scored a crucial goal through left-back David Alaba, and the assist was from center forward Ibrahimovic.
After that, Southampton continued to threaten Swansea, but Laudrup did not dare to lose and was determined to fight back.
But in the 81st minute, Hazard, who came on as a substitute, scored a crucial goal, which finally forced Swansea to accept defeat!
Southampton finally escaped from the away game unscathed thanks to David Alaba and Hazard's possession of the ball.
But this battle was extremely difficult, and Laudrup's team can be said to have won with honor despite the defeat!
At the same time, Manchester United was not idle either. Relying on Van Persie's hat-trick, they defeated the visiting Aston Villa 3-0 at Old Trafford, scoring three points again and continuing to maintain an eight-point advantage.
But in the middle of the week, Southampton played a make-up match at St. Mary's Stadium, and relied on goals from Ibrahimovic and Vidal to beat Allardyce's West Ham United 2-0, narrowing the points gap again.
With four rounds left in the league, Manchester United is still five points ahead of Southampton!
Faced with such a fierce championship battle, the whole of Britain felt a tense atmosphere.
It seemed as if everyone was on edge, feeling nervous, anxious and uneasy along with Manchester United and Southampton.
This atmosphere even continued to the Premier League Chairman's Summit.
As the owner of a Premier League team, he naturally would not be like ordinary fans, who would confront each other or even fight each other.
Even when the bosses of sworn rivals like Arsenal and Chelsea, or Manchester United and Manchester City meet face to face, they still greet each other with a smile and show respect for each other.
After all, his identity and status are there, and it would be inappropriate to act like an ordinary fan.
But even so, because the competition for the league title, the competition for the Champions League qualification, and even the competition for the three relegation spots have become completely fierce, the atmosphere of the Premier League Chairman's Summit is more or less a bit tense.
Fortunately, there were not many major topics at this Premier League Chairman's Summit. The Premier League's CEO, Scudmore, came out to introduce the situation of the Premier League, the problems encountered, etc.
Among them, Scudmore focused on Liverpool striker Suarez.
In the just-concluded 34th round of the match between Liverpool and Chelsea, the Uruguayan striker bit Chelsea defender Ivanovic for some unknown reason.
Although it escaped the eyes of the referee at the time, it could not escape the omnipotent media and live cameras.
The English Football Association has already made a harsh statement about Suarez's extremely bad behavior and will definitely impose additional penalties.
Even the Premier League criticized him by name at the Chairman's Summit, which shows that this time, the FA and the Premier League both have the idea of rectifying the atmosphere in the Premier League and are wielding the big stick in their hands to teach Suarez a severe lesson.
According to preliminary estimates by outside media, it will take at least ten games!
There are thirty-eight games in a season and a suspension of ten games is undoubtedly quite serious.
If the English Football Association is more ruthless, I'm afraid...
The media also dug up explosive information, that is, if the suspension is too long, Suarez is likely to transfer out of the Premier League after the end of the season to avoid the suspension ticket from the FA.
In addition, Liverpool has no chance of participating in the Champions League next season. Suarez is eager to participate in the Champions League and prove his strength, which may also make him transfer to a team that can participate in the Champions League this summer.
The truly interesting scene at this Premier League Chairman’s Summit occurred after the meeting.
When Scudmore announced the end of the meeting, Abramovich was the first to leave his seat and walked towards Liverpool owner John Henry with Chelsea CEO Granovskaia.
"What's going on?" Yang Huan turned around and asked Peter Kenyon.
The bald man immediately came forward and said, "I guess Chelsea wants to poach Suarez!"
When Yang Huan heard this, he immediately found it funny.
Damn, this couldn't be a trick deliberately set up by Abramovich?
Suarez just bit your player in the game against Chelsea, and now he faces an excessive fine and a long-term suspension, but you turn around and try to poach Suarez?
Isn’t this the favorite fodder of conspiracy theorists?
Just as Yang Huan was smiling, Peter Kenyon gently reminded Yang Huan again.
Following Peter Kenyon's gaze, I found that Arsenal's general manager Gazidis also walked towards John Henry and Ian Ayre. Could it be that Arsenal is also interested in Suarez?
Yang Huan looked at Peter Kenyon, who nodded heavily. It is very likely!
Chelsea previously spent a huge amount of money to bring Torres from Liverpool, but the Spanish striker turned out to be a complete dud. Not only did he perform poorly, but he also took up a considerable amount of the team's salary space.
As for Demba Ba, who was introduced to Newcastle during the winter break, everyone knows that this guy is okay as a substitute, but he is not qualified to support Chelsea's forward line alone!
For a team like Chelsea aiming for the Champions League, the striker must at least be a first-class scorer!
Looking at the entire European football scene, the most likely and safest target is naturally Suarez.
After all, the Uruguayan striker has no problem adapting to the Premier League.
What's more, Suarez has such comprehensive technical characteristics and his tactical adaptability is better than Torres, so he is worth buying!
As for Arsenal, the forward line has always been an old problem.
Strictly speaking, the Gunners' forward line has never been good since Van Persie joined Manchester United.
In addition, Wenger now has money in his hands, which makes him more confident. The competition for the top four in the league this season has been so fierce that the Gunners have to increase their investment to recruit players and strengthen their own strength.
Otherwise, if the strength of other teams improves, Arsenal will have no hope of winning the Champions League!
It has to be said that this is also the butterfly effect brought about by the rise of Southampton.
After all, there are only four teams in the Champions League. If Southampton grabs one spot, the other teams will lose a chance!
Yang Huan sat in his seat, looking leisurely at the group of people not far away. It was obvious that he was trying to understand the situation.
However, John Henry and Ian Ayre kept shaking their heads, as if to say that Suarez was not for sale.
But these words are so pale and powerless!
Liverpool has no hope of winning the Champions League, and Suarez is very determined to transfer. In addition, there is a 40 million pounds termination clause in Suarez's contract. Naturally, any team that can afford this money will make a move!
When Yang Huan thought of this, he stood up suddenly.
"Come on, Peter, let's join in the fun!"
After saying that, he walked towards the crowd with big strides.