Chapter 146: Win the Derby, Lose the Title??
"Xia Qi!"
"A delicate shove-and-strike!"
"Arsenal, down a man on the pitch, have come from behind to take the lead — a huge comeback!"
"You can always trust Xia Qi — he's worthy of your faith!"
With Zhan Jun's hoarse roar, many viewers in front of their TVs roared along.
The moment Xia Qi scored, the whole Emirates erupted!
Xia Qi slid over toward the South Stand railings; Theo Walcott, Mario Balotelli… followed him toward the South Stand, and the players under the South Stand all made heart signs together to thank the fans for their support.
Arsenal supporters in the stands went wild, chanting Xia Qi's name and cheering his brilliant play.
That goal not only gave Arsenal three precious points but also showed fans hope and a future: with Jack Wilshere and Kevin De Bruyne injured, Xia Qi still showed ferocity.
In this moment of celebration, the entire Emirates was drowned in the passion of Arsenal players and fans.
"This is a night that belongs to Arsenal — a night that belongs to football!"
Zhan Jun, still high on emotion in the live broadcast, began summing up even though the match wasn't over.
[Ha ha! Zhan the commentator is a man of temperament — I hope it's not a half-time champagne moment.]
[Son Heung-min's expression is hilarious! As if he's saying: we're running on the ground while you're flying?]
[Xia Qi is just too strong — destroying Spurs at both ends of the pitch.]
…
Arsenal's celebrations ended quickly.
Tottenham, of course, were unwilling to let the three points slip away, and they still had a numerical advantage on the pitch.
After the restart Spurs launched a desperate counterattack.
Wenger stayed calm, waved his hand and ordered Balotelli to stay up front by himself while everyone else dropped back to defend.
At this point Arsenal were a man down, leading on the scoreboard, and fully committed to defending — exactly what Spurs expected.
But what happened next was not what Spurs expected.
Spurs attacked wildly for five or six minutes but it wasn't a matter of whether they could score — they simply didn't threaten the Arsenal goal.
In Arsenal's defensive system Xia Qi was the most active presence. He had Gustavo anchor the middle while he roamed, sweeping everywhere; wherever danger appeared you could find him.
"Oh wow! New boss, three fires lit — both wings, the midfield, the box — captain Xia Qi is everywhere; Spurs' attacks end the moment they reach Xia Qi."
"Look at that cut of the director. Gustavo's look toward Xia Qi is so forlorn, like a wife staring at a husband who hasn't come home for years."
"Gustavo is suffering! All the work Xia Qi did in these six minutes should have been Gustavo's."
On the pitch, Son Heung-min cut into the box and was about to swing his leg when Xia Qi came flying in from the side and poked the ball clear.
Son, who swung and missed, not only failed to strike the goal but pulled a thigh muscle…
He limped off to receive treatment.
After a short time he returned to the match.
Although Xia Qi dislikes Koreans, he had to admit that in the profession of football they are very professional.
Spurs kept pressing forward.
In the 90th minute, Harry Kane let fly a long-range shot from the edge of the box.
The shot was blocked out by Gustavo.
The Emirates applauded Gustavo's desperate block.
Gustavo held his head high, face full of pride.
He had finally proven his worth.
"Again and again they tire themselves out; Spurs must be careful."
"Eight minutes have passed and Spurs haven't turned their numerical advantage into a goal, although there are still twelve minutes of stoppage time…"
Because the match had been stopped earlier, the referee added an unusually long twelve minutes of stoppage time.
The more than twenty thousand Spurs fans who had traveled with the team could see their side's precarious situation.
If this continued, Spurs might not only fail to score — they might even be vulnerable to Arsenal counterattacks.
So they began to try to provoke.
They sang loudly: "Arsenal, Arsenal, you're a cowardly turtle, Arsenal, Arsenal, you're cowards; the football pitch is not a place for you, you belong back in your mother's womb…"
"You shouldn't have been born — please fly to Thailand now, change your sex and play women's football instead — that would be your best choice!"
Arsenal fans turned green with rage and wanted to climb over the barriers to fight, but the riot police stopped them!
Some Arsenal fans didn't take the bait; they shouted at the Arsenal players, "Go out there and fight like men."
Others were calmer and called to Xia Qi: "Xia, don't fall for it! Three points are what matters!"
On the touchline Pat Rice reminded Arsène Wenger: "Should we give the boys a definite instruction?"
"Wait a bit. Let's see how Xia Qi handles it first."
On the pitch, Xia Qi defended steadily, and when he and Walcott did a crisscross run, a voice came into Walcott's ear: "Theo, stay up front and don't come back."
Xia Qi's voice was very distinctive — a unique mechanical tone. Walcott didn't know why Xia Qi sounded like that during matches but not off the pitch, yet he obediently listened.
After receiving the instruction Walcott didn't immediately run forward but continued defending Paulinho; after Paulinho shook off his marker he didn't chase back as before but instead stayed close to Spurs' defenders.
Xia Qi began to slow the rhythm, giving Spurs the illusion that Arsenal were running out of energy and luring them to commit everyone forward.
It was a sweet trap!
A trailing Tottenham could not refuse, especially Mauricio Pochettino — it was his first North London Derby as coach.
He could hardly refuse the temptation, put his little finger to his lips and whistled, signaling his full-backs to push up boldly and throw more men into the attack to create multi-layered pressure.
When Arsenal players saw both Spurs full-backs push up and not come back, they instantly realized that their counter moment was arriving.
Walcott and Balotelli exchanged a glance and scraped their studs along the turf.
With Xia Qi in the defensive half, Arsenal's next goal would surely come from one of those two — whoever could run into space would be the one.
On the pitch, Son's left-wing break was cut off by a now-warming Gustavo, and Son had to pass back into the center.
In the middle, as Eriksen received the ball, Xia Qi surged straight at him.
His speed was like a bolt from the blue, and his momentum that of a high-speed, runaway truck.
Eriksen blacked out for an instant and the stadium lights blinded him… he didn't even fully understand how he'd fallen, nor could he clearly identify who had taken his ball.
Under AI control Xia Qi's collision was a legal use of the body.
The referee standing near Eriksen witnessed the whole thing and decisively signaled play on with both arms extended.
AI-Xia Qi flowed like water — the moment he won the ball he didn't even glance at the referee and drove forward with the ball.
In an instant!
The Spurs fans who had been jeering Arsenal's cowardice fell silent.
They were a little disoriented.
Arsenal were out — but not in the way they had expected.
One by one they looked hopelessly toward the center where Xia Qi was munching through Dembélé and Capoue.
Arsenal fans, at the instant Xia Qi exploded forward, used every last breathe to unleash a thunderous cheer!
In a frenzied burst of pace,
Xia Qi tore through Spurs' midfield in a blink and sprinted into Spurs' half.
"Three on two! Arsenal have an opening."
"Xia Qi's counter is too fast — now Spurs have only two center-backs in front of their box while Arsenal have three players — Spurs are in danger."
On the edge of Spurs' penalty area —
Dawson!
He looked as if he had options but actually had none.
Marking Walcott, he charged resolutely at Xia Qi, fully aware of the consequences if he pushed up — but he had to go.
Xia Qi, naturally, reached the pass before Dawson did and threaded it through.
It was inevitable!
At the same time Balotelli shot a spiteful look at Jan Vertonghen then darted into the box.
If Vertonghen had gone to block Xia Qi earlier, Balotelli would have been Arsenal's primary striker, but now Balotelli could only act as the support.
Walcott, who received the pass, beamed and drove the ball into the box with a neat dribble.
In the box he wound up his leg high…
Vertonghen scrambled up to block the shot, and Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris shuffled along his line.
But Walcott gently lifted and then swung his left foot over the ball, playing it with the outside of his foot into the left side.
The ball rolled quickly across the two-meter space in front of Vertonghen toward the near left post.
"A fake shot, real pass!"
"A brilliant combination inside the box."
On the other side Balotelli had not expected Walcott to give up the shooting chance for him.
But a top striker's reflex made him spring like a startled hare, chasing onto the left side of goal where he met the ball and dinked it with his boot.
The ball changed direction and slotted into the net from in front of Lloris' fingertips.
"Balotelli's dink!"
"Lloris was deceived by Walcott and his save was delayed — in the end he couldn't stop the shot."
"4–2! At the 98th minute, Arsenal lead by two — Balotelli has killed the game."
"This was a textbook defensive counterattack: Arsenal continuously lured Spurs to press forward, then Xia Qi used his outstanding physical advantage to win the ball near his own box, bulldozed past two defenders in the center to create a three-on-two in the front.
Walcott, receiving Xia Qi's pass, feigned a shot and made a perfect pass to Balotelli, who finished with a delicate touch at the near post to seal the result."
"About eighty percent of the credit for that move should go to Xia Qi…"
Balotelli's goal completely killed off the suspense.
Pochettino, on the sideline, ran his hands through his hair in agony and let out a long howl…
Wenger and Pat Rice exchanged smiles and quietly sat back down on the bench.
After the goal Balotelli ran to the Spurs stand and did a turtle-crawl celebration.
It was meant to mock the Spurs fans' earlier taunts.
Spurs fans instantly flew into a rage and hurled whatever they had at Balotelli…
On the Penguin live feed Zhang Lu chuckled: "Balotelli is a bit better than Xia Qi in one way — his goal celebrations are more spectacular."
Isn't that obvious?
AI-Xia Qi has no emotions and wouldn't provoke the other side's fans; human Xia Qi would need to unlock a celebration move that already exists — Balotelli has done the turtle act before, so Xia Qi could adopt it afterwards, but before it's done he has nothing to "exchange" for it!
The referee ran over and verbally warned Balotelli not to provoke the opposing fans.
When play resumed,
Spurs had lost the drive to continue.
Four minutes later the referee blew the final whistle.
"Friends in the audience, the full-time whistle has blown. Arsenal have beaten Tottenham 4–2 at the Emirates, taking victory in this season's first North London Derby."
"Congratulations to Arsenal, congratulations to Xia Qi, but Arsenal paid a heavy price in this match — their midfield engine Jack Wilshere went off injured.
If Wilshere and Santi Cazorla are both absent for upcoming matches then Arsenal's September could be a harsh, wintry month."
"However, there's also some good news. I saw Xia Qi take on the role of the team's metronome after Wilshere and Cazorla came off. Frankly, Xia Qi did pretty well; he successfully controlled Arsenal's tempo and guided Spurs into his rhythm, enabling that perfect counter."
"Some fans may not feel this, so let me put it this way: Xia Qi's tempo control is a bit like Andrea Pirlo — using men wisely, without ostentatious glory…"
On the pitch,
Xia Qi and the others linked hands and thanked the fans in the stands, thanking them for fighting and for stopping the trouble in time…
But the fans' enthusiasm didn't die down; Xia Qi and the players had entered the tunnel yet the chanting continued and Arsenal songs still rang across the stands.
Xia Qi was once again voted Man of the Match.
…
The fierce and explosive North London Derby has passed a whole day,
but discussion about it remained among the week's top trending topics.
First was the match itself and the hotspots — especially the clashes among fans — which made European news.
Second was Wilshere's injury: although it's not severe enough to keep him off the bench for watching, experts advise about four weeks to recover properly.
So Arsenal will lack a "brain" for at least a month.
That raised another debate: can Xia Qi become Arsenal's qualified brain?
Everyone knows Arsenal have no better choice besides Xia Qi;
everyone knows a No. 9-and-a-half and a midfield brain are two different things.
The media don't question Xia Qi's organizing ability, but whether he can be the team's overall commander is another story.
The Times ran: "Arsenal Win the Derby, Lose the Title" — reflecting the view of many journalists and football people.
Bookmakers adjusted Arsenal's Premier League and Champions League odds accordingly — especially for the Premier League, the odds were increased by a full 5 percentage points, a thermometer-like spike.
Champions League odds only moved by about 2 points.
Next, views on Xia Qi: "Has the goalscoring machine been snuffed out? Or has an all-round warrior risen?"
Both sides have arguments, but one thing is certain: Xia Qi's market value has risen.
The reason is simple: even if Xia Qi can't fully shoulder the commander's role, his organizational skills are a bonus — a higher valuation is reasonable.
All the outside noise had nothing to do with Xia Qi; he was busy training back at the Colney training ground…
(END CHAPTER)
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