Chapter 232: Premier League Resurgence, Guardiola and Mourinho Face Off for the Second Time [Table Data Has Been Corrected]

After the match between Chelsea and Manchester United, the Premier League entered a temporary rest period, and the next round of the league will not start until ten days later.

However, during this period, the Premier League teams that are still competing in the FA Cup will prepare for the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Chelsea's opponent in this round of the FA Cup is Stoke City, which is also from the Premier League.

This makes Mourinho feel very entangled.

In the current Premier League standings, Chelsea ranks first in the Premier League with 56 points, Manchester City ranks second with 50 points, and Arsenal also has 50 points, but ranks third because of the goal difference disadvantage.

The gap between the three teams is very small, and Manchester City and Arsenal are also very fierce against Chelsea.

If Chelsea now has a point advantage of more than three wins, then Mourinho can rest assured to continue to work hard on the FA Cup.

But if there is only a six-point difference with Manchester City, Mourinho is more and more inclined to give up the FA Cup directly.

In this way, Chelsea's main players will be able to get more rest time, and they only need to focus on the league and the Champions League in the future.

The main players will play a League Cup final in early March at most, and the burden of the game is not heavy at all.

After all, Chelsea is now almost halfway outside the threshold of the League Cup final, and there is not much desire for the FA Cup.

On the contrary, Guardiola, who took over the Premier League team for the first time, needs to try his best to win the championship trophy in his debut season to prove his ability to the team's top management.

After being eliminated from the League Cup early, Manchester City has only two ways to fight in the FA Cup and the Premier League.

This reduction and increase has reduced the pressure of Chelsea's multi-line operations, but Manchester City has increased the burden of the game. Chelsea's advantage in the subsequent league competition will naturally be much greater.

However, Mourinho cannot make a decision on this matter alone.

After the game with Manchester United, Mourinho first held a relevant meeting with his coaching team members.

After the coaching staff had unified their ideas, Mourinho had a private conversation with Terry, Lampard and Li Ang.

Li Ang did not have any special feelings for the FA Cup, after all, he was not English.

For him, there was not much difference between the FA Cup and the League Cup, both were just cup competitions in England.

So if he were to express his opinion, he would definitely prefer to keep the league and the Champions League. As long as the League Cup was won, he believed that Chelsea fans would understand the team's decision to give up the FA Cup.

Terry and Lampard hesitated a little, but after finishing the conversation with Mourinho, the two confidants of Mourinho also expressed their understanding of the coaching staff's decision.

After all, past experience has told them that being too greedy often does not end well.

In England, so far, no team has been able to win the Premier League, League Cup and FA Cup in a single season.

The former peak iron-blooded Blues did not achieve such an achievement. Now the new Chelsea, which is still in the reconstruction period, needs to plan the battle line down to earth.

Seeing that there is a great hope to win the Premier League championship this season.

Even if they have special feelings for the FA Cup, Terry and Lampard know the importance and finally made up their minds to follow Mourinho's arrangements.

Next, it is natural that the Chelsea players will discuss this matter behind closed doors.

There are many non-English players in the Chelsea team now, so the whole Chelsea team quickly unified their ideas in discussing this matter.

After all, for Ibrahimovic, Hazard, De Bruyne and David Luiz, it is of course good to be able to fight for the FA Cup championship.

But if they have to give up this cup for the league and the subsequent Champions League, then they have no regrets.

After the whole team discussed and made a decision, Mourinho also arranged the starting lineup for the second leg of the League Cup semi-final and the next round of the FA Cup in a swift and resolute manner.

Because the game was against the Premier League teams West Ham United and Stoke City, no matter how dirty the two teams were, they would not do the bad defensive confrontations that are common in low-level leagues.

So young rotation players such as Van Ginkel and Kalas and some youth training players got the chance to start.

On January 22, after playing against West Ham United, on January 26, these guys will play another game against Stoke City.

Salah is also in the starting 11, but after the game against Stoke City, he will rush back to Basel to continue the Swedish Super League in the second half of the league.

In order to allow the main players in the first team to get more adequate rest.

Mourinho did not put any main players on the substitute list for the two domestic cup games, and even Li Ang got a chance to rest in these two rounds of games.

After enjoying a full 4-day vacation, Chelsea's main players returned to Cobham training base and carried out recovery training step by step.

At the press conference before the second leg of the League Cup semi-final, Mourinho released Chelsea's starting lineup for this round of the game, but it did not attract public attention.

After all, Chelsea had already slaughtered West Ham United in the first leg, and it was reasonable to send some young players to the second leg.

The process of this game also seemed very calm.

Chelsea played steadily at home, and the lineup of youth training and rotation was not weak, at least not weaker than West Ham United, which is now in the relegation zone of the Premier League.

After scoring one goal in each half, Chelsea finally tied with West Ham United 2-2 at home and steadily entered the League Cup final of this season.

However, at the press conference before the FA Cup, when Mourinho still released such a set of game rosters.

He was immediately questioned by various British media!

The explanation is of course the same old one, such as being afraid before the battle, violating fair competition, and looking down on the FA Cup.

To be honest, Mourinho is also under great pressure.

However, after seeing the main players return to the training base after a full rest, and the quality of subsequent training has improved a lot, Mourinho feels that this pressure is completely worth bearing.

A full season is too long, spanning two summers and one winter.

Young players have strong adaptability.

But in England, where winter is cold and humid, the older veterans want to stay as healthy as possible, so they can only control the number of appearances per season within a reasonable and scientific range.

Chelsea's first team of veterans has played enough games this season.

League, Champions League, League Cup.

Without the strong performance of these Chelsea veterans, Chelsea would not be able to play such a good situation on all three fronts now.

And Mourinho's consideration for his trusted old ministers was soon rewarded in the 23rd round of the Premier League.

Terry and Ashley Cole, who were already slightly tired after playing the winter schedule, had a lot of lightness in their training postures after two long rest adjustments in the January schedule.

The 4-day break between the 20th and 21st rounds of the Premier League, and the 4-day break between the 22nd and 23rd rounds. It can be said that Chelsea's veterans have recovered a lot of blood.

Chelsea, whose players have returned to full physical condition, welcomed the challenge of the Hammers West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on the evening of January 29.

Well, it may be a bit of a misnomer to say it is a challenge.

After being severely slaughtered by Chelsea in the first round of the League Cup semi-final, the players of West Ham United were directly beaten psychologically.

Just a week ago, they played the second round of the League Cup semi-final with a group of young players from Chelsea.

Even Chelsea's rotation and youth training lineup, they could only draw with great effort.

Now challenging Chelsea, who are all main players, again, the players of West Ham United are really unsure.

It just so happens that Chelsea, who were eliminated by Stoke City 2-1 in the last round of the FA Cup, now needs a big win to make those noisy voices disappear.

There is no better opponent to test the knife than West Ham United.

Mourinho even directly arranged a 442 starting formation in this game, letting Lukaku and Ibrahimovic start together.

What he pursues is a heavy firepower double attack!

There is no need for three midfielders in the middle, Li Ang and Matic are enough to deal with West Ham United's weak midfield defense.

As for Hazard and De Bruyne, who should have been fixed in the wing forward position, they directly pressed forward to the wing forward position in this game!

The veterans are powerful and the defense is solid.

Coupled with the extraordinary performance of the young offensive players in front, Chelsea broke through West Ham United's goal early in the first half!

There was no complicated offensive tactics, just two wings flying together and 45-degree bombing!

When there were enough shells delivered, Ibrahimovic and Lukaku simply crushed West Ham United's defense line repeatedly.

It's no exaggeration to say that it was an inspection of West Ham United's defense line!

Li Ang was also happy to sit in the midfield and coordinate the organization with peace of mind.

He did not gain any offensive personal data in this game, but he accounted for at least 50% of the credit in Chelsea's final 7:0 massacre!

West Ham United fans also expressed their opinions in interviews after the game.

What they hate most is not Lukaku who performed a hat trick today and Ibrahimovic who shot two shots and made one pass.

What they hate most is Li Ang who sits in the middle of Chelsea and continuously delivers the ball to Chelsea players on both wings!

After all, the old fans' eyes are always sharp. Without Li Ang in the midfield with Matic to suppress West Ham United's counterattack, and sort out Chelsea's offensive route.

There wouldn't be so many "shells" hitting the heads of West Ham United players!

After this battle, many Premier League fans have a new understanding of Li Ang.

Many Premier League fans lamented that it turned out that Li Ang could also be completely dragged in the team's midfield and backcourt, acting as a pure No. 8 organizing player.

However, as soon as these emotions were expressed, they immediately attracted many La Liga and Italian fans' ridicule.

"So we always say that at the tactical level, English football is rough and there is nothing worth learning from other countries. When Li Ang was in Real Madrid, he followed Alonso to learn how to organize the team. How could he be just a rough B2B player?"

"Pirlo has said that if Li Ang stays in Serie A, he will be the next organizing master in Serie A. Although he may need to grow for a few more years, there is no doubt that Li Ang is now the most versatile core of the young generation of players who is good at organizing!"

The voices of fans from both countries immediately made many English fans recall.

Whether it is Xabi Alonso or Pirlo, these two recognized midfield masters in the football world, it seems that they are really optimistic that Li Ang will become an organizing master in the future.

You have to know that the organizers they mentioned are basically at the same level as them. This evaluation is not low.

But look at Li Ang's performance as the core of a brand new team for the first time this season.

Fans from all walks of life in the Premier League have to admit that the two midfield masters of football did not make a mistake. Li Ang does have this potential.

However, the hype of Li Ang by major media in London has already made local fans in London, except Chelsea fans, tired of it. This time it is nothing more than a change of tricks.

Fans of Arsenal and Tottenham will not admit that they envy Chelsea very much, although it is true.

Once upon a time, their two clubs also had such an organizational core.

Unfortunately, one of them betrayed his parent team and went to Manchester City as the core after returning to the Premier League.

As for the other one, he is now living a comfortable life in Real Madrid.

It has been more than a year since the transfer, and he has basically won the club's honor grand slam, which is something Tottenham can't give at all.

In the past, they had it, but now they can only reminisce and envy their rivals in the same city to enjoy such happiness.

Arsenal and Tottenham fans who are tough on the Internet may be almost biting their teeth in reality.

However, with the arrival of the 24th round of the Premier League, the fans of the two teams have the confidence to gloat over Chelsea's misfortune.

Because in the 24th round of the Premier League, Chelsea will go to the Etihad Stadium in Manchester to challenge Manchester City, which is now closely behind them and only six points behind them!

After being reviewed by countless Premier League experts and fans, Chelsea's victory over Manchester City in the first half of the league.

One of the important reasons for Chelsea's victory is recognized to be Li Ang's explosive performance.

In other words, most Premier League fans now believe that.

If there is no extraordinary performance like Li Ang, Chelsea will still have to pay a heavy price to win Manchester City with a clean sheet.

And such extraordinary performance is often hard to come by, so how can it be said that it will explode directly?

Therefore, in this match between Chelsea and Manchester City, most Premier League fans think that the two teams will fight fiercely - if Mourinho and Guardiola want to directly decide the winner in this round.

On the other hand, if the two head coaches are calm and rational enough, it is not ruled out that the two top Premier League teams will start cautiously and end in a dull manner.

But such a scene is definitely not what the Premier League media and a large number of neutral fans want to see.

For the fans of Arsenal and Liverpool, they also hope that Chelsea can fight Manchester City to the death and both sides will suffer!

It is not time to sprint at full speed in the second half of the league.

But basically the pattern of the Premier League has been established.

Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal, the points gap between these three teams is not large, and one or two wins and losses may lead to the change of the top three positions in the current Premier League standings.

For Liverpool, there is still an 11-point gap between them and the current top team Chelsea, which is difficult to catch up, but there is still a lot of hope for a comeback.

Tottenham, Everton and Manchester United, which are further behind, are not in the championship group.

They are basically competing for the fourth place in the Premier League.

Seeing the current situation of the Premier League, many Red Devils fans are sad again.

At this time last year, they were already far ahead of Manchester City, waiting to win the Premier League championship in advance.

But this year, let alone competing for the championship, they can't even compete for the fourth place!

After being slaughtered by Chelsea, Manchester United actually relied on Rooney's last-minute goal before the end of the game to defeat Cardiff City, the second-to-last team in the Premier League, in the last round of the league.

What level is Cardiff City now?

After the 22nd round of the Premier League, Cardiff City only won 4 of them, scoring 17 goals and conceding 38 goals!

A complete underdog among underdogs.

But even in the face of such an opponent, Manchester United still stalemates with the opponent for the entire regular time of the game, a full 90 minutes!

Looking at Manchester United's current situation, its strength has already declined. After being defeated by Chelsea, it has not gathered its spirit for a full ten days.

How miserable it is!

However, Manchester United's misery seems insignificant in the context of the Premier League returning to the era of chaos and the revival of various powerful teams.

In recent years, when the Premier League reached the 22nd round of the second half of the league, three of the top four teams had more than or equal to 50 points. This is the first time!

If it weren't for the fact that too many points were given to the weak teams in the previous games, Liverpool should have accumulated 50 points in the 22nd round, almost the same as Arsenal and Manchester City.

However, such a scene is enough to make the English Football Association happy.

Let's not talk about the other powerful clubs for now, just talk about Liverpool.

After sinking for so many years, it finally stood up again in the league, and it can be regarded as contributing to the rise of the Premier League again.

After all, the topic and popularity of the old giants are guaranteed, especially now that Suarez is playing better and better.

Following the Golden Boot battle between Van Persie and Rooney in the 11-12 season, the Golden Boot battle between Suarez and Cavani once again helped the Premier League attract a lot of attention.

In an era of fierce competition and surging traffic, the decline of Manchester United is the sorrow of the Red Devils fans, but it is also the luck of other newly emerging giants in the Premier League.

After saving money for the stadium, Arsenal, who can invest more funds in the transfer market in the future, is eyeing the Premier League crown.

After Manchester City snatched a foundation-making Premier League championship from Manchester United, it has now ushered in Guardiola, a well-known coach in the football world, and vowed to build itself into a new football giant from scratch.

Liverpool has risen from the bottom and wants to revive the glory of the big Liverpool that once dominated the Premier League.

Above them is the strongest competitor of the new generation of Premier League hegemony, the new Chelsea led by Mourinho!

Qin (Manchester United) lost its deer, and the heroes of the world are chasing it!

It’s time to make great achievements!