Van-Mael Connection! We Will Be the Best Partners! Little Saka's Idol!

"Game on!!"

In the broadcast booth, Zhan Jun straightened his posture and shouted excitedly, "Kuyt kicks off for Liverpool from the center circle! Henderson has the ball, the young midfielder who transferred from Sunderland this summer for a transfer fee of 18 million euros!

"A long ball from the back! Vermaelen clears it, no threat!"

On the field, the players from both sides began their duel amidst the passionate cheers of the fans, each with a very excited expression.

Maël slowly ran towards the left wing position. In Wenger's system, he didn't have to shoulder too many defensive responsibilities, just wait for counter-attack opportunities.

But if his stamina improves in the future, he can run more on the left and take on more defensive responsibilities.

One of the rules of modern football's development and evolution is that the forwards take on more defensive responsibilities, gradually trending towards total attack and defense.

If he can have good defensive ability while maintaining good scoring efficiency, it will definitely give his opponents a bigger headache, make Arsenal's entire left side stronger, and improve the team's overall strength.

His value and various other metrics will definitely rise!

This will not affect his attacking stats. Even if he gets the ball in a slightly deeper position, the number of times he gets possession will increase, and he will have more space to accelerate and sprint when seizing opportunities to switch from defense to attack.

"Henderson!"

Maël had just run to the position facing Martin Kelly when he saw the latter reminding his teammates, with an unusually positive attitude, "He's coming from behind! Pass the ball quickly!"

As he spoke, Martin Kelly also moved closer to him, glanced at him warily, and stuck close behind him.

This defender is as tall as 191cm, has good physical confrontation, and has certain speed and defensive abilities.

But no matter how fast he is or how good his physical confrontation is, he will definitely not be able to compete with Maël's lv4 skill. His two abilities are top-notch, and no matter how strong Martin Kelly is, he is still some distance away from the top.

Maël didn't worry, looking back at his teammates' defense in the backfield, waiting for a chance to touch the ball.

"Bang, bang, bang!" Liverpool's midfield line passed the ball quickly. Henderson, as the holding midfielder and organizer, did a good job of activating the midfield's ball distribution, allowing the two attacking midfielders to constantly get the ball and attack Arsenal's defense.

In this process, Arsenal's mid- and back lines also wanted to put some pressure on them, fighting very fiercely.

This forced them to pass and receive the ball more quickly, each intersperse run was a full-speed sprint, and they had to be ready for confrontation at all times.

"Clang!" Fierce tackles and confrontations occurred frequently near the midfield, and the clash between the two teams seemed unusually heated from the start, living up to people's expectations for a big6 battle.

Maël looked at the constantly running Liverpool players in front of him, and then looked back at Martin Kelly.

If he can put up good stats in this game and help Arsenal take 3 points from Liverpool, it would definitely be considered an important victory!

He wants to launch an attack towards this goal. He knows that there are four other big6 teams waiting for him ahead, and even Tottenham, a local rival.

He wants to find the confidence to overcome these strong enemies from Liverpool, and let himself adapt to competing with these kinds of strong teams in the Premier League! "Arsenal! Arsenal!!"

At the corner of the east and west stands, there were more than a hundred cheering fans wearing Arsenal jerseys in an orderly manner, arranged in order of age. They piously shouted the team's name to cheer for the players.

Looking closely, their ages varied greatly, from seven or eight-year-old children to young people around twenty years old.

These are the young players from the Arsenal youth training camp. They came to the scene in an organized manner to cheer for the club's First Team players.

This was naturally Wenger's intention, to let them feel the intensity and heat of the Premier League arena as early as possible, and to cultivate their recognition and loyalty to the club from an early age.

Every month, the club would take out more than a hundred connected tickets to organize the players to watch a home game.

"Bang bang... bang bang bang...!!"

In front of the U18 seating area, coach Hans was wearing casual clothes today, constantly beating the cheering drum, his face extremely excited.

Every time he beat a rhythm, he would raise his right hand, leading the players to shout together, "Arsenal! Maël!"

As former coach and former teammates, the Arsenal U18 Team naturally had different feelings for Maël. Their love and support for him exceeded that of any Arsenal First Team player.

"The pace of this game is so fast, Liverpool are attacking across the board, their desire to win away from home is very strong!"

"It won't be easy, I don't know if Maël can adapt to this kind of strong competition."

"This is the first time we've come to the scene to watch him play as a team, I hope he can get an assist or a goal!"

"It's difficult... we're unlucky, we didn't come at the right time. If the first game against Newcastle was at home, we could have seen him complete a Hat-trick here, that would have been awesome."

"He also scored in the last game against Udinese, but the club didn't organize a viewing."

"Okay, stop chatting, let's cheer for him properly!"

The players talked excitedly about the game and Maël's performance. Looking at the figure standing on the left side of the field, they still often felt a sense of separation.

I vaguely remember a year ago, Maël, along with them, faced the visiting Liverpool U17 Team at the Colney Base.

He performed well in that match, scoring 2 goals, and was scouted by Sheffield United after the game.

Returning a year later, putting aside any talk of championships or statistics, he directly donned the Arsenal First Team jersey and stood on the Emirates Stadium pitch against the Liverpool First Team!

Representing Arsenal and facing Liverpool again, but representing a world of difference.

That was Dalglish's team, with a total value of hundreds of millions of euros, and many of the players in the lineup were superstars renowned throughout European football!

"Boom!!"

In the 6th minute of the match, Liverpool's winger Downing cut inside, shaking off Vermaelen, and unleashed a very threatening Curved Shot.

The football headed towards the far corner of the goal, the angle was tricky, just lacking some height.

Szczęsny lunged to the side, his reaction speed was amazing, and what was even more impressive was that he not only made the save, but also firmly grasped the ball in his hands.

"Wonderful save!"

In the broadcast booth, Zhan Jun maintained the professional qualities of a commentator, offering his praise to the home team's opponent: "Szczęsny helped Arsenal win back possession! He quickly gets up and is about to launch a quick attack with a throw!

"There is a lot of space in Liverpool's backfield, their players are all pressing in Arsenal's half! This is a good opportunity for a counterattack!

"Szczęsny, throws the ball to Jenkinson! This is the first time this season that the left-back has been given a starting opportunity!"

On Arsenal's left flank, Jenkinson took the ball forward and accelerated towards Liverpool's backfield.

"Hey!" Liverpool's defensive midfielder Lucas quickly approached him, compressing his space to pass the ball to the center, and looking for a chance to steal the ball.

"Maël!"

Jenkinson had no choice but to continue dribbling forward, while calling for Maël to come back and receive the ball.

In fact, Maël was already running backwards, just looking for a gap to receive the ball.

"Boom!"

Jenkinson's pressure was increasing, and he had no choice but to aim at Maël's approximate position and push out a ground ball.

This ball was not well passed, forming a fifty-fifty ball between Maël and the opponent's left-back.

"Mine!!" A roar sounded from behind Maël, Martin Kelly pushed off the ground and started, wanting to take the ball before Maël.

He knew that his Speed was unlikely to be as fast as Maël's, so he chose to squeeze his body from the beginning.

Maël looked serious, he knew that Martin Kelly's confrontation ability was very strong, and he had to go all out.

The confrontation between the two took place right under Dalglish's nose, the old man's eyes were full of expectation and tension, in fact, he knew Maël's impact in his heart.

Saying those words at the press conference was more to motivate his players.

Or rather, he believed to some extent that Martin Kelly's defensive hardness could block Maël, but he was not sure enough, not confident enough.

"Bang!" The confrontation happened quickly, and the shoulders of the two collided fiercely, making a muffled sound.

This time, Maël also rarely felt his internal organs vibrate violently, the opponent's Strength was very amazing, it should be about the same as him.

Fortunately, his lower body was very stable, and he did not lose his center of gravity, and the next step was to catch the ball and complete the turn.

Martin Kelly was not so lucky, he was bounced away by Maël for nearly a meter, losing most of his center of gravity.

Reacting, feeling the Strength that Maël's body burst out at that moment. Martin Kelly's eyes were shocked, he stabilized his center of gravity and turned back, wanting to reach out and grab Maël, who was about to accelerate, to prevent him from continuing forward.

Dalglish was really surprised to see this scene, he glanced at the empty back line, his face even more nervous.

"Hey!" He subconsciously spread his hands, putting pressure on the referee, hoping that the other party had not seen the confrontation just now and could call a foul.

This kind of situation is very common on the football field, and the head coach of each team will occasionally play a few tricks.

After all, winning and getting points to make the fans happy is more important than anything else.

But soon, Dalglish saw Martin Kelly reach out and grab Maël's jersey. He quickly put his hand down and closed his mouth.

If he didn't put it down quickly, and someone took a picture and put it on social media, he would become complaining about his own player Martin Kelly's foul, which would be a very abstract behavior.

"Boom!!"

After feeling Martin Kelly's intention to commit a tactical foul, Maël didn't plan to dribble forward anymore, but instead followed the opponent's back line and played a Curved Over-the-Top Long Pass, looking for Van Persie who was cutting forward.

Lv3 Judgment of Situation allowed him to observe Van Persie's running intentions during the confrontation, making him realize he couldn't give up this attacking opportunity!

And Lv4 Arc Guiding gave him the confidence to boldly display his passing skills under pressure, breaking through the opponent's defense!

This was very likely to be a threatening pass, creating a shooting opportunity!

Amidst tens of thousands of expectant gazes, the football soared into the air, arcing towards the space behind Liverpool's defense.

It was a picturesque pass, giving no Liverpool defender a chance to clear with a header, simply curving towards Van Persie's path.

"Good ball!!"

In Liverpool's defense, Van Persie bypassed center-back Carragher, quickly rushing towards the ball's landing point, exclaiming excitedly, "Love you, Maël!"

"Agger! Agger!" Liverpool's center-back Carragher, seeing that he couldn't keep up with Van Persie, called out to another center-back to chase back, while he ran diagonally to cover the position.

"Pa!" Van Persie, in a high-speed run, completed the stop and dribble in one go, without any deceleration, rushing towards the opponent's penalty area.

He saw Liverpool's goalkeeper Reina coming out, lowered his head, and flicked the bottom of the football with his toe, lobbing it over Liverpool's goal! The football flew up with a violent backspin, heading towards Reina's head. Reina quickly jumped up and raised his hand to block the ball, but unfortunately, the football had a certain speed, and he couldn't stop it.

"Boom, Swoosh!" The football bounced forward again after landing and slowly bounced into the net.

Goal! Arsenal one, Liverpool zero!

"Yeah!!" The fans at the Emirates Stadium quickly stood up, excitedly jumping and celebrating, countless people embracing each other in excitement.

It was an opening goal! "Van Persie!"

On the sidelines, Philip and the other Arsenal assistant coaches all rushed out of their seats, heading towards Wenger's back, "Maël's assist! This is their first connection in an official match!"

"This will be the norm!"

"We're in the lead!"

Excitement gradually appeared on Wenger's face as well. He first suppressed his emotions and glanced towards the linesman's position.

Seeing that the linesman hadn't raised the offside flag, and turned to sprint towards the center circle, he dared to release his emotions, "Wow!"

Wenger raised his hands high, then hugged the assistant coaches, "I've been wanting to see their chemistry for a long time!"

On the field, Van Persie rushed all the way to the side of the goal under inertia. After seeing the football enter the net, he couldn't help but spread his hands and roar with his mouth wide open, "Ah oh...!!"

He rushed towards the corner flag area on the side of the field, enjoying the breeze along the way. His second goal of the season had arrived! He then slid out along the grass, waved his fists a few times, and looked for Maël's figure.

"Here he comes!"

Maël rushed over with open arms, full of enthusiasm, and slid out with Van Persie to celebrate this connected goal.

This was his first assist in the Premier League, the first time he had teamed up with the team's top scorer Van Persie to score a goal in the Premier League! Moreover, their opponent was Liverpool, one of the Premier League's Big Six!

He defeated Martin Kelly under the noses of the opponent's legendary players, providing Van Persie with an assist! "Too accurate!"

Van Persie got up and jumped up, excitedly bumping chests with Maël to celebrate, "I didn't wait in vain! Nor did I run into this space in vain!"

"Run if you have the chance!"

Maël high-fived him and smiled, "There will be more."

"We will definitely be good partners!" Van Persie stepped forward and hugged him, grabbed Maël's hand and raised it high into the sky, facing the Arsenal fan zone.

Maël and the Dutch god striker smiled together and came to the corner flag, enjoying the cheers and encouragement of the fans up close.

They were like matadors who had jointly performed a bullfighting show, ending the first round of performance in the most handsome way.

"The ball went in!!"

In the broadcast room, Zhan Jun's face showed a bit of a wry smile, but his hoarse voice was full of passion: "A connection from Van Persie and Maël, they seized this counter-attack opportunity and blasted through Liverpool's goal! Arsenal got off to a dream start!

"Liverpool's defense has had a lot of problems... First, Martin Kelly was at a disadvantage in the confrontation with Maël, giving Maël a chance to pass!

"Then Carragher didn't mark Van Persie, allowing the latter to have a One-on-One opportunity to rush towards the goalkeeper! It was a wonderful goal, Maël's pass was very accurate, his vision and overall view were very good, he is moving towards the top!

"Van Persie's handling goes without saying, he showed the level that a top striker should have!"

Zhan Jun quickly saw the broadcast camera aimed at Martin Kelly, still a close-up of his face, this was a common 'war criminal close-up' after a goal.

"Martin Kelly looks solemn, with sweat on his face... He should have felt Maël's impact and passing skills, and is a little apprehensive about the next defense.

"Looking at Carragher again, the Liverpool veteran keeps turning his head to look at the backs of the Arsenal players celebrating, seemingly amazed by the opponent's quicksilver counter-attack."

"Dalglish's expression doesn't reveal much, but one can imagine he's feeling some pressure. He's hoping their forward line can step up quickly and help the team's attack blossom."

After saying this, Zhan Jun also shook his head slightly, feeling a bit of pressure himself.

Personally, he definitely wanted Liverpool to win on the road and defeat Arsenal. He was a very loyal Liverpool fan.

In the corner of the East Stand, the Arsenal youth academy seating area was a scene of jubilation, with children of all ages rising to celebrate.

"Yes!"

Hans hammered the drum with even more force, frantically beating the surface and shouting, "His first assist against a Big Six team! God, how much more can he do?!"

The U18 players stood up and applauded, seeing their former teammate standing on the sidelines with the team's top scorer, Van Persie, as if they were one, feeling like players of the same level.

"He's improving so fast, how did he pass that ball?"

"His crosses have always been accurate, his technique must have been honed at Sheffield United!"

"Unbelievable, I no longer see him as a junior player in front of Van Persie. They're fighting side by side... and both have the ability to contribute to the team!"

"Still feels a bit surreal. A year ago, he was celebrating with us, and now he's celebrating with Van Persie, haha!"

"Keep it up!"

"I just remembered I don't have a photo or autograph from him yet. I was too embarrassed to ask before, will I miss my chance?"

"Maybe."

In front of them, a little kid wearing an Arsenal number 7 jersey excitedly took off his jersey and showed it to his teammates.

You could see a bold 'Maël' signature above his number 7.

"Saka, when did you get that? Help me get one too!"

"Let me see!"

"Is it Van Persie? Or Maël?"

Little Saka put the jersey away and put it back on, not letting his teammates take a look.

He proudly raised his head, his little face full of arrogance, "It's Maël's, I want to become a winger like him!"

Seeing his appearance, some of the Arsenal U18 team members were envious, both envious that Saka had Maël's autograph, and envious that Maël had become an idol for the youth academy's younger players.

"Bip!"

After the game restarted, the Liverpool players launched a frantic counterattack. They pressed forward in large numbers, committing seven players to the attack, and charged towards the Arsenal goal.

Tenacity, this is also an indispensable quality of top teams.

They are often not affected by conceding a goal, and can quickly adjust their state to launch a counterattack against their opponents!

It is difficult to defeat them, they are always full of energy and can fight you to the last moment.

"Bang bang bang!"

In the 9th minute of the match, they broke through Arsenal's midfield defense with three consecutive one-touch passes, developing the ball to the wing.

Charlie Adam cut to the byline and sent a cross towards the Arsenal penalty area.

The ball bypassed the heads of the defenders at the near post and fell in an extremely dangerous area, causing Koscielny and Andy Carroll to jump together.

Andy Carroll contested for the ball and headed it towards the far corner, completing a shot on goal.

"Bang!" Fortunately, Vermaelen anticipated his shot direction and arrived on the shooting line in advance, clearing the ball to the sideline.

Charlie Adam won the second ball. This time, he did not continue to cross, but passed the ball to the center, creating a long shot opportunity for his teammates in front of the arc of the penalty area.

This was a sharp pass that caught the Arsenal defense off guard.

"Bang pa!"

Downing stopped the ball and moved it to the right, feigning a shot, but at the last moment of the shot, he pulled the ball back and used his other foot to push the ball towards the left side.

There, Liverpool forward Kuyt sprinted at high speed, using the instep of his left foot to push the ball towards the center, creating another threat! "Bang!" Andy Carroll pushed the ball with his left foot, but unfortunately, in his haste, his ankle was not tight, and he kicked the ball directly into the stands.

He covered his face, extremely frustrated. He hadn't played for too long, and the feeling of shooting was indeed unfamiliar.

"Hiss papapa...!" The Liverpool fans grimaced in regret, but then applauded to encourage the team's players.

"Just a little bit off!"

At the live commentary booth, the Sky Sports commentator and Lineker, having witnessed the shot up close and felt the atmosphere of the stadium, both wore expressions of regret, seemingly feeling that the ball should have gone in.

Lineker shook his head slightly and sighed, "Liverpool's forwards need to find their shooting boots sooner rather than later. Their attack is very fluid, but they can't seem to score.

"It's important to remember that Van Persie and Maël are both playing very well today, and they could make Liverpool pay for their wasted chances at any moment!"

"Speaking of Maël."

The Sky Sports commentator turned his head and asked, "I remember you talked about him in your column before, Mr. Lineker. Has his performance today exceeded your expectations?"

"Absolutely."

Lineker became interested, his eyes lighting up as he said, "In fact, he greatly exceeded my expectations in the previous game against Newcastle United.

"I also watched the Udinese match and was equally impressed with him. He's adapted to the top league extremely quickly.

"I think it's not too much to expect him to achieve double-digit goals and assists in the Premier League this season."

The Sky Sports commentator nodded, smiling, "That's high praise. Hopefully, he can perform even better today!"

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