Chapter 25: Winning the Championship

Arsenal made adjustments during the break, and Wenger replaced Willsheer and Denilson. It seemed that he strengthened his defense, but in fact he was preparing for counterattack. It’s a pity that the gap between the three goals in the total score is too big. If Arsenal wants to advance, he must score four goals in 45 minutes and ensure that his goal is not lost.

This is simply an impossible task.

Arsenal did threaten the Forest’s goal at the beginning of the second half, but unfortunately good times are usually so short. They still cannot shake the advantage that Nottingham Forest has established in the first half. George Wood is indeed one of the most powerful midfielders in England today. Fabregas made a pass mistake under his marking and his physical strength is declining.

Although he can pass those sharp balls, the whole team is beaten by the Forest team so hard that it is impossible to find North. What's the use of him being able to pass the ball alone?

This game was Arsenal's tactical failure, and no matter how powerful Fabregas is, it will be useless.

When the second half was halfway through, Arsenal still did not score. Wenger had a premonition of his failure and began to save his energy for the league.

Fabregas is still running desperately on the court, passing the ball or shooting himself. He is unwilling to admit defeat at this time.

Espanyol was a little impatient on the court, while Wood became more and more calm. The boss asked him to stare at Fabregas, so he executed meticulously. As for who Fabregas would pass the ball to, he didn't care. Just as his teammates believed in him as the captain, he also believed in his teammates.

It is this tacit understanding that allows the Forest team to take the lead in the away game and take the initiative on the field.

In the second half of the second half, Arsenal had few opportunities, and Forests kept threatening Amunia's goal. Nottingham Forest fans have not seen such an easy game at Arsenal's home court for a long time.

In the 80th minute, some Arsenal fans began to leave the court early, and they no longer had any hope for this game. They could only comfort themselves, "We still have the league." While leaving the court unwillingly.

Seeing that the overall situation was settled, Donn also replaced several players who were relatively tired recently. Bale was replaced by Joe Matok, Bentley was replaced by Mok, and Ibisek was replaced by Abanglaho.

Every player who was substituted hugged Don Eun and celebrated their victory happily.

Leading 2:0, there are still ten minutes left, Tang En couldn't imagine that he still had the possibility of failure.

He could go back to Nottingham with a relaxed mood, and I believe that Shania in the private room could breathe a sigh of relief.

In the last ten minutes, Arsenal launched a crazy counterattack against the Forests' goal. They almost gave up on their pursuit of victory, but the self-esteem of a strong team made them unable to tolerate themselves being shaved at home. They wanted to use this last time to score a goal.

Unfortunately, the Forest team did not let them get what they wanted. They returned to defense at the full range and blocked the goal tightly.

Fabregas finally played a full game in this game and was not replaced in advance. Unfortunately, his efforts did not help the team win, nor did he even bring a goal to save face.

When the referee blew the whistle to the end of the game, many Arsenal players collapsed on the court, and only their captain stood.

On the other side, the substitutes of the Forest team, led by the assistant coach, rushed into the court and hugged and celebrated with their teammates on the court.

Tony Don, on the other hand, sorted out his clothes and strode towards Wenger with a smile.

"What a pity." He comforted.

"I wish you good luck now, Tony. I hope you can reach the final. But I will not give you the league championship to you anymore." Wenger really wants to make himself look graceful. But he really can't laugh when he lost the Champions League.

Tang En smiled and said nothing.

Wenger shook hands with him and turned around and walked away. Tang En looked at his back and said something in his heart: "Of course I won't ask you to let the champion give it to me. Professor. I'll get it myself."

After finishing the handshake with Wenger, Tang En was surrounded by reporters.

"How does it feel to enter the semi-finals again, Mr. Tang En?"

“It feels great!”

"Is the goal of this season also a Champions League championship?"

"Who doesn't want to win the championship?"

"Is it a bit surprising to beat Arsenal so easily?"

"No, it should be unexpected that it is Arsenal, not me."

There was also a reporter who wanted to ask a question, but Tang En raised his hand and refused: "What else do you have to ask again at the press conference. I have to be with my team!"

He lined up and walked to the court to celebrate the victory with the Forest players.

"What a big name..." Someone among the reporter muttered in a low voice.

"But he is qualified to be a big shot." Someone shrugged next to him, "Who said he is the winner?"

Winning Arsenal and advancing to the semi-finals made Nottingham's media enthusiastically hype for many days. The defending of the Wilford training base is very lively every day, with hard-core fans coming to support the team, and news media coming from the news.

Forest team, which reached the semi-finals, encountered good luck. Their semi-finals rivals were not strong. It was Ligue 1 team Lyon. On the other side was Real Madrid and Barcelona's Spanish national derby.

This semi-final four made Spanish media very excited because they had two teams that entered the semi-final four. They had long dominated the semi-final four seats in the Premier League. They suffered a complete defeat this season, and in the end, only Nottingham Forest team appeared in the semi-final four seats in the Premier League.

Foreign media gloat about this, claiming that the Premier League is finally going to give up the first league, and the Spanish media even shouted that they want to take the lead, and that the Spanish media is the first league in Europe.

The Italian media and the German media have chosen to remain silent as always.

Before the game, the English media unanimously favored Arsenal and cheered Wenger's team up. Now they turn to Nottingham Forest like a fence, making Donne's team "the only hope in English football", "a fighter who defends the dignity of English football", and "a brilliant successor to England football".

Tang En didn't care whether he had been labeled these big hats. He had to take his heart back now. Prepare for the league. Let's consider the matters in the Champions League when they come.

Before the Champions League, Forests had already experienced the test of two strong teams. As a result, neither Chelsea nor Arsenal were able to complete the task of blocking them. Don't pass the team successfully, currently ranked second, one point ahead of Liverpool, one point behind the first-place Arsenal, three-pointer, and fewer goals than Arsenal. Arsenal's winning side is still very good. Arsenal is still optimistic from the latest Premier League championship odds this season drawn by William Hill.

In order to prove that he and Donn had a sure win, Carl Spike once analyzed the disadvantages of the Forest team in his program. Regarding the schedule, he said that the Forest team will face two strong teams and two weak teams. The Forest team has already played, and the weak team is the real test.

The two relegation teams have not yet left the relegation circle, and the worse news is that they have not been relegated early. This is a situation that any of their opponents are afraid of - a team on the relegation circle or the edge may either be relegated to the Championship after three rounds of the league, or may succeed in relegation at the last moment. It can be said that heaven and hell are in that line.

No one wants to go to hell. Everyone wants to go to heaven. The same is true for Tang En. If he helps others, he will go to hell. He is not the kind of saint, Buddha who loves all living beings in the world and is willing to sacrifice himself to help others. So it can be expected that these two games will be very intense and exciting.

These two games were in the 35th and 38th rounds of the league respectively.

Round 35. Forests play Portsmouth away. Round 38, the last game of the league, will face Sunderland at home.

If Nottingham Forest can defeat Portsmouth and Sunderland can win, then in the last round, the situation may not be that bad for both teams - Sunderland has successfully relegated, and Nottingham Forest naturally no longer has to face an opponent who fights to survive.

This is an ideal future, but Tang En doesn't think their luck will be so good.

You should know that in the 35th round, Sunderland's opponent is Manchester United. How could Manchester United let Sunderland go at home in order to compete for the Champions League? Sunderland only had one home game in the final dead round, and two of the other three away games all faced strong opponents. The relegation situation was much worse than Portsmouth.

So the media have already sentenced Sunderland to death in advance. In comparison, Portsmouth only has the strong opponent, the Forest, in the last four rounds, and they seem to be able to successfully relegate.

Perhaps only Sunderland and others did not give up. The local media kept cheering the team up, believing that as long as they united, they would definitely create miracles. Some people even suggested that Sunderland invite former head coach Keane to return because he had created similar miracles before taking over. He ranked last in the previous team, and after half a season, he led the team to the Super League successfully. This was also the only brilliant achievement that Keane could have made as a head coach. Later, his coaching career was not very smooth, so this proposal was completely a rush to seek medical treatment. Keane could not agree to be a scapegoat.

There is a saying that seems very reasonable.

"... Tony Donn's team is currently fighting on the third line. The physical fitness is extremely exhausted. The players are under great pressure. I think Sunderland is not yet time to surrender, as long as we have not fallen behind before the last round of the game. We may still have a chance to fight the exhausted Nottingham Forest... Think about it, the fatigue of fighting on the third line and the need to win the league championship, otherwise their boss will be under a huge pressure... No team can perform normally under such circumstances..."

But any bad advice looks reasonable before it gets bad.

In short, Sunderland is still struggling to death. Don Eun will not show mercy because he has loaned young players to them many times and has a good personal relationship with their former head coach Keane. Just as he will not show mercy to Portsmouth's men, he does not care about any opponent except himself. As long as their group stands in front of him, it becomes a stumbling block that hinders him from moving forward and winning the championship, he will kick away without mercy.

On April 19th, the 35th round of the league, Nottingham Forest challenged Portsmouth away.

Portsmouth did show off the momentum of a relegation team, but it seemed to only give out 80%. Because of the news from Old Trafford, Sunderland fell behind Manchester United in just three minutes at the beginning. Sunderland's backwardness made Portsmouth's pressure suddenly lighter. They wanted to win this game but were unwilling to fight for everything. After all, there are three rounds in the league. If they compete with the Forests, then the remaining three rounds may only be able to watch their opponents surpass them and escape from the sea of ​​suffering in hell.

It is very dangerous to fight with Nottingham Forest, who is determined to win to catch up with Arsenal with such a contradictory mood.

The players of the Forest team don’t have so many complicated thoughts in their minds - if they win this game, what should they do next game? If they try their best in this game, what should they do in the second half?

It's very simple for them - if you win this game, you will continue to win the next game.  I tried my best in this game and continued to do my best in the second half.

In the 25th minute, Nottingham Forest broke the deadlock with a long shot from Rafinia, and they led 1:0 away.

The behind Portsmouth then increased the offensive force. Their head coach yelled on the sidelines, asking the team not to give up. Ten minutes later, Portsmouth used a corner kick to break through the goal guarded by Akinfeev. 1:1.

This time it was Tang En's turn to get angry on the sidelines.

During the halftime break, Donn replaced Thiago with Gago and continued to strengthen his offense.

In the 71st minute, the Forests finally scored. Wood's long shot hit the Portsmouth defender and changed the line, which just bounced to Mitcher's feet. He swung his foot and shot, and the football came into the net.

The lagging Portsmouth still wanted to counterattack, but just three minutes later, Matthias Fernandez blasted Portsmouth's goal with a long shot, which completely destroyed Portsmouth's fighting spirit.  The following game Nottingham Forest controlled the rhythm, and Don also gave more players a rest through substitutions.

The only dissatisfied was the Portsmouth fans who watched the game in the stands. They used early exit to express their protest.

When the referee blew the whistle to the end of the game, the latest news from Old Trafford was that Sunderland also lost to Manchester United. In this way, the situation of the two teams has not changed at all, and they are still likely to be relegated and upgraded.

When Donn got up and shook hands with the Portsmouth head coach, Chris Lack, who was next to him, came over and said, "Arsenal won too."

Tang En nodded, said nothing, still smiling, and stretched out his hand to the other head coach.

The two teams are still three points apart, nothing has changed.

Today's Nottingham Forest can only guarantee that it will win continuously, and then expect Arsenal to make mistakes.
Chapter completed!