Chapter 778: Cruyff Turn! The Emperor's New Clothes! Hellish Christmas Schedule! Respect Is Not Won by Kneeling

Chapter 778: Chapter 141: Cruyff Turn! The Emperor’s New Clothes! Hellish Christmas Schedule! Respect Is Not Won by Kneeling

0-1—the Blue Moon had lost!

After playing 19 rounds, Arsenal sat at the top of the table with 50 points. Manchester United remained at 45 points, and Manchester City at 43. The gap between them had widened to five and seven points, respectively. But the Gunners’ joy wouldn’t last long.

On January 2nd, in the 20th round of the Premier League, Arsenal played away against Fulham.

Having just played Queens Park Rangers on the afternoon of the 31st and then Fulham on the 2nd, the Gunners heavily rotated their squad.

Based on Wang Shuo’s observations since arriving in London, the winter temperatures weren’t actually that cold. Aside from when it snowed, it usually hovered around seven degrees Celsius, sometimes even exceeding ten degrees. However, it rained frequently, and the air was extremely humid, creating a damp, biting chill often accompanied by wind. This was very similar to Wang Shuo’s hometown. Looking purely at the data, most people would wonder what the fuss was about. Northerners, in particular, who hadn’t experienced it firsthand, generally felt that if it wasn’t below freezing, it couldn’t possibly be cold. But once they experienced it for themselves, they would often feel the “magic attack” of a southern winter. Especially on rainy and windy days, the cold was simply impossible to ward off.

Because of this, Wang Shuo adapted quite well to the London winter. But the same couldn’t necessarily be said for the others.

With Arsenal severely rotated for their away game against Fulham, they conceded two quick goals shortly after kickoff. Wang Shuo had been designated as a secret weapon, scheduled to come on in the second half. Unexpectedly, before he even took the pitch, Johan Djourou picked up his second yellow card in the 58th minute and was sent off.

How were they supposed to play now?

By the time Wang Shuo came on as a substitute, the surrounding players were generally in poor form. At this point, no matter how much he tried to drive the team forward, he couldn’t overcome the opponent’s overwhelming momentum and tactical advantage. Ultimately, the Gunners lost 2-1 away to Fulham. In the 81st minute, Wang Shuo won a free kick in the attacking half, from which Koscielny scored a goal for the team.

This marked Arsenal’s second defeat of the season. From their loss to Manchester United in the third round to this defeat against Fulham in the 20th round, Arsenal had maintained a 17-round unbeaten streak. It was an undeniably outstanding record!

In other matches that round, Chelsea beat Wolves 2-1 away. Tottenham defeated West Bromwich Albion 1-0 at home. Manchester City crushed Liverpool 3-0 at home, while Manchester United suffered a disastrous 3-0 away defeat to Newcastle.

One round of heaven, one round of hell.

After completing the grueling winter break schedule, the Gunners managed one win, one draw, and one loss in three matches, securing four points. It was an average performance. Even so, with 16 wins, two draws, and two losses, Arsenal sat at 50 points, retaining their spot at the top of the table.

However, the team in second place changed hands once again. After beating Liverpool, Manchester City overtook Manchester United to claim second place with 46 points. Manchester United remained at 45 points, dropping to third. Tottenham Hotspur sat in fourth with 42 points, while Chelsea trailed in fifth with only 37 points.

To some extent, unless a major upheaval occurred in the second half of the season, the top four spots in the league were essentially locked in.

Frankly, Wang Shuo was somewhat dissatisfied with his first grueling winter break schedule. A record of one win, one draw, and one loss was considered a passing grade by the media—after all, Manchester United had only secured three points, while Manchester City and Chelsea had each managed four. But in Wang Shuo’s eyes, the team could have done better.

In all three matches, the Gunners had actually created more opportunities but had failed to capitalize on them. When discussing the matter with the coaching staff, the consensus was that it had to do with the players not adapting well to the festive fixture congestion. As for the loss to Fulham, it simply came down to a lack of squad depth. Playing two matches in three days meant there was only a 48-hour gap between them. Coupled with the freezing winter weather, failing to rotate the squad was out of the question and would have easily led to injuries. But the moment they rotated, things fell apart. Even Wenger himself admitted that the loss to Fulham was due to an ineffective rotation.

Regardless, the Gunners remained at the top of the table. Although they hadn’t managed to widen the gap with the two Manchester clubs as they had hoped, Wang Shuo hadn’t come away empty-handed.

After playing Fulham, he accumulated another 100 Passive Value points. He used them to upgrade his final Passive Skill, [Inverted Foot], to the Intercontinental Level. Combined with [Insight], which he had previously upgraded, all of Wang Shuo’s Passive Skills were now at least at the Intercontinental Level.

Having upgraded his Passive Skills, Wang Shuo’s Passive Value dropped to a mere three points. Moving forward, he could focus his attention solely on Domain Skills.

According to the schedule, the team would finally get a chance to catch their breath after the hellish Christmas period. Following the Fulham match on January 2nd, their next fixture wasn’t until January 7th, when they would travel north to face Leeds United away in the third round of the FA Cup. The League Cup semi-finals were set for January 10th, but the Gunners had long since been knocked out. On January 14th, they would play away against Swansea in the 21st round of the Premier League.

Since the team would undoubtedly field a full reserve squad for the third round of the FA Cup, the main Arsenal squad effectively had two weeks to rest, recover from the exhaustion of the Christmas fixtures, and prepare for the second half of the season, particularly in terms of physical stamina.

As for Wang Shuo, the day after the Fulham match, he attended a signing ceremony at the London Emirates Stadium. He officially signed a sponsorship contract with Arsenal’s main sponsor, Emirates Airline.