Chapter 222    The two-line combat officially begins

Recently, Leiden Oriental has played at home for four consecutive rounds of the league, so Xiao Ming naturally would not miss the opportunity to win at home. After defeating Wimbledon, they relied on Jin Klaze's gold-like goal to win 1-0 at home. All four home games won. In addition to the previous victory in Southampton, Leiden Oriental won five consecutive victories. Because Arsenal tied Manchester United 1-1 away in a focus game in this round of the league, Leiden Oriental jumped to the second place in the standings with one point advantage, only one point less than Manchester United in one round of games!

Manchester United now ranks first in the 26 rounds of the league with 48 points. Leiden Oriental and Arsenal behind them have 47 and 46 points respectively, but they both played one round less. In other words, in the next game, Manchester United, who has already played four league games against Leiden Oriental and Arsenal, will have no advantage at all!

When he saw the situation in the standings, even Xiao Ming was stunned - Manchester United won't win the league championship this season, right?

Originally, Xiao Ming didn't have this idea. Even the whole Premier League thinks that Manchester United may not have much advantage in the league this season - because they lost and tied against their biggest opponent Arsenal - but for Xiao Ming, who knows what happened later, he knows how brilliant Manchester United has this season.

But can't history change? Obviously it's wrong, otherwise how to explain that Leiden Oriental, a team that was originally famous and could not cause any ripples, has appeared in the top league this season and caused such huge uproar!

Moreover, in Xiao Ming's impression, Manchester United won the league this season so difficult. It seemed that he won the goal at the last moment of the last round and won the championship of this season with a slight advantage. Xiao Ming did not remember that Manchester United was leading Arsenal in points in the end, but since he could win the championship by winning the goal at the last moment, the previous lead would definitely not exceed three points.

Will the three points lost on Leiden East affect the trend of this season?

Thinking of this, Xiao Ming's heart couldn't help but beat violently. If this is the case, Leiden Oriental will definitely have the chance to create the myth that Kaiserslautern created in the Bundesliga last season. In the next game, Leiden Oriental will get the same score as Manchester United and Arsenal, then Leiden Oriental will definitely have the chance to win the championship - they are now one point ahead of Arsenal, one point behind Manchester United but one game less. This means that, theoretically speaking, Leiden Oriental has a good chance to win the league championship this season...

Such a huge temptation made Xiao Ming unable to help but lose his calmness. If the miracle of Kaiserslautern could be copied, then even if Leiden East was relegated from the Premier League in a few years and then began to disappear from people's sight, Leiden East's name will not be forgotten for decades. Just like if any promoted team in the later generations performed well in the first season, people would often give it the hat of "Kaiserslautern's second"...

Although Nottingham Forest did this more than ten years ago, the feats that were done when the media was underdeveloped and the amazing actions made in an era when the media was highly developed are definitely the latter that is easier to remember.

Although there is still a FA Cup game, Xiao Ming has completely ignored it. He no longer has any attention to this cup game. He has won it once, and it is not a great event. It is enough for the substitutes to play. Even if he enters the final, Xiao Ming plans to let the substitutes play the final of the FA Cup.

Britney and Jessica have left London one after another. They each have their own affairs. Britney wants to continue to promote their albums. After meeting Britney's agent, Xiao Ming also promised that when the CD of Leiden Oriental Song was released, Britney would be divided into part of the album. After all, with the help of Britney's fame, it would be absolutely no problem to sell several times the number of times the time before. Xiao Ming is still generous in this regard. At the same time, considering that it is possible to continue to cooperate in the future, and because of the principle of equal benefits, Xiao Ming happily agreed to Britney's agent's request.

Jessica is preparing to start joining the crew of "A Kissing to the Country". This film will be filmed in late February and completed in March. If it goes well, it will be released in the United States in April. This film is also one of the main films of Twentieth Century Fox this year. If it can perform well, it will have an immeasurable impact on Jessica's future star journey.

Farewell to Jessica and Britney, the training base in Leiden East was much quieter, at least the entertainment reporters basically would not come, and the ripples brought by Britney also calmed down.

"The next three months will be related to whether we can draw a perfect ending this season... Focus on winning games after games. I won't have any requirements for results, but you just need to do your best in all games."

Xiao Ming told all the players in the locker room.

On February 20, Leiden Oriental defeated Derby County 2-0 away, expanding its winning streak to six games. The momentum they showed surprised everyone. After twenty-six rounds of the league, the situation of the league began to gradually become clear.

Manchester United topped the list with 51 points, and 31 goals in total made them stand out, but the reality of one more game made Manchester United full of concerns - they lost the league championship in this situation last season, and the only English team participating in the Champions League this season was left with them, Leiden Oriental had 50 and 20 goals in goal difference, but their lack of experience in winning the championship and distraction in the Cup of Winners put them in a disadvantageous situation.

Arsenal, which is ranked third, seems to be more advantageous. Although they still have the FA Cup mission, Leiden Oriental and Manchester United have not been eliminated in the FA Cup. After the European competition, Arsenal can completely put all their energy into the league - their current points are 49 points, which is only one point and two points behind Leiden Oriental and Manchester United. As long as Manchester United and Leiden Oriental have a slight trouble, their chances of catching up will be quite big.

Chelsea, ranked fourth, also have a chance. Their current points are 47 points, and they also have one less game, and they are not without a chance to win the league championship. Although they were not eliminated in the Winners Cup, as a team that once won the Winners Cup, they are more interested in the league championship.

The team behind these four teams has a relatively large gap between them, with Leeds forty-two points, Aston Villa forty-one points, and Liverpool forth-thirty-nine points. It is basically difficult to pose any threat to the top four. With only twelve rounds left in the league, it is difficult and difficult for them to break through the top four.

In the eyes of the outside world, Leiden Oriental has basically secured a European quota until now. As a newly promoted team, it is almost a miracle to be able to participate in Europe for two consecutive years. Now, even if they are relaxing in the league, it seems that it is a wise choice to strive for the Winners Cup championship with all their strength.

However, for Xiao Ming, perhaps the goal before the start of this season is to get a European quota, but since he has played so far, not to mention winning the championship, he must at least compete for the next season's Champions League qualification, right?

From next season, England will have three teams participating in the Champions League, so the difference between the top three and the fourth place is actually very big.

In addition to the difference in honors, there is also the difference in economics - the gap between participating in the Champions League and participating in the League Cup, which can sometimes even match half of a small team's income throughout the season!

Although Xiao Ming is not short of money, the difference between participating in the Champions League and participating in the League Cup is whether he can attract more and better players, and whether he can retain more capable young players who cannot play as the main players for the time being!

For Premier League fans, this season's Premier League is quite lively - from the previous double-strong competition to the current four-country military chess - the more intense the competition, the higher the excitement, the higher the level of the league!

For fans of the top four teams, the next game is enough to excite them and torment them.

The league on February 27 will be the last round of the league before the quarterfinals of the three European teams. After playing this round of league, Manchester United will welcome the Serie A strong team Inter Milan, while Chelsea and Leiden Oriental met in the quarterfinals of the Winners Cup with Norway Valerenga and Russian team Locomotive Moscow.

Chelsea and Leiden East were both away games in the first game, which was even more unfavorable to Leiden East, because the weather in Russia is still cold in March, and this game will test their willpower in dealing with severe weather, and the Russian team is not easy to deal with.

In the UEFA Cup last season, if it weren't for the alien Ronaldo's incredible goal, Inter Milan might not have been able to escape from Moscow!

In view of this consideration, Xiao Ming hid most of the main players in the league on February 27. In that weather, of course, the better the main players' physical condition, the more beneficial it will be to the game.

In this round, Leiden Oriental's opponent in the league is Nottingham Forest, which ranks at the bottom of the points. In Xiao Ming's opinion, even if most of the substitutes are sent, it should be very easy to defeat this team.

But the result of the game was not as Xiao Ming thought.

Nottingham Forest now has only fifteen points, not keeping up with one-third of Leiden East, and is a tiny gap from leaving the relegation zone, but this does not make them lose confidence. At Brisbane Road Stadium, facing Leiden East, which was also a League One team last season but was incredible this season, Nottingham Forest showed amazing momentum.

They used their tenacious defense and fierce pressing to make Leiden East proud of the offensive line that Leiden East is proud of. Although they hid Fanny and Phillips, the main forward team, Yankoller and Robbie Keane were also very lethal. However, the defenders of Nottingham Forest almost blocked Leiden East's attack again and again with their flesh and blood. Xiao Ming used all the substitution places, but unfortunately he still could not shake the opponent's defense line. In this game, Leiden East's luck seemed to have been used up in six consecutive victories. Several excellent opportunities were either blocked by the defenders with their bodies or lost a slight margin from the goal.

When the whistle sounded at the end of the game, fans of Leiden East were disappointed to see their team tied by the league's deputy squad leader Zero to zero.

In this game, Leiden East's possession rate was as high as more than 70%, and the number of shots was far ahead of 21 to 3, but it could not break the opponent's defense.

At the post-match press conference, Xiao Ming fiercely criticized the opponent's tactic of ten players huddling in the backcourt for most of the time, leaving only one striker to harass him in the frontcourt. However, no matter how angry he was, the opponent's playing style was killing football, and Leiden East also lost the two points in the plan.

Arsenal is also unlucky, who was tied by Newcastle 1-1 away and was tied by Chelsea, who defeated Liverpool, and also ranked third and fourth with 50 points. Leiden Oriental continued to rank second, and his points behind Manchester United were expanded to three-pointers - Manchester United beat Southampton 2-1 in this round of the league, expanding their lead.

Xiao Ming was very angry about this. He was not only angry that he was widened by Manchester United, but it was of course the best to win the league championship this season. It seems that there is no need to be too disappointed if he can't win it. After all, no one, including themselves, has ever hoped that they would win the league championship, but being chased by Chelsea made Xiao Ming feel very dangerous. If he falls to fourth place, his qualification for the Champions League Cup will become a terrible - Xiao Ming is unwilling to play the fucking League Cup!

But then again, it is normal to have a trough after six consecutive victories. After all, players' condition will always fluctuate, and it is impossible to keep in the best state all the time. Besides, it is better to tie the game when this form is still unclear than to draw the game at the critical moment, isn't it?

After comforting himself for a few words, Xiao Ming took his team to Moscow and began to prepare for the quarterfinals of the Cup of Winners.
Chapter completed!