Chapter 46:

On September 2, 2007, Chelsea will face Aston Villa away from home.

Aston Villa is a team in Birmingham, and they are rivals in the same city as Birmingham City.

Since the establishment of the Premier League, Aston Villa has not been very stable, but it is also one of the stronger teams besides Manchester United and other four teams competing for the championship... Well, well, to put it simply, Aston Villa Villa belongs to the second tier of the Premier League. It is the kind of team that has no relegation crisis. When it meets the third tier team, it wins. When it meets the team of the same tier, it wins a few games, loses a few games, and draws a few games.

When encountering a first-tier team, it is naturally impossible to score directly on the opposite side. They will definitely have to struggle, but the degree of this struggle generally does not depend on themselves, but on the opponent's team.

Teams like Chelsea, which changed their tactical formation after the start of the season, and have played extremely chaotic games in recent games, did not lose because they had two goalkeepers in the backcourt - Aston Villa. I think they can use some support.

Moreover, it is not just the Aston Villa team that thinks so. Before the game started, the speculation from the outside media all believed that the winning team in this game would be Aston Villa.

The main reason is naturally that under the leadership of head coach Martin Onio, Aston Villa has performed well in the league since the new season and the players are also in very good condition. Of the entire team, only goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen was unable to play due to a leg injury, but substitute goalkeeper Scott Carson, who was on loan this season, also performed quite well.

Although Chelsea's record in the new season is still good, the defense has been unable to be used since last season, and now the midfield and frontcourt are a mess and have no structure at all. In addition, Duff joined Real Madrid, and the two players in the team Highly paid players have officially announced that they cannot continue to play...

Yes, Ballack's ankle and Shevchenko's back injuries have recurred, and they need to rest for a while.

The two defense generals Carvalho and Bridge are unable to play because of a calf injury and the other because of a hip injury.

In short, the overall condition of the team is no good, and there are more injured players than the opponent. The media writes history in the newspapers, indicating that since 1999, Eston Villa has not lost to Chelsea at home. The three matches before today's game were all tied with Chelsea.

For a time, there was a lot of talk that Chelsea was about to lose, and the Blues fans were also very nervous as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

Mourinho was speechless and said directly in the interview, "Even in Villa Park, their players will not kick any ball into our Chelsea goal!"

"We have Ritter!"

In Ende Before Ritter's clean sheet record was broken, Mourinho would use this rhetoric to face questions from the media: Don't tell me yet, no matter whether the media and fans believe this rhetoric or not, Chelsea's first team is anyway All the players believed it.

The man guarding their Chelsea door now is really the big daddy!

Mourinho believes that as Endrit's clean sheet record gradually increases, the fans will regain confidence in the team. As for the media: Who cares how they beep?

Anyway, if Endrit's clean sheet record is broken, it is because these media are not optimistic about Endrit, which has seriously affected Endrit's mental state. If they hadn't questioned it every day, Endrit would have continued to maintain the record!

.........

At 16:00 local time in England, the focus of the fifth round of the 2007-2008 Premier League started at Villa Park.

The home team Aston Villa put up a 4-4-2 lineup, with goalkeeper No. 22 Carson, and the four defenders are No. 3 Bouma, No. 5 Laursen, No. 16 Knight and No. 4 Melberg.

The midfielders are No. 6 Barry, No. 20 Leo Koke, No. 7 Ashley Young and No. 11 Agbonlahor.

The two forwards are No. 8 Luke Moore and No. 10 Carew.

"This is the 134th meeting between the two teams. Chelsea has a slight advantage with 53 wins and 31 draws."

"The game started, Chelsea forward Drogba kicked off. "

At the beginning of the game, Chelsea played very fiercely - of course, it should be noted that this is not against Aston Villa, but from the beginning of the last game, Chelsea has been focusing on a "brainless offense."

After Drogba passed the ball to Makelele, Chelsea, except for goalkeeper Endritt, directly pressed forward. Makelele quickly rushed into the opposite penalty area and passed the ball directly to Wright, who was in a good position.

But as soon as the football flew to Wright's feet, defender Laurson directly knocked Wright down.

The referee held his whistle to signal the game to restart, but did not give any penalty. Although he knew the power of the home whistle at the beginning of the game, Mourinho immediately rushed to the fourth official to express his dissatisfaction.

"The other side is like an executioner! He knocked down our Wright! This damn guy should be given a red card!"

The fourth official smiled and wiped the saliva from his face, patiently persuading.

On the field, after the restart, Belletti passed the football from the right. After receiving the ball, Malouda went straight to the penalty area, swung his left foot and fired a powerful volley.

However, the ball was quickly blocked by Barry, who had the same name as the Flash. The goal that was expected to go in now missed the post on the left side of the goal.

In the seventh minute, Ashley from the opposite midfielder made a pass from the left. Agbonlahor stopped the ball on his chest and turned around to volley. Endrit caught a glimpse of the two forwards who had also rushed into the penalty area. Just go ahead and save the football.

When the football hit him in the face, he raised one hand and held the football in his arms, not giving the opponent a chance to make a follow-up shot.

Later, Endritt threw the football to his own defender Ashley... Well, both of them were named Ashley, but obviously, his own defender Ashley seemed to be more reliable.

Ashley received the ball and passed the football. Malouda received the ball and then passed the football to Michael on the left wing while running.

Michael shot and was saved by the opponent's goalkeeper.

In the 12th minute, Chelsea tried to score again after taking a corner kick from the left. John Terry headed the goal but missed.

In the 13th minute, Wright received a pass from Malouda and shot - but still missed.

Chelsea attacked three times in a row but failed to score a goal. Mourinho, who had come back from spitting at the fourth official, stood on the sidelines, his face as dark as coal in a mine.

After resting for a few minutes, Endrit went to work again. Less than a minute later, Agbonlahor from the opposite side also scored a header. Endrit jumped up and slapped the football to his nearest teammate. .

Two minutes later, Agbonlahor from the opposite side came again with his own header. After reaching the penalty area, he was directly turned over by Chelsea's Ashley.

The referee immediately blew the whistle and did not award a free kick, but gave Ashley a direct yellow card.

The Eston Villa players immediately understood the scale of this game. They kept making small movements with their hands and feet, and easily defeated Drogba's volley from the top of the arc, Wright's volley from a small angle after breaking through, and Alex's header. Resolved easily.

How else could it be said that many teams like to play at home? Because in the Premier League, some referees blow the home whistle which is quite obvious.

After the game against Liverpool, a considerable number of media questioned whether Chelsea's draw was due to the home whistle. At that time, Chelsea officials firmly stated that this matter did not exist. They had no idea why the home whistle was not whistled.

But now, Mourinho wants to beat the referee directly on the field, but he has no choice but to use verbal attacks at this time - some referees can't afford it and will send him off as a coach!

Simply put, even with the blessing of the home whistle advantage, Aston Villa only shoots more frequently: but whether you score or not is not something you can score if you shoot more times.

In the 42nd minute, Aston Villa player Melberg made a pass from the right. Laursen headed the ball in the penalty area and was shot out by Endrit.

Three minutes passed quickly, and the ten minutes of the intermission also passed by in a blink of an eye. Endritt, who exchanged goalkeepers with the opposite goalkeeper, took another header in the second minute of the second half.

In the 56th minute, Leo Koke, who kicked to the head, shoveled Malouda directly. Malouda lay down holding his ankle. The referee immediately stepped forward and gave Leo a yellow card warning.

Yes, yellow card warning.

The scene immediately exploded. The nearest Chelsea players immediately stepped forward to argue. The scene was filled with boos. The referee quickly took control of the field after throwing out a few yellow cards.

However, he still did not change the penalty just now, and just continued to issue a yellow card warning.

But Mourinho on the sidelines slowly breathed a sigh of relief, because he knew that Aston Villa would no longer have a home whistle in the next period of time.

Although Malouda said after a short break that he could continue to play, Mourinho was replaced by Kalou.

In the 61st minute of the game, Ashley passed the ball in the Chelsea backcourt. Kalou, who came on as a substitute, took a shot from the edge of the penalty area. As a result, his shot missed after being blocked by Leo Koke.

Mourinho pushed his cheek hard and replaced Wright with Joe Cole.

After Joe Cole came on the field, he got a chance to shoot, but it was unfortunately accepted by the opposite goalkeeper Carson.

Starting from the 66th minute, as the end time of the game approached, the football on the field became fierce again - the players from both sides were about to fight on the field.

The referee threw out several yellow cards, but it was obviously of no use. After the game started again, , the physical confrontation between the players on both sides expanded again. Drogba was injured and came off the field. Mourinho replaced Pizarro with a dark face.

In the 88th minute, Endritt was hit hard in the face by a football: Ashley Young, the mourning player on the opposite side, quickly counterattacked and broke into the left side of the penalty area and directly raised his leg to shoot. After the football flew out, Endritt began to judge the ball. However, after Agbonlahor shot, he directly hit his teammate Agbonlahor, deflected the direction, and then rushed directly towards the goal.

When Endritt reacted, he turned around and jumped out. The football hit him hard in the face, but Endritt pinned him to the lawn with a dull face.

Endritt then threw the football to Ashley.

With only 2 minutes left before the end of the game, Ashley received the ball and passed in. Midfielder Joe Cole was knocked down again when he was about to shoot outside the penalty area.

When the two got up, before they had time to launch another attack, they heard the referee blowing the whistle to end the game.

Mourinho rolled his eyes in anger, made up his mind and loudly criticized the damn referee at a press conference: What if you brag like that? Can a team win? Even Manchester United and Liverpool are here!