For 38 league games in a season, 53 minutes may not be much.

For a 90-minute showdown.

In 53 minutes, the battle was not even half over.

Millwall took the lead, but Aldridge didn't let his team pull back to play back.

Because there's still a lot of time.

Moreover, although Millwall will play defense, they are better at pressing and attacking, giving up their best style of play in such a tense and intense game, and retreating to the second, utilitarian considerations may be the first choice for defense, but football is not science, not arithmetic, even if there is a 1% probability, it will always appear on the field.

Aldridge didn't dare to let the team take it back, now the team is running perfectly, retracting freely, the more they retreat, the more pressure will be on the two young stars in the midfield, Alonso and De Rossi, because the closer to their own penalty area, even the opponent on their defensive line, they don't need to break through, as long as they are free, they can create threatening long-range shots.

So Aldridge didn't let the team play defense.

Another consideration is that in this 90-minute game, Millwall's battle plan is divided into several stages, and it is not yet time to play all the cards, the score is temporarily ahead of the advantage, and the situation is very good, but the further back, Aldridge believes that Millwall's situation will be better!

Whether it was a positional battle against Arsenal or a counter-attack, the marking of Bergkamp was very successful before.

However, when Bergkamp took the initiative to retreat, Vieira's position premise, locally, was indeed beyond Aldridge's expectations.

According to the inertia of 99% of the strikers. When you are down and need to fight back. Basically, the striker will choose to go further!

And not to retreat!

So. If Bergkamp were to be on the top of the line parallel to Ibrahimovic, Aldridge would not be surprised.

Even if Vieira's position is premised, it is predictable.

But Bergkamp's retreat was something Aldridge did not expect.

People are old and demons, and it is not uncommon to see them on the football field.

Although Bergkamp is a false No.10 in the eyes of Aldridge, his range of activity and the main area of activity for instigating the offensive are in the interception circle of Alonso and De Rossi. With the backfield of the back two and Nedved following him to intercept the harassment, Millwall managed to cut off the link between Patrick Vieira and Bergkamp, which was the front and back of Arsenal's attacking in the middle.

It also cut off Bergkamp's link to the wide flank, unless he runs wide.

Vieira can only play the ball to the wing, so whether Arsenal counterattack or positional battle, most of the wide players will be forced into an isolated state, even if the quality of the cross, Nesta and Southgate can freeze Ibrahimovic well.

Now that Bergkamp have dropped widely, Millwall's midfield faces a dilemma that they have often put their opponents in the past.

That is, the core of the playmaker is away from the defensive zone at the back. If the midfielder boldly steps forward to press, it will expose the space behind him. But if you don't step forward, you can let the opponent get a foothold in the midfield.

When Pirlo initially played a late play, many opponents were reckless in pressing and pressing, and then Pirlo's easy pass hit the air behind him, instigating a threatening attack.

De Rossi certainly won't take the initiative to step forward, Alonso has to keep a certain distance from De Rossi, Nedved distracted Vieira, coupled with Arsenal's left wing Van Bronckhorst and Pire staggered back and forth, Pire's inside cut to lean forward to make the Arsenal midfielder able to compete with Millwall.

In the 41st minute, Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira and Van Bronckhorst made a triangular pass, followed by Bergkamp suddenly sending the ball wide to the feet of Ljungberg on the other side.

Ibrahimovic withdrew to pick it up, and after playing deep, he suddenly passed the ball back to Bergkamp, who was cut in by Alonso and De Rossi to see the win, and Bergkamp suddenly sent the ball back to the left wing with a scalpel-like through ball.

Schneider was originally included in the interior defense of Pire, at which point Pire suddenly pulled the side forward, and Schneider chased back to give Pire space to receive the ball.

Pire got rid of the ball, changed direction and then went inside, he didn't go to Ibrahimovic, Bergkamp, he saw Vieira on the back, this passing line was keenly grasped by Schneider, when Pire passed the ball, Schneider broke with his foot, the ball just left Pire's foot, less than half a meter away was blocked by Schneider's intercepted foot, the ball was refracted and did not roll towards Vieira.

In the scramble between Van Bronckhorst and De Rossi, De Rossi stabbed the ball forward to the right first!

Ronaldo led the ball in the midfield on the right side, turned around, started to accelerate, and the forward speed suddenly exploded!

The galloping Portuguese kid seems to be moving the whole of Highbury forward, striding the ball while calmly observing the square shì in front of him.

It's fast, Millwall is 3 to 4 this time!

Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldo, Thierry Henry.

Arsenal's defence is only a single back and a back three.

Silva followed closely behind Ronaldo, and had to guard against Ronaldo's back.

Cristiano Ronaldo quickly came to the front of the penalty area with the ball and cut inside.

The Lions fans in the Highbury stands shouted passionately and looked at Ronaldo passionately, hoping that this kid could help the team score another one!

One more!

Arsenal is finished!

Ronaldo cut inside with the ball, Silva still didn't dare to come over to block him, for fear that if he moved, Xiao Luo would be completely unmarked, if Xiao Luo directly charged the line, Silva would have no worries, but Xiao Luo cleverly formed an ambush pressure on the periphery and directly restrained Silva.

Despite having a back three, Arsenal's back three is delicate.

Two centre-backs plus one full-back.

When Ronaldo cut inside, Toure moved over to defend Ronaldo's diagonal path towards the goal, and his move was bound to open up the defensive space in the back line.

Henry's position is very flexible and deceptive, first following Toure towards Ronaldo's side, when Campbell moves with him to this side, Henry suddenly stops again and changes to the space between Campbell and Lauren, and rushes forward!

Cristiano Ronaldo saw the opportunity. He played a diagonal pass into the Arsenal box.

The ball rolls past Toure. Passed behind Campbell again. Campbell couldn't make an interception, and Lehmann didn't give up, and the ball rolled down the back post!

Lehmann, who was trying to keep his composure, quickly moved towards the back of the goal, and Ronaldo wanted to make sure that Campbell could not intercept the ball, so he passed a little deep, and Henry, who was like a rabbit, did not let the ball roll in front of him, but he could only barely complete the shot. The whole person strides forward and shoots!

He barely managed to kick the ball in the direction of the goal with his toes, but he couldn't control the force and angle perfectly.

Bang!

The ball hits the outside of the post and bounces off the bottom line!

The Arsenal fans in Highbury were in shock, their hearts were beating like thunder, and the palpitations were still lingering!

Ronaldo held his head and widened his eyes, but he also felt unbelievable with regret.

Perhaps in his mind, Henry should have been quicker and would never miss this opportunity.

"Arsenal escaped! In order to equalise, they risked their attacking strength, and the guide made a flaw in the defensive end, and Ronaldo delivered a wonderful pass. It's a pity that Henry missed this opportunity, just a little bit. Henry can't be blamed for the goal, he did his best, if the ball had been slower or closer, he would have sent it into the Arsenal goal! ”

While all the crowd was still basking in Millwall's missed attack that had inflicted another blow on Arsenal, Lehmann received the ball from a caddie on the sidelines as soon as the ball went off the line, and then he dropped the ball in the box and a through ball was passed to Van Bronckhorst, who had failed to return to the defence.

Aldridge shouted Cristiano Ronaldo's name from the sidelines, pointing at Van Bronckhorst and telling him to press.

Just now Van Bronckhorst chased Ronaldo all the way to no effect, and now, it was replaced by Ronaldo chasing him, similarly, Van Bronckhorst's speed was not fast, and he just sprinted back to chase back and exhausted the strength of a sprint, Ronaldo is similar, he just dribbled and ran, and now he is a little breathing, after all, the first half is almost over.

He didn't stick to the ball too much, just waited for his team-mates to run when he was carrying the ball forward, dodged Millwall's encirclement, and as soon as he had a spot, he played the ball.

Bergkamp quickly pulled wide, and it was close to Pire's side, and when Schneider followed Pire, Bergkamp was able to receive the ball without interference.

Bergkamp touched the ball and dribbled inside, and after finding Alonso and De Rossi, he crossed the ball to Patrick Vieira as he rushed on.

I thought that Vieira would be able to shake off Nedved when he rushed forward, and it didn't take long, even a second or two, for Bergkamp to run again and get the attack to the front.

However, Vieira was disrupted by a diagonal tackle from Nedved, but as Vieira fell to the ground, the referee signalled for a foul on Nedved and blew the whistle.

Nedved pointed to the ball and shouted to the referee that he had touched the ball first, and that there was absolutely no dangerous movement.

However, the referee kept shaking his head, and Nedved scooped the ball away with his right foot, and then tripped Vieira with his left foot, which is why the referee awarded the penalty.

In normal times, Vieira would have gotten up and argued with Nedved, but at this moment, he quickly got up from the ground, and after Bergkamp kicked the ball to him, he quickly bent down to press the ball and then returned the ball to Bergkamp.

Free kick fast!

A lack of tempo, the Millwall defence was shocked and suddenly a little confused, Bergkamp stopped the ball and kicked the ball into the right flank close to the bottom line with a long diagonal pass from mid-range.

Ljungberg managed to counter offside, leaving Ashley Cole behind and quickly dribbling inside after stopping the ball from the baseline, with Millwall's back line dropping back quickly.

Pire cut forward into the box at this time, causing Nesta and Schneider to wrap up, Bergkamp also made a strong charge, Southgate had to balance and deal with Ibrahimovic in front of him, De Rossi and Alonso immediately followed Bergkamp into the box, and Nedved also blocked Vieira's side, staring at the opponent inch by inch.

When all eyes were on it, there was a sudden retreat on the Arsenal front!

Ibrahimovic!

Ljungberg knocked the ball back to the right of the top of the arc of the penalty area, Ibrahimovic was suddenly unmarked, when he touched the ball, Alonso ran to the opponent's front to make a defensive gesture, and Ibrahimovic pulled the ball to the right sideways, flashed the shooting angle, raised his long legs, and hit a heavy cannon!

The ball, like a meteor, flew into the corner of Millwall's goal in the blink of an eye!

That's definitely a shot at over 100 kilometers per hour!

Bout was dumbfounded, he didn't even have a chance to save!

Highbury, Arsenal supporters stood up and cheered, as if they had regained the momentum of their home stadium!

The Arsenal crowd ran frantically to celebrate, and Ibrahimovic, who stood in place and raised his arms to make a domineering expression, slowly looked around, quite unexpected, even if Ljungberg jumped on his back, it would not make him bend down and bow his head!

'Arsenal equalised! Oh, my God! Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a shocking shot! He fired at Millwall's goal on the line of the penalty area! The score became 1:1, 1:1, and Millwall only stayed at the top of the table for five minutes! With 2 minutes left before the end of the first half, it is likely that the final battle of this game will be in the second half! That is bound to be even more intense! ”

Wenger exhaled and raised his eyebrows, waving his arms up and down, his face beaming, as if he had returned to the image of a suave professor in an instant.

Aldridge stood there without any change in his expression, and he didn't even go to the fourth official to reason whether Nedved's tackle should be fouled or not, knowing that if he argued, the team's attention would be distracted.

And this decisive battle can be regarded as officially kicked off, and the moment to really decide the outcome has not yet come.

Aldridge is waiting, watching the clock, keeping a close eye on the changes at Arsenal, the real wrestling, the moment to test whether Arsenal can win the league title this season, is counting down in his mind (to be continued......