As the British people enter the Christmas holidays, the Premier League is in full swing, Highbury is packed, there is a festive carnival atmosphere, and Gunners fans do not forget to caricature Millwall at this time.

Millwall was gripped by the scandal and the aftermath was still lingering, with many Gunners fans in the stands putting up signs taunting Millwall, such as portraying the Lions as a promiscuous club

"Hey, Andy, the defending champion seems to be in big trouble, don't you say?"

'Maybe, they lost to Manchester United, they were pulled six points apart, and at the same time there was a scandal in the team, Hall had punished the perpetrators, and it looked unforgiving, and the three rising England stars won't be at the top level for at least a month, so maybe it's a good opportunity for them to reflect."

"I think Hall still has his reasons for doing this, one is to protect the players, at this time to let those players appear on the field, it is bound to be fiercely ridiculed and blamed by the public, the second is discipline, Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, Mills, these are the main players of the England national youth team, if it goes well, they will also be the main force of the national team in the future, for such players, the manager should be more strict. It's up to the three players to figure it out, and hopefully they won't hold a grudge against the manager. ”

"Judging from the information we have received so far, there should be no, the three players have been training with the reserve team, and they have played a reserve league game with the Arsenal reserve team earlier, they have performed well and helped the Millwall reserve team to a big victory, but I don't know if such a big win can bring good luck to the Millwall first team."

'Arsenal have been quick to change their squad since suffering a rout at the Lion's Den at the start of the season. No more aggressive overuse of young players. After a period of adaptation. Arsenal has a good record, although it is now 10 points away from the leader Manchester United, but only 4 points away from Millwall, and at the same time left behind Liverpool, Chelsea, Leeds United and other strong teams, so that Arsenal has a chance to compete for the runner-up. Heading into next season's Champions League. ”

'Yes, especially with Millwall's schedule going to be extremely difficult in the coming months, the downside is that the depth of their squad is worrying, and to be honest, their summer signings are aimed at the future, but there is no guarantee of current results, and they will have to play a lot more games than Arsenal in the second half of the season, apart from the FA Cup. They have two Carabao Cup semi-finals next month if they reach the final. Then there is one more Carabao Cup final, and before the Champions League knockout rounds begin, Millwall will play two UEFA Super Cup games against Borussia Dortmund, and the further Millwall go in the Champions League, the more difficult their situation will be when it comes to the final sprint to the end of the season. ”

Aldridge and Arsene Wenger talked a little more on the sidelines, Wenger didn't expect Millwall to make such a mess at this time, Arsenal is in excellent form, and today's game is definitely more beneficial to Arsenal.

Aldridge didn't say much about the party incident, and the two quickly went their separate ways and waited for the game to begin.

Millwall had an incomplete lineup, and he would have let Schneider rest today, but Mills went to the reserves, and Schneider had to drag his tired body to hard.

Larsson and Nedved are expected to return after this game, Aldridge doesn't like to make the players' schedules very tight, the two attend the Ballon d'Or, and at the same time it is so close to Christmas, simply let them have a good rest and recharge for the second half of the season, so as not to rush back and forth to train but not necessarily play better, especially Larsson's attendance rate throughout '97 is very high, with the team going south and north, it is time to arrange his rotation rest more relaxed, and Nedved is the same.

Ballack in average form replaces Lampard, who started in the last game, after the 21-year-old Ballack, his technical ability has become stereotyped, and all that remains is to accumulate game experience and strengthen his physical fitness and improve his ability to adjust his state.

'Millwall are clearly not the strongest squad today.

Starting goalkeeper: Bout.

Defenders: Schneider, Elguera, Southgate, Capdevilla.

Midfielders: Makelele, Pirlo, Ballack.

Forwards: Gudjohnsen, Trezeguet, Shevchenko.

There is only one change from the lineup from the last time the two teams met.

Goalkeeper: Seaman.

Defenders: Dixon, Adams, Keown, Winterburn.

Midfielders: Overmars, Vieira, Petit, Pire.

Forwards: Wright, Bergkamp.

The referee blew the whistle and Arsenal kicked off first. ”

As the game began, Aldridge observed that the Arsenal players entered the game very quickly, with clear running awareness, extremely high pass and receive success rates, and a quick transition between attack and defence

Arsene Wenger has completely changed the Arsenal of the past, and it is impossible to think of the Arsenal of the Graham era from the sought-after team in front of him.

The biggest problem for the Arsenal team a few months ago was that the two midfielders did not work well together, the transition from defense to attack would be flawed against top teams, the tempo control was lacking, and the cooperation of attacking players up front did not reach a qualitative level.

But a few months later, the current Arsenal team feels impeccable, top-level defence, with both Ovimars and Bergkamp who attack in tandem or solve the battle on their own, Vieira and Petit are maturing together, and the pure energy of the 11-man starting lineup can compete with any team in the Premier League.

It's no wonder that several of Manchester United's contemporary stars in history later lamented that Arsenal in the 97/98 season was the strongest, not the 03/04 team!

Overmars won the ball on the right flank, turned and dribbled forward, Capdevilla defended in front, and Overmars easily used a change of direction to accelerate away and leave Capdevilla behind.

After a successful bottom, Peter Pan crossed the ball in a timely manner with the perfect timing, a stark contrast to how he had been, outside the Gunners' tactical system a few months ago.

Ian Wright is in place in the middle. Grab a header and shoot the goal. Bout made a brilliant save. Lift the ball above the crossbar.

Aldridge saw this scene on the sidelines and pinched the bridge of his nose with a headache.

Capdevilla has been breached twice in a row by Overmars and it feels like his defence is ineffective.

The Spaniard's return from injury came sooner than planned, but Aldridge was not expected to play until January, but no one expected Zambrotta to be injured again at Old Trafford, which forced Capdevilla to play early, and his form was really worrying.

Damn Christmas Express. There are many foreign players, and it is often during the winter break in other leagues that the performance of foreign players will decline, and in the past three years, Millwall's results have always fluctuated greatly around January.

Some of the older players gradually overcame the difficulty, but the younger players started to fall into a slump at Christmas.

Arsenal created pressure through two wings in a row, never dragging their feet when switching from defense to attack, and played like a lightning speed, and the attack was fluid. Almost every counter-attack was able to hit Millwall's goal, making the Lions' penalty area a rampant.

The first half lasted thirty minutes. Capdevilla was clearly out of shape, almost completely blown up and teased by Overmars in various ways.

Jenson came up and suggested replacing Capdevilla with Neil, fearing that the Spaniard's confidence would be crushed in this game.

Aldridge rejected the proposal, and the player will need to use the game to recover when he returns from injury, and if he replaces Capdevilla in this game, it will be a serious blow to his confidence.

It's up to him to keep up with the rhythm and keep improving his feelings.

In the end, it was some luck that he came back from injury and met Peter Pan in the first game of his return.

Aldridge kept shouting for Gudjohnsen to return to the left to relieve the pressure on Capdevilla, but the Icelander did not do a good enough job of defending the two on the same side, and Aldridge had to switch places between Shevchenko and Gudjohnsen, and let Shevchenko help on the left wing.

At this time, the threat of Overmars has diminished sharply, at least Shevchenko's large-scale retreat can block the opponent's inward line, and Capdevilla can concentrate on guarding against the opponent's bottom.

But in doing so, Millwall's offensive was almost paralyzed.

Arsenal defended to shrink deeper, learning from the heavy defeat of the previous game, and six or seven defenders alone were not enough to limit Millwall's overall progress, and even Bergkamp came back to harass Andrea Pirlo's organisation in the second half, which directly led to Millwall's passing and receiving errors up front.

The whole first half was played very passively, and the fans in the stands could also see that the most intuitive thing was that Arsenal's attack could hit Millwall's goal and form a threatening attack, but Millwall had no way to advance to the opponent's penalty area.

Gunners fans saw this scene, and the questioning voices that had previously criticized Wenger are weakening, and it is not unreasonable.

Being able to suppress Millwall at home is just a lack of luck, which is enough to show Wenger's skill, how well he adjusts the team, and looks passionate and beautiful.

At half-time, the score was still 0:0.

Aldridge walked back to the locker room with a blank face and directly adjusted the team's tactical play.

The gorgeous offensive cooperation of the attacking players in the front court like they used to play with one kick was completely impossible to play today!

In addition to the fact that Arsenal have a top-class backline and a wide range of back-to-back harassment from their front-line players, Millwall have a lot of problems in their own right.

Gudjohnsen has good ability, but there is still a lack of tacit understanding with his teammates, the kind of dazzling offensive coordination, the lack of a suitable piece of the puzzle in the front court, the threat of attack is greatly reduced, plus Ballack's performance is not ideal, Capdevilla's side is suppressed and cannot come forward to assist, Schneider's physical strength is a hidden worry, and Millwall's difficulties today are far from as simple as they seem.

Aldridge can't let the team pursue any more flashy combinations, one kick out of the ball, teammates run, pass and cut coordination, tear up the opponent's defense, it seems very simple, but in fact the skills required are very high.

Millwall had to play a little more simple and rough in the second half, at least they had to be able to threaten the opponent's goal, and they couldn't always spin in front of the penalty area and be counter-attacked by the opponent!

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again, and after Aldridge's adjustment, the team's formation also changed, from 433 to 4231.

This tweak quickly paid off! (To be continued......)