Familiar opponents, familiar stadiums, Arsenal sit at home to face the Red Devils Manchester United!

A 2-2 scoreline could most be called a "goal shootout", but the one at the Emirates Stadium had an even stronger drama – starting with a goal from Manchester United in stoppage time and ending with a goal from the Gunners in stoppage time in the second half...... It's a standard "no whistle, no more goals".

Another implication of the strong talk is that both sides have faced stronger opponents than ever before, so today's Gunners are different from the previous 12-game winning streak, and the Red Devils today are different from the previous ones who won the big four - the attack is no longer so overwhelming, and the goals are no longer so easy.

Including Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas and Bam Adebayor and Manchester United's Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, even though they each scored or assisted, it was clear that their performance was greatly limited, and it was even difficult for a long time to play.

The root cause is that both sides have implemented very targeted deployments in defence. For example, in order to limit Cesc Fabregas's activities, Manchester United's back two Hargreaves and Anderson have hardly ever been really involved in attack; In order to restrain Cristiano Ronaldo's assault, Arsenal's lone midfielder Flamini almost played the role of half a left-back.

Robin van Persie was injured, Arsene Wenger picked up his favourite 442 and switched to 451, Bam Adebayor burst forward alone, Hleb swam between the forward line and the forward line, and at Anfield, this style of play set off a "wave of unstoppable attacks", and Carragher admitted that the Reds were lucky to get a point. Against Manchester United. Arsene Wenger repeats his old trick.

Straightening the 451 is indeed the best option right now. Dasilva, Theo Walcott and Bendtner all have obvious flaws and are unable to link up with Adebayor as effectively as Van Persie did, wasting one man up front. It is better to place an active chess piece behind the striker, which can not only support the forward line, but also cover Fabregas, who is too popular, and Hleb, who was once hailed as a classic forward by the German media, has become the key person for Wenger's formation.

Hleb was lively after the opening, and in the 14th minute he picked up the ball on the right and suddenly started to break Vidic with his speed, which had already been wiped half of his body and could be crossed, but Manchester United also had experience. He pulled Hleb with his hand with his back to the referee and physically blocked the pass and break through the route, and Hleb, who was not physically dominant, fell into the box. The referee did not dare to award a penalty.

It was one of the few bright spots of Arsenal's first half, as Anderson and Hargreaves pressed ferociously to stop Arsenal's attack down the middle, making it impossible for the Gunners to organise a fluid pass. At the same time, the two wings could not play, especially Eboue on the right almost evaporated. Ferguson's tactics worked well. Wayne Rooney broke the deadlock for United just before half-time.

At half-time, Arsenal legend Keown said: "How Arsenal threaten Manchester United. Maybe it's time to change formations. It's not enough to have only one Adebayo ahead. "Sure enough, the second half started. Arsene Wenger changed formation, still the same 11 men, but the two wing-backs pressed heavily to support Hleb, Cesc Fabregas and Flamini at the back to form 4231.

It worked, as Arsenal opened up the wings and the pressure on United's wide defence increased suddenly, and Arsenal scored the equaliser with a quick counter-attack just two minutes into the game. Sagna, who assisted into the opposition penalty area, rushed to the ball before it rolled out of the bottom line and knocked it back to Cesc Fabregas in the middle.

Arsenal then went on siege in the next 10 minutes, starting with Clichy breaking through a three-man defence. The cross hit Hargreaves' arm, but the referee thought it was an unintentional handball and did not award a penalty, and in the 64th minute, Eboue broke through on the right to attract three defenders, and he knocked on Hleb to form an empty goal, but unfortunately the Belarusian played high, and the two sides livened Manchester United's defense was torn apart, and the attack in the middle was also powerful, Flamini broke through and caused Anderson to foul, and Cesc Fabregas's free kick passed through the wall and was saved by Van der Sar in front of the goal line. Arsenal's possession rate reached 73% at one point! Completely suppressed Manchester United.

Hleb is still eye-catching in 4231 and Wenger understands his characteristics, "He has a superb handicap ability in a small area and often has a lot of penetrating passes. Cesc Fabregas's equaliser was instigated from the feet of Hleb, he carried Anderson's harassment to pass the ball out, and in the 65th minute he shook off Brown on the left side of the line by a sudden acceleration, and knocked back at the bottom line, but it was a pity that Fabregas followed up with the shot and missed, until Hleb left the field, he was the most dangerous player in Arsenal's front.

Unlike Cesc Fabregas, Hleb is more erratic, left and right, and more determined to break through, facing tall defenders such as Nemanja Vidic, Brown and Rio Ferdinand, Hleb is dexterous and has excellent ball control ability. Arsenal are alive and well under his belt.

Replacing Hleb became another turning point in the game, Manchester United, who had less defensive pressure, relied on the player's individual ability to launch a counterattack, and Hleb went off the field 1 minute after Ronaldo pushed the empty goalkeeper to overtake the score again.

Arsene Wenger's third change was ineffective. Fortunately, Arsenal also responded with an injury-time goal.

Arsene Wenger's third change of formation was a doubtful player, but the professor has improved a lot anyway, and in the past he was the typical example of clinging to one formation, and now he dares to change formation three times in 90 minutes, which is commendable. Hleb is the key man for Wenger's bold change, he can play right midfield, midfield, left midfield, and with him, Arsenal can choose between 442, 4411 and 4231.

In the absence of Van Persie, Wenger needed to make up for the lack of forward line with the flexibility of his formation, and Hleb's saving allowed him to experiment with it, and in terms of tactical effect, Hleb even surpassed Cesc Fabregas.

The essence of "restriction and anti-limiting" on the football field is thus vividly reflected in this game, Wenger and Ferguson have worked both aspects, and the result of the game proves that both sides have gained in both "limiting" and "anti-limiting" work but cannot be perfect, and the score of 2:2 is generally from this.

A piece of evidence is that the two sides scored four goals in the 90 minutes, and both direct and indirect assists were played by full-back players - Manchester United's Patrice Evra and Arsenal's Sagna each contributed a direct assist; Manchester United's Brown and Arsenal's Clichy also provided an indirect assist each.

Usually United's front four and Arsenal's front five are enough to complete their respective tasks, and the full-backs provide more assists than symbolic ones. The situation was quite different - the "four-headed monster" and the "five" were both closely guarded by their opponents, and the full-backs were able to surface and come to the fore.

This may be the "hero's vision" in Wenger and Ferguson's fighting style, and the harvest is self-evident; The question left for the two coaches is broadly similar - how do traditional and skilled attacks continue to be effective against strong opponents?

With consecutive goals against the two giants of Liverpool and Manchester United. Cesc Fabregas has proven himself to be a strong individual and Arsenal have a strong tendency to evolve into a 'one-man team', a trend that is undoubtedly a double-edged sword – with some hints of concern as well as a huge help to the Gunners.

In fact, whether it is against Liverpool or Manchester United, Xiaofa is taken care of by the opponent, and the Gunners have lost enough organization and efficiency in each of the two games. This is the next difficult problem for the professor to solve.

Ferguson was no more relaxed than Arsene Wenger. Tevez, who he had just praised, was back on the beaten path in this powerhouse conversation, with the Argentine striker spending 90 per cent of his energy desperately on the ball in the 76 minutes before Nani was substituted. Shaped like a model of a "defensive forward", the few drop-back ball-control organization passes mostly ended in mistakes.

With the backs of a double midfielder, Rooney has taken on too much of the burden on his own, even with the occasional help from Ryan Giggs, who used it as the fulcrum for most of United's attacking play throughout the second half. Originally, an attacker had to play the role of playmaker in front of the ball. Maybe he can do a lot, but the only thing he can't do is pass the ball himself and then grab a shot on his own.

Rooney, who has no central cover and has no one to share, is still scoring goals, but they are still overloaded.

There is no doubt that Arsenal and Manchester United will be the two protagonists of this season's Premier League title race, and in a way, who will have the last laugh depends on the Gunners who solve the problem of "liberating the small law" first. It was the Red Devils who solved the problem of "liberating Rooney" first.

Without Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal would have won the game against Liverpool and Manchester United. It will not be like the current two points and continue to sit high at the top of the table. Following the equalizing goal in the last round, Xiaofa scored the key first goal for Arsenal in this campaign. Ferguson, sitting in the dugout, may also ask himself: "What would have happened if the scouts I sent to Barcelona had found him?" ”

Like Arsene Wenger, the Lord also cast a net around the world to search for young talents, but he spent a lot of money on Jonker, Rooney, C. Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson, but Wenger only spent a little "cost" to get the small law.

Before the game, Ferguson said with a little regret: "I didn't notice him when he was at Barcelona, maybe my scouts did, but he didn't tell me, and Arsenal started too quickly. What may be even more heartbreaking is that Xiaofa also said that he likes Manchester United: "I like to watch Manchester United play, they are a good team, and Old Trafford is also a very good stadium. In fact, the only other team in England that allows me to concentrate on watching the game every week is Manchester United. "Perhaps, next time the lord should be like Arsene Wenger to watch these youngsters play in person.

Former Manchester United captain and current Sunderland boss Keane is still at the Red Devils and has a place on the pitch that corresponds to Cesc Fabregas. He also has expectations for his juniors, "I love watching him play, his passing and running are classic. Cesc Fabregas definitely has a chance to surpass Paul Scholes, but not yet, after all, Scholes is a big player who has been playing at this level for 12 or 13 years. Xiaofa has the potential to be the best midfielder, just like I have the potential to be a top manager! ”

And Arsenal teammate Adebayo did not hesitate to praise: "For now, Xiaofa is definitely the best in the world that can be compared with Messi." I say this not because he's my teammate, but because the way he plays is absolutely fantastic. He is now our leader, just like Henry. We all know that with one pass, one shot, one corner, he can change the game. At any time, he can win a game for us. ”

Truly. In the first half of this game, Xiaofa did not play well under the care of Hargreaves and Anderson in turn. But early in the second half, he orchestrated a lethal attack: he passed the ball to Bam Adebayor first. The Togolese striker and Eboue made a combination and burst into the box to shoot and was saved by Van der Sar, but Sagna shoveled the ball back from the bottom line to the middle before Evra, and Xiaofa, who had already swam near the penalty spot, glanced at Ferdinand standing on the goal line, and sent the ball into the bottom left corner with precision!

It was Cesc Fabregas's sixth goal in the league this season and his 11th in all competitions, saying: "I knew I could score from a young age, but last season I had so many chances. But I don't score, I don't have as many chances this year as last season, but I score almost every time I play! Now I realize. In football, you score a goal and you think you're playing better, but I'm actually the same as last season. Of course I'm going to keep trying to score goals, but that's not my main task. My main task is to create a zào goal. ”

Talking about the future. "I want to stay at Arsenal for the rest of my life, you see Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, Parlour, Keown, Raul, Xavi, Puyol, they've been in the same club for almost their whole lives. Rumors from Spain? What can I do? I didn't make those calls, I just focused on playing and they could do whatever they wanted. I'm Spanish and I still like to drive in Spain, but I also like England and London. I don't think I've become English, but I don't mind my son becoming English. At the moment I'm happy at Arsenal. But maybe in 3 years they won't need me. Manchester United? In football you never know what's going to happen. ”

The game against Manchester United left Arsene Wenger restless for 90 minutes. But Galla's goal at the last moment calmed the Frenchman's heartbeat, and neither team lost in this high-level Premier League game, and the equalizer at the last moment made the Emirati Stadium thunderous, as if they were welcoming a victory.

Arsene Wenger was also excited after the game, and he opened up the conversation.

At the press conference, Arsene Wenger first praised the team's quality, believing that the team's tenacious style was the key to the equaliser, saying: "We have tested the quality of our team's will, and we have experienced it twice today. We were down twice before half-time and eight minutes before the end of the game, but twice came back in front of a fantastic United team. ”

What is the reason for the young Arsenal who survived two tough games? Arsene Wenger didn't have time to talk about the tactical set-up, but he highlighted a mysterious force in the team, saying: "There are some special forces in this team that you didn't see in the first half because it appeals to you more about technical ability. But if you know Arsenal, you know that there are some qualities and dynamism in the squad that are well hidden. The reason why the team shows off their skills so easily is because there is more technical content in terms of team quality and team vitality. ”

Some reporters thought that Arsenal was not quite right in the first half, and Wenger agreed: "In the first half, we were a little hesitant and played a little cautiously. I feel like we're playing at the wrong pace. It allowed United to control us very well, and even in the second half, compared to our best times, I still felt that there was a lack of well-defined game intelligence – even when the game was so good and the quality of the team was so good. ”

Playing so hard, where is the mistake? Arsene Wenger felt the team didn't find the pace of the game, saying: "In the end it looked like we were all winning because we were two points behind and two points ahead and we were back up in the last minute, so I think it's a fair result. In the first half we felt like we were always on the brakes, in the second half we played a lot more freely, but we lacked some rigor, we didn't fully find the pace to get the game flowing, we didn't play creatively, we relied more on the determination and quality of the team. ”

Both of them have conceded goals, and they are still talking about the quality of the team? This kind of hot chase is a bit amateurish, and Wenger is a little unimpressed, but he still calmly said: "Two goals (1 conced, 2 conceded), we look a little crazy. I think overall we were in control of the game, but conceding a goal shows that we are not at our best. ”

So what about Manchester United in Wenger's eyes, the French show a haughty posture, he thinks that there is still a certain gap between today's Manchester United and what he thinks of Manchester United, he said: "To be fair, there is a gap between the real opportunities they have created and the impression they have given me in the past. Because it seemed like they were always trying to take advantage of our mistakes, and of course they had some calm players on the offensive and they did a great job, but if you look at the whole game, even though they were a very good team, they didn't create enough chances. ”

However, at the end Wenger summed up the Reds, this time telling the truth: "Yes, of course they are a very strong team and they are title contenders, there is no doubt about that. ”

Galla's goal helped Arsenal get out of the quagmire of death, but Wenger did not see Galla score, the scene was dazzling, the people in front of Manchester United's goal were multi-legged, and only the nearest Arsenal fan saw the ball go in, Wenger was confused, in fact, it can be seen from the slow mirror that Wenger only knew that his side had scored after seeing the referee's decision.

Arsene Wenger smiled and said: "I didn't see how to get in!" I just saw the ball go back and then it went to Theo Walcott and I thought he could get it in, but he missed the shot and then I saw the referee blow the whistle and I wondered if he was going to blow us for a foul or offside? So I was a little surprised. ”

Speaking about Galla himself, Arsene Wenger spoke highly of him, believing that he had shown the leadership he deserved, saying: "The best way to lead your team is to reflect your style of play, as he did today, he was so calm and scored such an important goal. I feel it's his attitude that plays a role, he's really immersed in it compared to last year, he's part of the team and you're going to lead the team. It's a lot better than last season when he was on the fringes of the team. He's been one of the core of the team this year and I'm glad he has that attitude as a leader. ”

Robin van Persie did not play today due to injury, he sat in the stands and watched with his team-mates, and Arsene Wenger also spoke about him after the game, and the Dutchman's absence clearly had an impact on Arsenal's attack, saying: "We did lose something, especially in the first half, Adebayor was not only isolated, but when he moved to the wing, there was no one in the middle to switch in. In the second half, I just let him stay in the middle and then go straight inside, so I was a lot of threat, but in the first half we couldn't threaten their centre-backs much. ”

Arsenal are missing Robin van Persie, Manchester United are missing Jonker, and the two teams are back on the same level, for which Wenger is even a little lucky!

Talking about the goal that Wenger didn't see, so Wenger didn't see it, the people at the far end didn't see it, how did the referee outside the box, especially the linesman who was far away, see it? Arsene Wenger joked about this question, which had nothing to do with him: "It's amazing, isn't it, because he's on the wrong side, so he sees it." I don't know how he sees it, but when you watch it on TV, you know it's definitely more than a yard over. ”

Although they have scored two points in the last two games, the value of these two points is not low due to the quality of the opponent, but there are still dissatisfied reporters who question whether they can take more, Wenger said: "I think it's a little disappointing because we can get those four points. But on the other hand, the two endings were satisfying because we were both behind and you had to show some special strength in each game. ”

After Chelsea's win today, the points of the three teams are closer and Arsenal are two points clear of Manchester United with a game in hand and remain at the top of the table, Arsene Wenger stressed that in addition to Manchester United, the competition between Chelsea and Liverpool is also intensifying, but a basic big picture will not be seen until Christmas, saying: "We are still ahead because we have one game to play. However, I don't know how it will develop in the future, and it will depend on what Chelsea and Liverpool can do. You'll know more by Christmas because it looks like Chelsea have managed to find a successor and today's game against Blackburn Rovers against Liverpool is also important, so two or three more games will tell you more about them. (To be continued......)