Max-level burst damage at the start, the British Empire arrives!

10 month 23 day.

Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal have encountered a nemesis in recent years, Stoke City, known as the "Sky City".

This team, which had few highlights in the history of English football, reached the pinnacle of its club history in the 21st century.

This team is widely followed in England because of its extremely brutal English style.

After leading the team to promotion to the Premier League, their manager Pulis discovered that the team's limited influence was simply not enough to buy players who could help them avoid relegation.

After much deliberation, Pulis decided to do something different and build an exceptional team.

He recruited a group of strong, muscular men, creating a team whose main style was aggressive tackling and long passes.

After joining the Premier League, this team surprisingly secured their Premier League status early in their first season, finishing in 12th place.

In the following seasons, Pulis further solidified the team's playing style.

Let alone Arsenal, any Premier League team would have a headache facing Stoke City.

To solidify their advantage, Stoke City transformed their home ground, Britannia Stadium, into the most intimidating home ground in the Premier League.

This stadium was chosen to be the shortest in length and the narrowest in width as stipulated by the Premier League.

The goal is to send the ball into the opponent's penalty area with a single kick, making it easier to throw the ball into the opponent's heart of the penalty area from the outside.

Sun Ke heard that the grass outside the sidelines of this stadium was specially raised to make it easier for players to execute grenade tactics.

In the locker room.

Sun Ke took a look at Stoke City's lineup and thought, "This is just inhuman."

Except for one midfielder named Etherington who is 1.78 meters tall, everyone else is at least 1.83 meters tall.

All eleven men were burly men who puffed out their shirts.

However, Sun Ke was not intimidated.

Stoke City's prime location is at its home stadium, the Emirates Stadium.

There was no narrow, short pitch, no downward-sloping grenade-filled environment, and certainly no ball boys wiping Delap's football with white towels.

The only problem here is the edge line, which has become slippery due to overwatering.

That's right, Sun Ke heard about it.

Before the match, the old man specifically instructed the staff to add more water to the sidelines.

This is what happens when you have catapults and I have a moat.

The old man really put in a lot of effort to prepare for today's match.

Wenger included the more header-oriented Chamach in the starting lineup, allowing Van Persie to step up his game in the second half.

The old man knew very well that even if Van Persie was in good form, he couldn't use him to death at the beginning of the season.

Arsenal only have six games this month, but there are two more during the international break.

Even if we can use a reserve team to compete in the League Cup, if we start Van Persie in every game, he will have to play seven games a month.

The Dutch striker has been injured almost every season in his career, and he was given an intensive treatment in October.

When the Champions League knockout stage and the final stretch of the league come together, Van Persie will be completely devastated.

To win the league title, the head coach must ensure that every player in the first team makes a contribution.

Otherwise, even if the starters can hold on, the substitutes will never get a chance, and the locker room will explode.

Moreover, Arsenal's substitutes are not bad to begin with.

Sun Ke's defensive midfield partner remains Song.

Song is an indispensable player for Arsenal this season. He can limit the opponent's strong points when defending, and he also has the ability to create opportunities when attacking.

After "paying extra" left, Song got more opportunities to showcase his talents, and he certainly had the ability.

Wenger's tactics were clear: defend set pieces by having Silva and Chamakh poach the ball, and Song would move to Kaka's position.

Sun Ke and Arteta went to contest the second point, while Walcott and Hotbird launched an attack.

Given the somewhat over-the-top defensive moves by Stoke City players, Wenger instructed the two wingers not to force their way through in positional play, but rather to weave through gaps in the opponent's formation.

Stoke City are currently ranked eighth in the Premier League. They are unbeaten at home with two wins and two draws, but their away form has been slightly weaker, with two losses.

In their last six encounters, Arsenal have won three, drawn one, and lost two, indicating that their advantage is not significant.

Before the match, the Stoke City manager praised Arsenal's performance.

He said the two teams represent two extremes of tactical styles, both capable of scoring on offense, but neither able to contain the other defensively.

He believes that if the game is evenly matched, Stoke City is very likely to win.

Wenger politely praised Pulis's coaching ability, but said his team had found a way to deal with physical players.

The media unanimously believe that Sun's inability to get the ball to the wingers will be the key to the outcome of the match.

After the match started, Arsenal quickly took control of the game.

Stoke City players didn't immediately start pressing high up the pitch, but whenever Arsenal advanced the ball into the midfield, they were met with a barrage of attacks from the opposing players.

After a few minutes of probing, Arsenal players consistently maintained a one-touch passing strategy in midfield.

As Stoke City players began to recover, Arsenal players passed the ball back to Sun Ke's feet.

Today, Sun Ke played the role of the dealer, constantly sending the ball to both flanks.

Stoke City's tactics are purely power-based; they don't expect Crouch, at 2.01 meters tall, to simply deliver a long pass to Silva.

Although the two are almost a head taller, Crouch has a hard time getting a good spot next to Silva.

Their tactic is to create chaos in the attacking third, allowing other players to contest for second balls and create throw-in opportunities.

In the twelfth minute, Sun Ke experienced Delap's powerful throw for the first time.

Stoke City won a throw-in from what appeared to be an unthreatening position.

As a result, Delap waded through the puddles and threw the ball into Arsenal's penalty area.

1.92-meter center-back Shaw Kroos won the first header and headed the ball to the far post. Crouch was pushed to the side by Silva, but still won the first header.

Szczesny blocked the ball out of the penalty area with one hand, and Sun Ke acted as a human punching bag, blocking another striker, Walters's follow-up shot.

so close!

In the sixteenth minute, Arsenal also had a scoring opportunity.

Etherington faced Sun Ke in the attacking third and suddenly started to dribble the ball.

Having anticipated the other party's thoughts, Sun Ke suddenly turned around and stood in front of them.

Seeing that he hadn't managed to knock Sun Ke away, Etherington immediately slammed into Sun Ke from behind.

Amid boos from the home fans, Sun Ke picked up the ball that was under him and turned to pass it to Capdevila on the left wing.

Stoke City players immediately shut down Capdevila's connection with the three midfielders.

Chamach dropped back to midfield, played a one-two with Capdevila, and then turned and charged back into the penalty area.

This adjustment revitalized the team's coordination. Song received the ball and immediately moved it to the right side of the penalty area.

Walcott used his body to knock the ball into the penalty area, adjusted himself, and then passed it across to the middle.

After receiving the ball, Chamach took a step to the side, and Shaw Cross immediately chased after him.

Just when everyone thought Arsenal's center forward was about to force a shot, Chamakh suddenly backheeled the ball and passed it to the vicinity of the penalty spot.

Under everyone's gaze, Arteta charged towards the ball.

Center-back Upson made a decisive sliding tackle, positioning himself horizontally in the shooting line.

Just as fans were expecting Arteta to break through the defense, he suddenly flicked the ball out of the penalty area with the outside of his foot.

At that moment, Sun Ke appeared right outside the penalty area.

Stoke City midfielder Whitehead sprinted back desperately, but it was too late.

Sun Ke raised his right foot high and kicked the soccer ball hard.

"Bang!"

After a loud bang.

The ball passed between the two players, flying over Upson's body.

The goalkeeper had just made a save when the ball flew into the goal along the left side of the net.

1: 0!

In an instant, the Emirates Stadium erupted in cheers once again!

In the studio, Zhan Jun shouted, "Goal!"

"Sun Ke's long-range shot opened the scoring for Arsenal!"

"Stoke City's players tried everything to keep up with Arsenal's quick passing game, but they still couldn't keep up!"

"They overlooked the opponent's heavy hitter, Sun Ke, and were immediately punished!"

"1-0! Arsenal continue their recent hot streak and have once again taken control!"