Chapter 1 A Contest Between Two Strikers

The duel between the two strikers has attracted much attention. Can Van Persie defend his top spot on the scorer list? And can Chen Hero continue to win the top scorer title consecutively?

These are the questions everyone cares about.

As the two top strikers in the Premier League, they naturally have to comment on each other…

When interviewed by reporters, Van Persie talked about Chen Hero: "He is a very capable player, and he is good at scoring goals. You could see that in the competition between him and Messi last season… There aren't many people in football today who can beat Messi, let alone in just seven games! To be honest, I can't even do that..."

A very high evaluation, without a hint of animosity.

The reporters were disappointed. They had hoped to create two mortal enemies… That way, there would be dramatic conflict and something to watch.

But Van Persie didn't fall for it. He was very humble, praising Chen Hero, and saying he wasn't as good. But in reality, no one took his humility seriously—if you really weren't as good as Chen Hero, how come you're at the top of the scorer list and not him?

Hearing Van Persie's comments about him, Chen Hero also generously gave Van Persie a high evaluation—he wasn't a mad dog who would bite anyone. If people didn't provoke him, why would he speak ill of them? Those he attacked were basically those who had provoked him, and in Chen Hero's opinion, they deserved to be screwed by him.

"Van Persie is the leader of Arsenal now, and his performance is worthy of this position. When I was a child, I heard of his great name, and I practically grew up watching him play…" He didn't forget to joke. But he still expressed his confidence, which could be considered his personal style, and had nothing to do with whether he liked someone or not…

"Van Persie is also very strong. At the very least, he will be a good opponent this season. I believe it will be very interesting to compete with him for the top scorer! After this game, no matter what the result, I want to exchange jerseys with him."

His words were full of confidence in winning the league's top scorer award. But reporters who knew Chen Hero knew that he wasn't firing at Van Persie, but rather expressing his appreciation for Van Persie. He would only say such things to people he liked because he was too lazy to say so much to people he didn't like. At most, he would say, "Sorry, I'm not used to sharing the Golden Boot," and that would be it. If he decided to exchange jerseys with someone, it was definitely because he admired them. For example, in Italy, he had always looked down on Zlatan Ibrahimović, but when facing Di Natale, who was far less famous than the Swede, he was very polite and even went to exchange jerseys with him after the game.

Chen Hero rarely took the initiative to exchange jerseys because most of the time he was quite arrogant. Even when facing stars like Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, he wouldn't take the initiative to exchange jerseys. Some people treat exchanging jerseys as a way to increase the number of their collections, and are used to asking those big-name stars for jerseys after the game. Some people treat it as a way to express friendship. Chen Hero treated it as…

There was no war of words before the game, which greatly disappointed the reporters.

Not only Chen Hero and Van Persie, but even the two coaches didn't talk about each other.

They just said things like "Arsenal is in good shape, we have to be especially careful", "Liverpool just won the League Cup, their form is recovering, we are playing away, it is very difficult", "Van Persie is one of Arsenal's most threatening figures, we must strictly guard against him, as for how to guard against him… Sorry, I can't say", "Hero is Liverpool's number one scorer, he has proven his ability, I think he will cause us trouble, but we are confident to deal with him". These were all pointless words.

The media racked their brains but couldn't dig up any hype. In the end, the highlight was still the game itself.

※※※

From the moment Chen Hero and Van Persie shook hands, the TV cameras were focused on them. Telling the entire television audience that these two were the protagonists of this game!

Everyone was looking forward to a showdown between two heroes. A direct dialogue between the first and second place in the league scorer list, to see who would win in the end!

Because it was a home game, and because they had just won the League Cup, it did improve the team's confidence and form.

So Liverpool's attack in the first half was very fierce.

As the team's offensive core, how could Chen Hero not have any performance in such a rapid offensive?

The person responsible for defending Chen Hero in this game was Arsenal's center-back Koscielny, who was also the tallest center-back in Arsenal's current defense, with a height of 1.86 meters…

When he stood with Chen Hero, he looked like a child next to a hero.

Originally, there was someone who could suppress Chen Hero in height—German defender Mertesacker, who was 1.96 meters tall, one centimeter taller than Chen Hero, but he was injured.

Otherwise, Wenger would definitely not have let Koscielny defend Chen Hero…

Arsenal's aerial defense ability has always been one of their weaknesses. After all, the height of this defense line is not high. Mertesacker's arrival strengthened Arsenal's aerial defense ability. But now he was injured.

So Dalglish arranged aerial tactics against Arsenal in a very targeted manner.

Chen Hero repeatedly jumped up to abuse Koscielny.

Finally, in the twenty-third minute, he scored the first goal for the team.

At that time, Adam Johnson crossed from the wing, and Chen Hero got into position in the penalty area, firmly squeezing Koscielny behind him, and then jumped up to head the goal.

It looked simple.

Only Koscielny knew how difficult it was… He tried to jump up and compete for the header, but he was firmly stuck by Chen Hero. He couldn't push him away, couldn't squeeze him away, and if he wanted to go around him, the opponent's area was too wide, and before he could go around to the front, the football had already arrived…

So Koscielny could only watch Chen Hero jump up and flick the football into the goal in front of him.

"goooooooooooooooAL! Good ball! Hero scored the first goal for the team!"

"In front of Hero, Koscielny has no other way but to look up… They are too far apart! At this time, I think Arsenal's defenders must especially miss Mertesacker, the German!"

Yes, they missed him so much—Mertesacker, why did you have to get injured!

After Chen Hero landed, he glanced back at the goal to confirm that the football had finally flown into the goal, instead of going to some other strange place. Then he opened his arms and ran towards the Kop stand, embracing his teammates and accepting the cheers and worship of the fans below.

※※※

"Hero scored his twentieth league goal of the season! He is now only three goals behind Van Persie!"

Van Persie watched Chen Hero celebrate the goal.

Although everyone respected each other on the surface, they were definitely not convinced in their hearts.

To succeed in playing football, you must have a competitive spirit. Anyone who doesn't have the desire to be number one can't become number one.

Why did Cristiano Ronaldo compete so fiercely with Messi? In addition to disliking each other, competitiveness is also an important reason. No one wants to be someone else's stepping stone and background. In the process of competing with each other, they also achieved their respective positions. Now Messi and Ronaldo are the two most outstanding players in football today.

Chen Hero and Van Persie naturally also have a competitive spirit.

Van Persie is determined to win the league's top scorer this season. He has played for Arsenal for more than seven seasons, and has never won the league's top scorer award. Last season, he scored eighteen goals, but the top scorers of that season were Berbatov and Tevez, who both scored twenty-one goals. Van Persie's eighteen goals only ranked third, which was the season with the most goals in his career.

Now he has exceeded the number of eighteen goals this season, and he is determined to win the league's top scorer.

How could he allow Chen Hero to take what he loves?

As for Chen Hero, it seems that there is no hope for the team to win the league championship. As a personal honor, the top scorer is what he wants.

Although he is four goals behind Van Persie, he will definitely not give up.

Moreover, isn't it only three goals behind now?

What a… formidable enemy!

This was what Van Persie thought after seeing Chen Hero score.

But this further stimulated his fighting spirit. He had never felt so good as this season. If he still couldn't win the top scorer this season, he was almost thirty years old and didn't know when he would have a similar opportunity…

You can score, and so can I!

※※※

Arsenal's aerial defense ability is not good, which is what everyone expected.

But this was different from what Wenger said before the game. He said that he had a way to deal with Chen Hero, but everyone saw—what a load of crap! Is Koscielny defending Chen Hero a way? Chen Hero is just bullying Koscielny!

For a time, many Arsenal fans in front of the TV began to worry about the team's prospects. If we continue to play like this, we will lose the game away from home!

But at this moment, Van Persie stepped forward!

In the thirty-first minute, he equalized the score for the team!

"Robin——!!" As the commentator roared with a long voice, the football flew into the goal from Reina's ten fingers.

"fantastic_van_persie!! Twenty-fourth goal! His twenty-fourth goal of the season! A truly unstoppable Super Robin!"

The cheers from those Arsenal fans who came with the team even suppressed the momentum of the Liverpool fans.

At this moment, Arsenal fans were full of hope and confidence. They felt that as long as Van Persie performed normally, we could win this game!

Is Chen Hero very powerful?

We have the more powerful Robin van Persie!

※※※

While Arsenal players were celebrating Van Persie's goal, Chen Hero was smiling—interesting, it's so interesting.

Such an opponent… is challenging enough!

Come on, let's have a fair fight!

※※※

ps, Commercial time——

Highly recommend the new book "Genius Physiognomist" by Da Yan, the author of *Golden Eyes*:

With an infallible judgment and a thousand gold per divination, the young Ye Tian accidentally obtains the inheritance of a physiognomist, exploring the relationship between heaven and man, understanding the changes of ancient and modern times, and continuing the lost knowledge for the past sages.

Book number: 2279798