Chapter 280: What, Arsenal Wants to Be the New Top Dog Too?
After Chelsea's victory over Sporting CP, Leon's post-match interview stirred quite the reaction. Many of Sporting's fans were infuriated by his comments.
Sure, Chelsea had been dominant in the Champions League since last season, but in the eyes of Sporting supporters:
Yes, Chelsea played well—but they're a wealthy powerhouse. Our club's entire season budget is barely a fraction of theirs. Was it really necessary to win the game and then throw shade afterward?
Before Chelsea fans even had time to explain or clarify, the always enthusiastic neutral fans jumped in to defend Leon:
Hey now, don't get it twisted!
The Little Lion wasn't singling out your club. He meant that all three teams in the group—aside from Chelsea—have been terrible!
And just like that, the number of offended fanbases ballooned from one to three.
Now Schalke 04 fans were dragged into the fray too, despite doing nothing at all.
But truthfully, Schalke fans didn't have much room to talk anyway—they were already fuming after watching their team draw with Maribor.
Garbage performance? Well… facts are facts.
When Sporting drew Maribor in the first round of group play, Schalke fans had laughed at them.
After all, not winning against Chelsea was understandable.
But not being able to beat a Slovenian team? Come on.
And now? The karma hit them square in the face. Schalke couldn't beat Maribor either.
After the second round of group fixtures, Schalke fans were mentally spiraling.
When the media started reporting on Leon's "trash talk," quite a few Schalke fans even agreed with him.
If Schalke had simply beaten Maribor like they were supposed to, they wouldn't be catching strays from Leon's post-match comments.
From the perspective of most neutral fans across Europe, Leon's remarks weren't even wrong.
Sure, if you disliked him, you could say he was getting cocky.
And yes, if Chelsea failed to beat Maribor later, Leon's words would make him look like a fool in hindsight.
But if Chelsea went on to win all six matches in the group and qualify top of the table?
Then his so-called "arrogance" would only be seen as justified confidence.
Right now, plenty of younger fans admired Leon for his blunt honesty and fearless attitude.
Of course, the moment he got back to London, Mourinho gave him an earful for it.
Leon didn't think there was anything wrong with occasionally speaking the truth. As long as it was grounded in performance, what's the harm in being confident?
In this respect, he saw himself as being pretty similar to Mourinho.
The main difference was that Mourinho liked to stir the pot before matches, only to praise the opponent if he won afterward.
Leon, on the other hand, didn't talk much before the match. He preferred to let his performance do the talking, then make a statement afterward.
Still, even as he grumbled to himself about it, Leon nodded obediently in front of Mourinho, saying he understood and would change.
Whether he actually would—or if it was just another round of "I get it this time, I'll behave next time"—that all depended on how well he could read Mourinho's mood.
Recently, with Chelsea sitting atop Group G after two Champions League wins and holding a four-point cushion over second place, Mourinho's entire demeanor had become much more pleasant.
Leon glanced over the upcoming fixture list and understood why.
The next Premier League match was five days away, so the squad had plenty of time to recover and prepare.
After Matchweek 7, the league would pause for a two-week international break.
No schedule pressure.
If Chelsea could win their next league game, they would hit a "mini goal" of ten straight wins to start the season across all competitions.
Whatever happened after the international break was uncertain.
But at the very least, for the first month and a half of the new season, Chelsea had put together a perfect run of results.
With that ten-match winning streak dangling in front of them, the entire squad was filled with motivation.
That said, when Mourinho and his assistants looked at the next opponent, they knew better than to let their guard down.
Back in London, the starters who had played in the Champions League were given a day off.
Mourinho, though, only took half a day's rest before diving straight into preparations.
Meanwhile, fresh off exploiting all the clicks from European matches, the English media wasted no time hyping up the next big event:
The London Derby.
Matchweek 7 of the Premier League would see Chelsea hosting another English powerhouse from the capital—Arsenal.
This was the biggest clash since Chelsea's showdown with Manchester City in Matchweek 5. Once again, all of England's media and fans were laser-focused.
This season's Arsenal was a different beast.
Under Wenger, they had started strong—completely breaking their usual pattern of a sluggish first half followed by a furious finish.
After six league games, Arsenal had four wins and two draws—14 points, sitting just behind Chelsea in the table.
In the previous round, they had just dismantled their bitter rivals Tottenham 3–0 at home.
Then, in the second round of Champions League play, they crushed Galatasaray 4–0.
Two dominant wins back-to-back—it was clear Arsenal was in top form.
Just like Manchester City, Arsenal had made incremental but important improvements over the summer.
After a full season to gel their squad and tactics, the only thing Arsenal still lacked was a proper upgrade on their wing play.
But their front line and defensive organization were still among the best in the league.
Mourinho, while confident in Chelsea's superior squad, was still wary.
After all, the two sides hadn't met officially yet this season.
Out of caution and due diligence, on October 5th, Mourinho oversaw the final tactical preparations at Stamford Bridge ahead of the Arsenal clash.
During warmups, Leon also took time to observe the full Arsenal squad.
Truth be told, this season's Arsenal lineup hadn't changed much from last year.
This was largely due to the ongoing tug-of-war over ownership within the club.
Both major stakeholders were trying to buy out the other, delaying any significant investments.
Under these circumstances, neither side was willing to open the wallet for Wenger to go on another spending spree.
So after last season's summer splurge, Wenger had returned to his usual thrifty, methodical management style.
The young talents kept getting developed. If academy players were good enough, they got promoted.
If not, they were sold off.
But thanks to last season's high-profile signings—Cavani up front and Toulalan in midfield—Arsenal's current squad wasn't in bad shape at all.
So long as those two stayed healthy, that is.
If one player gets injured, Arsenal's form starts to waver.
If two go down? Then Arsenal is straight back on the "Top Four at Best" track.
So even though Leon respected this version of Arsenal, he didn't see them as serious title contenders like Manchester City.
The lack of squad depth was too obvious—yes, the starting XI was strong, but the backups were wildly inconsistent and unpredictable.
What's more, there was a glaring issue: many of Arsenal's starters were physically fragile.
Arteta, for example, got injured right after the third Premier League match of the season and hadn't played since.
Flamini, currently paired with Toulalan, looked fine for now, but one wrong step and he'd be keeping Arteta company in the treatment room.
And as for the attack, let's not even mention Walcott, the eternal injury case.
Then there was Wilshere—holding down a starting spot and seemingly healthy, but with a track record of getting injured out of nowhere and missing half a season.
To be fair, Wilshere and Cazorla could handle the majority of Premier League mid-table teams just fine.
But the moment they faced Chelsea, their physical limitations became painfully obvious.
Leon, heading into this so-called "clash of titans," was actually very confident about getting the win.
He'd been facing technical sides since the beginning of his career—
At this point, he could probably shut down their style with his eyes closed.
If Toulalan were five years younger…
If Wenger had managed to develop another Vieira or even just pair Toulalan with someone like Alex Song from 2010…
Then Arsenal would truly be a force to reckon with.
Leon would absolutely have seen them as Chelsea's main threat in the title race.
But the reality was, this Arsenal only had an aging Toulalan and the perennially injury-prone duo of Flamini and Arteta.
Coquelin? He was average at best—not the kind of player to carry a top Premier League midfield.
Leon didn't believe that "beautiful football" could win consistently without a strong spine.
Even Guardiola's Barcelona, as elegant as they were, never had issues at the defensive midfield position.
So if a team really wanted to rise to the top, they needed a solid base.
An underwhelming forward line could be upgraded. A shaky defense could be fixed over a season or two.
But if your midfield spine wasn't strong, there was no hope of truly breaking through.
As Leon watched Flamini warming up alongside Toulalan, he already had a plan forming in his mind.
At 1:30 PM local time in London, the referee blew the whistle, and Arsenal kicked off as the away team.
They immediately moved into an offensive rhythm against Chelsea's defensive stance.
Unlike Manchester City, Arsenal didn't obsess over backline possession. Their style prioritized vertical progression and forward movement.
So Chelsea didn't respond with the same high-pressing, full-pitch "run-them-into-the-ground" strategy they used against City.
That tactic worked wonders, yes—but it also came at a massive cost in player fatigue and injury risk.
And through repeated testing, Chelsea's coaching staff had come to a consensus:
If they were going to use the full-press system, they had to build a sufficient lead within the first 70 minutes.
If they failed to do that, then past the 70-minute mark, they didn't even need the opponent to turn up the pressure—their own exhaustion would lead to collapse.
It was something they could manage with strategic substitutions and workload balancing.
But for today's match against Arsenal, Mourinho didn't see the need to take that kind of gamble.
Leon had told him before the game that he was confident in breaking down Arsenal's defensive midfield.
And when your star player says that, how can a coach not be intrigued?
So Mourinho set up with a relatively standard approach:
Facing Arsenal's 4-2-3-1, he rolled out a classic 4-3-3.
He wanted to see exactly how Leon would tear through Arsenal's fragile midfield duo.
Just over ten minutes into the first half, Leon completed his initial phase of positional reading and finally dropped deep to receive the ball for the first time.
After turning with the ball, he quickly sidestepped a lunge from Wilshere and drove forward—straight at Flamini.
Toulalan, positioned closest to Arsenal's backline, couldn't afford to be drawn out of position to help.
After a second of thought, he instructed Flamini to track back with him,
and for Cazorla to join in once he caught up, forming a sandwich around Leon.
It was, in Toulalan's mind, the safest way to handle him.
Flamini didn't object. He'd once spent half a season with Leon at Milan.
If there was one thing he knew, it was that Leon had him beat in both pace and physicality.
Flamini was determined not to end up on the wrong side of a highlight reel, so he retreated quickly.
But Leon knew Flamini's habits too—and he had no intention of letting him settle into a defensive posture.
The moment he began to accelerate, Flamini and Toulalan's cautious retreat gave him the perfect lane to build speed.
And soon enough, Flamini realized in horror that even though he reacted early,
he still couldn't keep up with Leon's full-speed charge!
As Leon surged closer to Arsenal's penalty box, with Wilshere and Cazorla still out of position,
Flamini gritted his teeth and stepped forward to challenge.
But at that exact moment, Leon snapped his ankle and slotted a through ball straight into the gap behind Flamini.
Hazard came slicing in from the left, targeting the very space Flamini had vacated.
Before Koscielny could step in, Hazard faked inside with a quick drag-back, throwing the defender off balance.
Then he calmly slotted a low shot into the center of the goal.
The ball rolled past Szczęsny before the keeper could even react.
Goal!
Leon, watching the ball cross the line, broke into that familiar smile.
Hey, Arsenal—take some advice from me.
If you want to be the Premier League's new top dog, maybe start by fixing your midfield spine.
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 40 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/johanssen10