Saturday, August 22nd. 14:00 PM (GMT). The Home Dressing Room, The Hawthorns.
Premier League. Matchday 2.
West Bromwich Albion vs. Arsenal.
The first home game of the season is always a big event, but today, The Hawthorns felt like a celebration.
Outside the stadium, tens of thousands of fans gathered to welcome the team bus. Inside, groundsmen made the final preparations for the display of the UEFA Champions League and Super Cup trophies before kickoff.
Ethan Matthews sat in his locker, his forehead bandage replaced with a smaller, sterile dressing over the cut he got at Molineux. The Black Country derby was a tough return to English football, but today posed a different kind of challenge.
He pulled out his phone.
Group Chat: The Eastfield Boys
Callum: I watched Arsenal's opening match. They play a possession game. Their wingers cut inside to crowd the center of the pitch, forming a box of four midfielders. Don't get caught up trying to out-pass them in that central traffic jam.
Callum: Let Keller sit deep and take the pressure. When you win it, their full-backs will be way up the pitch. Skip the midfield and hit it straight into the corners for Hayes and Kalu to chase. It's a simple counter-attack trap.
Mia: Callum is trying to explain Arsenal's formation to me using beer mats on the pub table. Just go smash them, Eth!
Mason: Tell Wonderkid to leave the beer mats alone. Crestwood scraped our first League One win of the season last night. 1-0. Ugly, but three points count. Arsenal are aristocrats, General. They want to paint a nice picture. Throw mud on their canvas.
Ethan: Bypass the midfield. Hit the corners. Let's ruin the painting, boys. See you at full time.
Ethan locked his phone and smiled at Mia's message. Callum's tactical insights had simplified things, but the Eastfield analyst was still fixated on the pitch's geometry.
Julian Vance walked into the dressing room and waited for silence.
"In ten minutes, you will walk out there and show off two European trophies to your fans," Vance said, his voice echoing off the concrete walls. "You earned that. You deserve the applause."
Vance stopped pacing and scanned the room, his expression turning serious.
"But when the referee blows the whistle, those trophies won't matter. Arsenal won't applaud you. They will come to take your pride. They want to control the ball in your stadium and show they belong at this level."
Vance pointed at Ethan.
"Let them have the ball. Let them feel at ease. Then we show them how quickly things can change."
2:55 PM. The Pitch.
The noise inside The Hawthorns was overwhelming as Liam Thorne and Ethan Matthews walked out of the tunnel, each carrying one of the silver European trophies. They raised them high, and twenty-six thousand fans erupted with pure adoration.
But as Ethan placed the Super Cup on the presentation plinth and jogged to the center circle, the atmosphere shifted. The celebration ended. The battle began.
3:00 PM. Kickoff.
From the first touch, Arsenal showed why they were title contenders. They were quick, smooth, and sharp.
Just as Callum had warned, their wingers drifted from the touchlines and crowded the central midfield, creating a dizzying web of short, rapid passes. The West Brom players found themselves chasing shadows.
18th Minute.
The North London aristocrats found their break.
The intricate passing finally broke through. Arsenal's playmaker slipped past Lukas Keller with ease, threading a perfect pass through the West Brom center-backs.
Their striker took one touch and slotted it coolly past the goalkeeper.
GOAL.
West Bromwich Albion 0 - 1 Arsenal.
The traveling Arsenal fans in the Smethwick End went wild. The Arsenal players celebrated with a slick routine near the corner flag.
Ethan wiped sweat from his forehead. Vance was right. They had come to paint a nice picture, and right now, West Brom was holding the canvas.
32nd Minute.
Ethan adjusted the plan. If they continued pressing Arsenal in the center, they would get picked apart by the overload.
"Drop!" Ethan shouted at his midfield, pulling Kalu and Hayes deeper into a solid, organized low block. "Let them have it!"
Arsenal, confused by the sudden lack of pressure, pushed their defensive line high. Their full-backs rushed forward trying to force a second goal before halftime.
Exactly what Ethan had been waiting for.
A loose pass from the Arsenal playmaker was intercepted by the massive chest of Lukas Keller. The German enforcer didn't panic. He immediately laid the ball off to Ethan.
The transition was instantaneous.
Ethan didn't take a touch to settle the ball. He didn't need to look up to check the runners. He already knew where Tyler Hayes would be.
He wrapped his left foot around the ball, sending a blistering, low pass that completely bypassed the crowded midfield and sliced into the space behind the Arsenal right-back.
Hayes brought the ball down perfectly in stride. The Championship winger raced against the recovering Arsenal center-back, and there was only going to be one winner.
Hayes drove to the edge of the box and sent a vicious, early cross toward the penalty spot.
Armando met it with ferocity, throwing his whole body into a diving header that sent the ball crashing into the roof of the net before the Arsenal goalkeeper could react.
GOAL.
West Bromwich Albion 1 - 1 Arsenal.
The Hawthorns erupted. The counter-attack took less than seven seconds from Keller's interception to Armando's header.
Ethan didn't celebrate. He just turned to the Arsenal midfielders, who stared at each other in disbelief. The beautiful painting had just been smeared with grit from Black Country.
Halftime.
West Bromwich Albion 1 - 1 Arsenal.
The dressing room buzzed with energy.
"They're scared of the transition," Vance told the squad, tapping the whiteboard. "They know if their full-backs go high, Hayes and Kalu will punish them. In the second half, they will hesitate. They will drop deeper. Ethan, when they back off, take control of the space."
The Second Half.
60th Minute.
Vance's assessment was spot on. Arsenal, burned by West Brom's speed on the counter-attack, dropped their aggressive high line. Their full-backs stayed back.
The game turned into a tense, tactical standoff, but it was controlled entirely by Ethan.
With the Arsenal midfield no longer flooding the center, Ethan took full control. He began moving the ball with ease, controlling the match's rhythm, speeding it up to create chances, and slowing it down to frustrate the Londoners.
82nd Minute.
The frustration finally broke Arsenal's discipline.
Their young, hot-headed winger, tired of chasing Ethan, lunged in with a late challenge right in the center circle.
Ethan saw it coming, touching the ball away at the last second and taking the hit. The referee blew for a foul.
Ethan got to his feet instantly. The Arsenal players argued with the referee, their backs turned to the action.
Always play to the whistle.
Ethan didn't wait. He placed the ball on the grass, looked up, and saw Jaden Kalu making a darting run unnoticed on the right flank.
Ethan took the quick free-kick, sending a perfectly weighted pass over the disorganized Arsenal defense.
Kalu brought it down in the penalty area. The Arsenal goalkeeper rushed out in a panic, but Kalu calmly opened his body and slotted the ball into the far corner with precision.
GOAL.
West Bromwich Albion 2 - 1 Arsenal.
The noise was explosive. Ethan sprinted toward Kalu, jumping onto the winger's back as the team crowded around the corner flag. The Dictator hadn't just outplayed the aristocrats; he had outsmarted them.
90+5 Minutes.
Whistle. Whistle. Whistle.
Full Time.
West Bromwich Albion 2 - 1 Arsenal.
Another crucial three points. They had weathered a hit from a title contender, absorbed the pressure, and countered effectively.
Ethan walked off the pitch, applauding the ecstatic home fans. The European trophies were secure in the cabinet, but the message on the field was even louder: The Hawthorns was still a fortress.
6:00 PM. Penthouse Apartment, Birmingham.
Ethan dropped his kit bag onto the floor of his apartment. His legs ached from the deep, satisfying fatigue of a hard-fought victory.
He pulled out his phone.
Group Chat: The Eastfield Boys
Mason: That quick free-kick was the smartest play I've seen all year! They were all complaining to the ref while you were already scoring. Classic Eastfield!
Callum: The way you worked their defense was perfect. You used their fear of the counter-attack to shut down their full-backs, which left their wingers isolated. A flawless execution of the spatial transition.
Mia: The pub went wild when Kalu scored! We're raising a glass to you right now, Eth. Enjoy your Sunday off!
Ethan: They wanted to look good, Mase. But they forgot to watch the ball. Six points from two games. The machine is rolling.