Chapter 304: Chapter 95: An Unexpected Outside Foot Shot! Arsenal Tops the Table! Ma’el’s Strategy and Acquisition_2

Four to one!

That’s also the score at the end!

Arsenal finally secured their 6th win of the season, surpassing 20 points!

"Teams like this don’t pose a significant threat to us, and we will try to strengthen our defense during the winter transfer window."

Wenger left an intriguing remark at the post-match press conference, seemingly ready to contend for the title.

...

On November 20th, just four days after the last match, another Premier League game came knocking.

They headed to Stoke City away, facing the tough team known as ’Sky City’.

This is a team whose style is more similar to Championship teams, yet much stronger, with a simple and decisive style, strong confrontations, and excellent aerial defense capabilities.

In this match, Van Persie, after his hat-trick in the last game, was rested, and Shamakh took the forward position.

Ma’el started; he has always excelled against this type of team, not just because of his Championship experience, but also due to his physical prowess.

Sky City strong?

Can they be stronger than him?

"Dang dang dang!"

By the 25th minute, Ma’el had charged up the left flank, bypassed Delap, brushed off Mark Wilson, and sent a ground-pass cross.

Sadly, Shamakh faltered at the crucial moment, sending the ball into the stands.

Knowing he seldom plays, Ma’el wasn’t too disheartened and ran back to his half.

In the 39th minute, Ramsey found an opportunity to deliver a through ball, and Gervinho charged in from the right, striking the ball to the near corner with a shot aimed at the left, hitting the right.

One to nil!

"Beautiful!" Ma’el silently clenched his fists, knowing that against such mid to lower-table teams, taking the lead makes the game much easier.

Once the game resumed, he felt significantly less pressure.

Trailing behind, Stoke City stopped bus parking on defense, no longer utilized only simple long balls targeting their tall man, Crouch, and instead attempted to organize effective attacks.

Their formation pressed forward, and short passes increased significantly.

This gave Arsenal more opportunities, and both Arteta and Alexander Song were eagerly waiting in the midfield, looking for chances to intercept and counter-attack.

"Pa!"

In the 66th minute of the second half, Alexander Song intercepted the ball from the opponent’s midfield, Delap, advanced with the ball, and handed it over to Gervinho. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Gervinho cut inside towards the center, took a few steps, and seeing a poor opportunity, noticed Ma’el asking for the ball from a far-off position.

Without much hesitation, he passed a ground ball towards Ma’el, transferring it laterally!

When the opposing defenders have already settled, you have to trust those in the team who can solve the problem, doing it yourself all the time won’t work.

After passing, Gervinho moved forward towards the flank, his favorite position.

He saw Ma’el stop the ball underfoot, seemingly unsure how to handle it, wasting the best moment for a pass or shot.

"Ah..." He ran back a little disappointedly. Unlike Ma’el, he had defensive responsibilities.

If this play didn’t create a threat, he would have to chase back for defense.

But at that moment, he unexpectedly saw Ma’el steady his supporting foot, raise his right leg, and move it around in circles over the ball.

The Stoke City defenders lowered their center of gravity, staring at his feet, unsure how he would handle it, not daring to move rashly.

"Boom!!"

Suddenly, Ma’el hopped a small step to the side with his left foot, adjusted to a better position, and powered a shot with the outside of his right foot on the ball.

As he shot, his right ankle whipped violently, his entire body pressing forward, explosively releasing power from the spot.

The ball curved past the body of the Stoke City defender in front of him, veering toward the left outside of the goal.

Stoke City goalkeeper Begovic initially didn’t pay attention, thinking Ma’el was just messing around, and he’d soon be taking a goal kick himself.

When he finally saw the ball spinning intensely and slowly curving towards the near corner of the goal, the best save timing was already gone.

"Clang!"

"Whoosh!"

The ball brushed the post and flew into the net, surprising everyone.

Did it go in?

What the heck?!

"Wow... Yeah...!!" Every traveling Arsenal fan had a look of surprise on their faces, none expected this to go in, instinctively stood up to celebrate when it did.

"How was that shot?"

"With the outside of the foot?!"

"It must be!"

"An ordinary person really couldn’t pull that off."

"Yes, the power wasn’t huge, but did you see that curve? The goalkeeper definitely didn’t expect it!"

"Goals in consecutive games!!"

They all swore they never had any expectations for that shot, still dazed until the goal was scored.

"Boooom...!"

But none of that affected Ma’el’s excitement, as he shouted and slid on his knees across the grass at Britannia Stadium.

The first outside-of-the-foot goal!

12th Premier League goal!

Steadily moving forward!

"Oh... Brother!" Today, Gervinho wore goggles, showing his big white teeth with a goofy smile.

He slightly raised both hands, expressing his surprise: "I really don’t know how I assisted, I was ready to go back on defense."

He was indeed lucky today, first bursting into the box to score, then providing an assist.

"Get ready to be Man of the Match."

Ma’el hugged him, comforting this semi-main player, "Go and work a little more."

"Hehe, okay." Gervinho continued to chuckle, nodding as he ran back to his position, feeling much more invigorated.