This Ball Is Mine!

Su Dong's confidence was not blind arrogance. It came from his faith in his own ability.

Wenger was clearly wary of Su Dong as well. To neutralize him more effectively, he had even broken up his first-choice center-back pairing this season.

Gallas had been moved to the left, with the eighteen-year-old Johan Djourou partnering Kolo Touré in the middle, while Sagna took the right. It was the first time this combination had been used this season, and left-back Clichy had been dropped to the bench.

Actually, this was not surprising. Heynckes had already raised the possibility before the match.

Gallas was 1.82 meters tall, while Kolo Touré was even shorter at only 1.78 meters. Both players were more than ten centimeters shorter than Su Dong, which was a considerable disadvantage when defending a player like him.

Never mind anything else—in physical confrontations, shorter players were bound to suffer.

Therefore, Wenger would rather sacrifice some attacking strength on the left and drop Clichy than leave Djourou out of the starting lineup. He wanted a defender who could physically challenge Su Dong, or at least withstand him head-on.

Not only that, Arsenal had also abandoned the Adebayor–Van Persie strike partnership for this match. Instead, they used a front three of Nasri, Adebayor, and Walcott, with Fàbregas playing farther forward in midfield while Alexandre Song and Denilson sat deeper.

The double-pivot midfield freed Fàbregas, as well as both flanks up front, to the greatest possible extent.

Nasri had started out as an attacking midfielder before moving to the wing at Arsenal. He was not especially fast, but he was excellent on the ball and technically gifted. Walcott was the opposite. The Little Tiger was incredibly fast and was known as the fastest man in football.

Arsenal's starting lineup was somewhat conservative, but the