Wenger watched Li Yufei adjust his game from the sidelines and couldn't help admiring him again.
Players who could take the initiative on the pitch and change their style of play according to the situation
were invariably blessed with exceptional Football IQ.
Clearly, Li Yufei was one of them.
Compared with visible physical gifts like speed, dribbling ability, and clinical finishing,
Wenger valued the invisible soft skill of emotional intelligence even more.
In his eyes, there was no doubt that Li Yufei possessed both kinds of talent.
Only players like him could truly become the future of Arsenal.
Their potential was immense. A team's ceiling could rise only if its core players had high ceilings.
Li Yufei had no idea that the old man on the sidelines was quietly praising his decision to adjust his approach against Samba.
The 20th minute.
At last, a golden opportunity came.
Fabregas won the ball from Grella in the middle of the pitch, then immediately passed it to Walcott.
Walcott took the ball and accelerated at once, while Ryan retreated step for step.
Thirty-five yards from goal, Walcott slipped the ball to Li Yufei at the edge of the penalty arc, then sprinted into the box without the ball.
Li Yufei understood immediately. The moment the ball reached him, he sent a first-time through ball into the open space ahead.
Samba stepped up, ready to use his body to shove Li Yufei aside, only to see the ball zip past his thigh, barely four inches away.
Walcott beat the Offside Trap and ran onto the ball, finding himself one-on-one with the keeper.
Facing the onrushing Robinson, Walcott took no time to set himself and fired a shot.
The ball flew into the net like a streak of light.
"GOOOOOOOOOAL!!!"
"Number 14, Walcott!!!"
"In the 20th minute, Fabregas makes a crucial interception in midfield! Walcott plays a one-two with Li Yufei, races into the box, and finds himself one-on-one!"
"Goalkeeper Robinson can do nothing but watch helplessly."
"1–0! Arsenal take the lead away from home!!!"
Samba had just threatened Li Yufei, and now the kid had set up a goal right in front of him.
It felt like he'd swallowed a lump of shit.
"Damn brat, just you wait!"
Samba was determined to teach Li Yufei a lesson!
After the celebrations, the match resumed.
Blackburn Rovers tried to catch Arsenal off guard while they were still riding the high of scoring.
But the experienced Arsenal side wasn't about to give them that chance.
After their quick-start tactic failed, Arsenal regained control of the game.
Li Yufei stuck to the approach he'd just adopted, avoiding too much physical contact with Blackburn Rovers' defenders.
He kept dropping back into midfield, putting distance between himself and Samba and the others.
Samba couldn't believe that this forward had turned himself into a midfielder.
It left him thoroughly frustrated.
He could rough up a forward, sure, but there was no way to put the same pressure on a midfielder!
Samba's powerful build meant he wasn't particularly quick.
And if an opponent kept dragging him around for too long, his stamina would drain rapidly.
Because of these factors, all Samba could do was watch Li Yufei run the midfield.
The 28th minute.
After dropping back to combine with Fabregas, Li Yufei immediately threaded a pass to Arshavin on the left wing.
The Tsar faced Blackburn Rovers' right back, Michel Salgado. He stopped sharply, then changed direction and dribbled past him.
But Salgado wasn't some inexperienced rookie. He immediately called Givet over to double-team Arshavin.
Realizing that his dribbling lanes were all blocked, Arshavin quickly passed the ball back to Li Yufei.
Li Yufei received it and immediately chipped a pass forward to Clichy, who had pushed up into the left-wing position. Clichy collected it with ease,
then swept a low cross across the face of goal.
Phil Jones got there ahead of Walcott and cleared the ball to safety.
Fabregas ran to the ball's Landing Point and brought it under control, then played a short pass to Li Yufei.
As soon as Li Yufei received the ball, he sensed the black, muscular beast charging at him from behind.
So he immediately moved the ball on.
Diaby received it and passed it to Fabregas.
Fabregas took a quick look before receiving the ball, then immediately sent a through pass forward to his right.
A moment earlier, the space had been empty. Now Sagna was charging into it.
Sagna collected the ball and, without hesitation, sent a cross in from a 45-degree angle straight to Arshavin.
Givet had him pinned at the waist, preventing him from getting any real power behind the header.
The weak effort floated straight into Robinson's arms.
Robinson launched the ball upfield. Song won the aerial challenge near the center circle, and Diaby brought the ball under control.
Diaby passed it to Sagna again. This time, Sagna skipped the cross and sent a long diagonal ball to the left.
Clichy received it and combined with Arshavin in a one-two, then cut inside and charged into the box.
Salgado and Givet moved across to cover him.
Clichy swept the ball toward the penalty spot.
Just then, Li Yufei flashed into the ball's path like lightning.
Before Samba and Phil Jones could react, Li Yufei had already hit a first-time shot.
From that close, Robinson had no chance. He could only watch the ball fly into the net.
"GOOOOOOOOOAL!!!"
"Number 13, Li Yufei!!!"
"It's that kid again! After setting up Walcott's goal, he's now scored his first of the match!"
"Arsenal now lead Blackburn Rovers 2–0 away from home, extending their advantage."
"Three matches into the Premier League season, and this kid Li Yufei has scored in every game."
"Li Yufei Adams is currently top of the Top Scorers List with six goals in three games!"
"Andy, do you think Li Yufei has a chance of winning the Premier League Golden Boot this season?"
At his colleague's question, Andy Gray thought for a few seconds, then shook his head and replied, though not with much conviction:
"I don't know. The season's only three rounds old. It's too early to talk about the Premier League Golden Boot."
"Whether Li Yufei can win it will depend on how he performs from here on."
"After all, this is the Premier League, the toughest league in the world."
"Li Yufei's outstanding form so far is largely because the other Premier League teams don't know enough about him yet."
"As the season goes on, more and more teams will study him and devise ways to stop him."
"By then, whether Li Yufei can maintain his current scoring rate will be a very big question mark."
Martin Tyler didn't argue. Instead, he asked another question:
"How many league goals do you think Li Yufei will score by the end of the season?"
Andy Gray answered without hesitation:
"About 20, and no more than 25."
"Keep in mind, this is the Premier League, the best league in the world. For a young player to score 20 goals in his first professional season would already be an incredible achievement."
"Even Cristiano didn't score more than 10 league goals in any of his first few seasons at Manchester United!"
As if to prove his prediction right, Andy even brought up the stats from Ronaldo's early seasons at Manchester United, despite him being one of the two biggest stars in football today.
Martin Tyler disagreed with Andy's prediction and took the opposing view. "No, Li Yufei and Cristiano can't be compared."
"At least, the 18-year-old Cristiano was nowhere near as good as Li Yufei is now."
"Back then, Cristiano was just a Bicycle Boy who spent his time showing off fancy tricks on the pitch..."
"In terms of both position and scoring rate, there's simply no comparison between him and Li Yufei today."
"I think Li Yufei can win the Premier League Golden Boot this season. He'll score at least 25 goals, and 30 isn't out of the question."
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