209 Record Part 1 (1/2)

Chapter 209: Record Part 1

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

A week after the FA Community Shield, the 04-05 season of the English Premier League officially began.

At the moment, all of England had their eyes on Arsenal. They were only two matches away from breaking the undefeated record that had been held for 25 years. From the overwhelming victory over Southampton with a score of 6:1 on 7th May 2003 in a rescheduled Home match in the 02-03 season, Frenchman Arsène Wenger's football team broken a series of records in English football: Preston North End had maintained a no-loss streak through the 1888-89 season, which was an incredible achievement despite only having 22 matches in a season; Burnley had maintained a 30-match streak with no defeat in the 1920-21 season, losing only three matches at the beginning of the league before revitalising themselves and rampaging to the end of the season (that was also the first time in club history that they became league champions); Leeds United had won 29 matches with no losses in the 1973-74 season; and Liverpool had had an unbreakable 29 matches without defeat in the 1987-88 season.

At the beginning of the season, Arsenal already had a stunning streak of 40 league matches without defeat. Today, the only record that stands in their way is the undefeated no-loss record of 42 games by Nottingham Forest led by Brian Clough between the 1977-78 season and the 1978-79 season!

If they locked down the first two matches in the season, Arsenal would already be on par with this record. After that, they just need one more match to break the old record and set a new one for undefeated matches.

At this point, Arsenal was in great condition. Even if they had to face Everton in their first match as an away team, there was little to worry about.

And as expected, Arsenal easily triumphed over Everton with a score of 4:1 in the away match and maintained a streak of 41 victories!

On the other side, Tony Twain's Nottingham Forest appeared to have met with a little trouble…

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During the summer transfer, Nottingham Forest was constantly in action. Their activity was even comparable to Chelsea, who was owned by a Russian tycoon; they were in the limelight. People had high hopes for Tang En's team, and even the local media in Nottingham looked well upon the new Forest.

In their first round, Forest was to challenge Blackburn in an away match. Before the match, Tang En spent a lot of effort researching their opponent—the team, the players, and the manager. He investigated and analyzed all of them. As such, he believed that he was already familiar with Blackburn. As usual, he led his team to the home of Blackburn Rovers, Ewood Park, with great confidence.

After 90 minutes, the Forest team, who had been filled with hope for the new season, lost 0:1 to Blackburn.

Although it appeared to be very good, based on the score, for a newly promoted team to lose by only one ball to a veteran team, it was not really so. The scores would never be able to fully show the difference between the two teams.

For this match, Tang En had used the 442 formation, which was most practiced one during trainings. He also sent out the 11 players who he felt were in their best conditions. The goalkeeper was Darren Ward. The two center backs were Fernando Hierro and Matthew Upson. The right back was the frenchman Pascal Chimbonda, whose performance had completely surpassed John Thompson during trainings, while the left back was Leighton Baines, who held a strong footing as one of the main positions through the last half of the previous season. Midfielders were positioned side-by-side, with Frenchman Franck Ribéry on the left, Ashley Young on the right, and George Wood and Albertini steadfastly guarding the path through the middle. Finally, on the forward line were the partners Freddy Eastwood and Mark Viduka.

Additionally, on the substitutes bench were goalkeeper Paul Gerrard, full back Wes Morgan and Gerard Piqué, midfielder Kris Commons, and forward Peter Crouch.

This formation was Tang En's strongest. In the trainings before the season, it was also shown to be the most stable starting line-up. Tang En believed that it was comparable to Blackburn Rover's.

But Blackburn, who had only been ranked 15th in the previous season, taught Forest a good lesson. It was naïve to believe they would become a strong Premier League team because of the new players bought over the summer. The Premier league was a completely different world from the EFL.