Chapter 800: Last-Minute Winner! Slaughtering Manchester United! Epoch-Making Transfer! God-Like Wang Shuo! Ferguson, Wake Up!

Standing in front of the home team’s bench, Wenger found it absolutely miraculous. It was a fascinating phenomenon.

When Chamak was on the pitch, Aston Villa’s offense had been lively and full of flair. But the moment Wang Shuo came on, he completely pinned down the opposition’s defense, and Aston Villa’s entire attack instantly fizzled out.

How could he put it? It was like they had suddenly gone from rebellious teenagers to obedient children. The contrast was far too drastic!

Wenger glanced at Chamak on the substitute bench. The striker actually worked quite hard, but sometimes, the harder one tried, the worse they performed.

“Wang Shuo really put too much pressure on him. The poor guy!” Wenger sighed.

Chamak was never meant to be a top-tier superstar to begin with; serving as Wang Shuo’s backup at Arsenal naturally came with an immense amount of pressure. Just take this match, for instance. While on the pitch, Chamak had tried every possible method but couldn’t breach Aston Villa’s goal for the life of him. Givin hardly even needed to make an effort.

But what happened when Wang Shuo came on? He scored three consecutive goals in just eleven minutes. There was no need to compare anything else; who could withstand such a glaring disparity in results?

February 1st, Wednesday.

In the 23rd round of the Premier League, Arsenal played an away match against Bolton.

After defeating Liverpool 3-1 at home in the previous round, Bolton had just beaten Swansea 2-1 at home in the weekend’s FA Cup, securing a two-game home winning streak. Therefore, facing Arsenal in this match, Bolton—sitting a mere one point above the relegation zone—played with extreme tenacity and a highly physical style.

They even learned from Manchester United’s previous lessons, employing a tight man-marking strategy against Wang Shuo that effectively gave him no room to breathe. Every time Wang Shuo took possession, there were at least two players surrounding him.

Even so, Wang Shuo still managed to create a guaranteed scoring opportunity for the team as early as the 15th minute. After bursting into the left side of the penalty area and drawing the defenders’ attention, Wang Shuo passed the ball to Walcott, setting him up for a one-on-one with the keeper.

Unfortunately, Little Tiger’s Shooting went straight over the crossbar.

Wang Shuo created a few more decent scoring chances in the first half, but they were consistently squandered. The two sides were locked in an ongoing stalemate, constantly draining each other’s stamina. Bolton played very proactively, but Arsenal also put up an incredibly dominant performance, firmly suppressing them.

It wasn’t until the 88th minute that the deadlock was broken.

Wang Shuo received the ball inside the Arc Top District, positioning himself in front of two center-backs with his back facing the direction of the attack. He first trapped the ball and turned to the right, drawing Whit and Knight into a tight encirclement, before suddenly chopping the ball back to his left.

With a rapid burst of acceleration, he took a lateral touch, instantly breaking away by half a body length, and curled a beautiful shot with his left foot. The football traced a stunning arc through the air, drilling straight into the top left corner of Bolton’s goal.

1-0!

“GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!”

“At the critical moment, Wang Shuo steps up! 1-0!”

“Arsenal breaks the deadlock!”

“A crucial late winner in the 88th minute!”

“This is the true impact of a superstar!”

“The match had been locked in a stalemate for a full 88 minutes, but give Wang Shuo just one opportunity, and he can shatter the deadlock for Arsenal!”

The Bolton fans were utterly devastated. The 25,000 supporters in the stadium fell into a pin-drop silence in an instant, completely unable to accept this outcome. With both Blackburn and the Wolves suffering heavy home defeats earlier, this was supposed to be a golden opportunity for Bolton to widen the gap and escape the relegation zone.

Who could have anticipated that Wang Shuo’s goal would mercilessly stomp them back into the mud?

After a brief moment of silence, the home fans erupted into a chorus of frantic boos. They angrily cursed at Wang Shuo as he celebrated his goal. Some fans were so enraged that they looked ready to storm out of the stands. To avoid provoking the home supporters any further, Wang Shuo and his teammates ended their celebrations early.

The pressure to avoid relegation was immense this season. Surprisingly, the newly promoted teams were all performing quite well. Currently, teams like Wigan Athletic, the Wolves, Blackburn, and Bolton were languishing in the relegation zone. However, in last season’s Premier League, these four teams had only narrowly escaped relegation to begin with.

During the previous summer window, they hadn’t made any big-money signings, and Blackburn had even sold off key players like Phil Jones. Under these circumstances, it was no surprise that these four teams were mired deep in the relegation zone. The current level of competition in the Premier League was incredibly brutal; without substantial investment in new signings, getting a decent rank—let alone avoiding relegation—was practically a pipe dream.

This was exactly why the Premier League was becoming increasingly competitive. The broadcasting revenues were tantalizing, but the required investments were equally massive.

Also in this round, Manchester City suffered a 1-0 away defeat to Everton.

Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table expanded from four points to seven.