Losing a Champions League group match did not affect the morale of the Forest team. When they returned to the Premier League competition, the Forest team defeated Portsmouth in the City Ground stadium by 2:0. In five rounds of the league competition, other than the postponement of the third round, the Forest team had won thrice and conceded once, which gave them a score of nine points. They were still within the first block.
The most surprising team this season so far was no longer the Forest team. It was not remarkable at this point if Twain’s team performed well because everyone knew that the Forest team had the ability.
It was Charlton’s performance that many people had not expected. After the five rounds of competition, Charlton won four out of four games with one more game to make up. They had twelve points and were placed second in the league, at the heels of the top-ranked Chelsea.
Liverpool and Arsenal also shocked people with their performances. The two traditionally strong teams had been ranked outside of the top eight after five rounds of the new season. Short of one game, Arsenal had two victories and two defeats with six points in the ninth spot. Two games behind, Liverpool had one victory and two draws. They only had five points and ranked 11th.
The impact of the Champions League matches on those teams competing in multiple tournaments had become increasingly apparent. Twain also needed to learn to cope with the challenge.
The Forest team was fortunate. After they had just lost to Real Madrid, they would face a weak team in the league competition, which gave them a breather. Otherwise, the upcoming intensive schedule would certainly make the Forest team suffer.
On August 19 was the fifth round in the Premier League competition.
In the sixth round of the league competition on August 22, the Forest team played against Everton at home. Moyes’ team was in a bad state, and Twain had no qualms about striking them when they were down this time.
Next, on August 25th, the league’s seventh round, the Forest team would challenge Arsenal in an away match. This was also the highlight round of the league.
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Twain noticed that recently Anelka had been very enthusiastic during training. At first, he thought it was strange, but when he saw the competition schedule, he understood.
For example, on August 25, in the seventh round of the league, Nottingham Forest would play against Arsenal in an away game.
Twain did not know what Arsenal represented to Anelka in his career. But he knew it must have left a deep impression on him.
Watching Anelka exerting his utmost strength on the training ground, Twain snickered inwardly. Money is not the only driving force for you to play…
Unsurprisingly, the gossipy English media would not give up the hype on that topic. What will happen when the former number 9 striker returns to Highbury? The mingling of gratitude and enmity between the mentor and protégé, the fans’ mixed emotions… And what would Anelka do to Arsenal? Who was going to avenge whom?
Consequently, a reporter asked that question at the team’s weekly regular press conference. Twain’s answer was, “I certainly want Anelka to score. Which manager doesn’t want his striker to score? Of course, I know that Arsenal holds a special significance for Anelka. He wants to score goals in this game, and I want that too. But I want to focus on the opponent we’re facing right now, which is Everton.”
The reporters did not listen to Twain. They revolved around the wildly speculated grievances between Arsenal and Anelka as if the Forest team’s rival was not Everton in the next round, but Arsenal.
On August 22nd, the Forest team ushered in their sixth round opponents, Everton, in the City Ground stadium as scheduled.
No one could be blamed for ignoring Everton either. After the start of the new season, Everton had been unable to get into a groove. The impact of losing the Champions League qualification last season at the last minute had proved too great for them. A large number of newly purchased players had brought a lot of breaking-in problems to the team, which prevented their overall fighting strength from taking shape. Moyes was also powerless and could only helplessly watch the league begin. With only one win and three defeats, Everton ranked in the bottom third and fell into the relegation zone!
That abysmal performance made Forest assume that they would easily win the game without any surprises and sprinkle another handful of salt to Everton’s wound.
But in reality, Forest was violently contested by Everton on their home ground.
Perhaps last season’s Champions League qualification being robbed by them caused Everton to be particularly spirited when it came to the Forest team. They pressed like crazy throughout the entire game and played using their utmost strength.
This completely exceeded Twain’s expectations. He had not expected Everton to be so high-spirited against the Forest Team when they had played so appallingly before.
The Forest players could not adapt properly to Everton’s frantic push, and they adjusted even more poorly in their mentality.
They were so flustered by Everton’s rushing that their formation was disrupted.
Eleven minutes after the start of the game, Everton seized hold of a Forest player’s mistake and scored the first goal!
City Ground stadium quieted down. The fans had not expected this: Everton, which was originally thought to be a pushover, had suddenly flared up! And they were even ahead in this away game! What was going on?
“Moyes is doing this to tell the Forest team, which didn’t take them seriously before this game, that Everton is not to be messed with! While everyone was still talking about Arsenal and Anelka, Everton scored a goal to wake everyone up to reality. The Forest team is now one goal behind!”
The commentator was right. Everton’s goal made the Forest team return to reality. After they conceded a goal, the Forest players calmed down. They were not anxious and knew how to win the game.
In terms of strength, Everton could no longer compete with the Forest team throughout the season. Moyes knew this. Twain’s team had made rapid progress. But he hoped to win a victory in this local campaign, which was also to get even for last season’s match.
Moyes might think so, but Twain would not let him succeed.
Just before the end of the first half, the Forest team equalized the score. Anelka was the one who scored. The Frenchman had become the Forest team’s core striker, and the team’s offensive tactics were built around him.
Twain kept his word. As long as Anelka continued to score, he would be the core of the Forest team’s offense.
And Anelka repaid Twain’s trust with a steady number of goals.
It looked as if he and the manager were still in their honeymoon phase.
At the beginning of the second half, Anelka was given a yellow card for a foul, which was an unwarranted foul. When the opponents took possession of the ball in the center circle to do a cross, the eager Anelka rushed up and tackled the Everton player, Tim Cahill, who had already sent out the ball.
The referee presented a yellow card to Anelka, and no one took it to heart. The striker’s chances of getting a yellow card were not high. One yellow card would not affect his future.
Moyes adjusted his tactics in the second half. He withdrew the team’s formation, but the pressure remained. The Forest team offense was not very smooth. Arteta often faced two Everton players closing in on him alone and often lost control of the ball. Under the circumstance, Anelka had to withdraw from the penalty area and actively return to the midfield to get the ball.
The minutes of the game ticked by and the score was fixed at 1:1. For the repeatedly defeated Everton, tying the away game with the Forest team was not an unacceptable thing. However, for the ambitious Twain, it was not good enough to be equalized by Everton, with their recent poor performances, at the home ground.
He let the team press forward and increase the force of their offense.
Anelka became more active. His dribbling and speed caused trouble for Everton.
As time slowly approached the end, the singing in the City Ground stands did not stop as they continued to cheer on the team. The Forest team also did not let up on the offense at all. Everton completely withdrew and did not attack.
They made up their minds to keep their one point.
Anelka would not let them get what they wanted. At the thought of the next game against Arsenal, he was full of inexhaustible power and would not be satisfied with just one goal. He wanted to score more goals in this game. He wanted to demonstrate ahead of time to Arsenal, Arsène Wenger, and David Dein, the Arsenal vice-chairman, and announce with more and more goals:
I, Nicolas Anelka, am back! I’ve returned to Highbury! This time, I will score in your goal and score plenty!
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“Anelka has the ball now, and he’s on the move to swerve past Lee Carsley! Right to the goal!”
There was a huge cheer in the stands. The fans knew that Anelka was going to dribble the ball again to get past the opponents. That was one of the things the Forest fans looked forward to.
The Nigerian center back, Joseph Yobo, dared not make a hasty move. He could only follow at the heels of the advancing Anelka and try to block the angle of Anelka’s shot. Then he could leave it to his other teammates to besiege him.
Anelka could tell what Yobo had in mind. He certainly was not stupid enough to push himself to the point of being besieged. So, he suddenly started again and planned to rely on his speed to get rid of Yobo, knowing that Yobo did not dare to make the wrong move because they had entered the penalty area now.
Just as he blew past Yobo like the wind, the Nigerian man put his foot out.
Anelka saw the football roll over, and somehow his foot was obstructed. He staggered and tumbled to the ground.
“Penalty kick!!” Over twenty thousand Forest fans in the stands gave a deafening roar.
Twain jumped up from his seat with his fist clenched.
The referee blew his whistle.