August 28th.
The third round of the Premier League kicked off.
Arsenal visited Ewood Park to face Blackburn Rovers.
Blackburn Rovers' record in the first two Premier League matches this season was one win and one loss.
They narrowly defeated Everton 1-0 at home in the opening match but lost 1-2 away to Birmingham.
Facing a team that has been consistently mid-table in the Premier League, Blackburn Rovers was a team Arsenal had to secure three points against.
Arsène Wenger had already expressed his determination to the Arsenal players before the match, emphasizing the need to win this game.
Of course, for Fly, none of this was the most important.
It was after two impressive performances coming off the bench in the League.
Arsène Wenger finally allowed Fly to start as a forward in the third match.
Heaven knows how excited Fly was when he heard his name in the starting lineup announced by Arsène Wenger!
Most importantly, the system was also very cooperative and released a task for Fly's first Premier League start:
[Ding dong! Task released!]
[Task Name: First League Start]
[Task Content: 1. Help the team win by at least three goals against Blackburn Rovers]
[2. Personally create at least two goals (goals + assists)]
[3. After scoring a goal, shout "Taylor, I love you" to the camera]
[Task Reward: 100 intermediate soft rice points for each task completed. If all three tasks are completed, an additional 100 advanced soft rice points will be awarded]
Looking at the task, Fly had to admit it had a certain level of difficulty.
After all, in the Premier League, no team can guarantee they can easily win by three goals against an opponent.
Even the Premier League giants, Manchester United, wouldn't dare make such a guarantee.
Because the competition in the Premier League is too fierce, even a team fighting relegation can bite off a piece of the team competing for the title if they really put their minds to it.
The Premier League is not the Bundesliga, nor La Liga.
Although the top teams in these two Leagues are very, very strong.
The teams ranked lower are simply weak and vulnerable.
A mid-to-lower table team in La Liga playing against Real Madrid or Barcelona, unless the referee helps.
Otherwise, they will be completely thrashed.
The Bundesliga is even more so. Fly remembers in his previous life, Hamburg, which was still in the Bundesliga, was always slaughtered whenever they played against Bayern.
Fly remembers seeing the score of 8-0 more than once.
In short, relegation teams in the Premier League are by no means comparable to those in La Liga, Bundesliga, or Serie A.
Furthermore, Blackburn Rovers has not been relegated since they entered the Premier League in 2001.
Being able to stay in the Premier League for ten consecutive seasons itself shows that Blackburn Rovers has some skill.
Fly will not underestimate them.
Arsène Wenger felt they had to win because as long as Arsenal won, they would get the full 3 points, and that would be enough.
But Fly's goal was not just to win, but to win by three goals.
Both are wins, but the difficulty between the two is worlds apart!
Taking a deep breath, Fly, for the first time as a starting player for Arsenal, walked into the players' tunnel, ready to enter the field.
Feeling the noisy crowd around him, Fly tried his best to clear his mind and enter his own world.
In this semi-real, semi-virtual environment, Fly didn't even notice the passage of time, only hearing the Main Referee's whistle, and the match began!
.....
Inside the Sky Sports studio.
Martin Tyler and Andy Gray, the old partners, continued to commentate on the match between Arsenal and Blackburn Rovers.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the match has begun!"
"Blackburn Rovers, wearing their blue and white home kit, are attacking from the left side of the screen to the right."
"Arsenal, wearing their yellow away kit, are attacking from the right side of the screen to the left."
"Let's take a look at the starting lineups for both teams."
"Blackburn Rovers are using a 5-2-3 formation."
"Goalkeeper: Robinson."
"Defenders: Ryan Nelsen, Phil Jones, Samba, Givet, Salgado."
"Midfielders: Grella, Pedersen."
"Forwards: Diouf, Mame Diouf, Kalinic."
"Arsenal are using a 4-3-3 formation."
"Goalkeeper: Almunia."
"Defenders: Clichy, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Sagna."
"Midfielders: Alexandre Song, Diaby, Fabregas."
"Forwards: Arshavin, Fly, Walcott."
"We can see that Fly, who had a very bright performance coming on as a substitute in the previous two matches, is starting this game."
"This is Fly's first League start in his professional career. Let's look forward to what kind of performance he will bring to the fans."
.....
Back to the match.
Blackburn Rovers were very aggressive from the start, as if they wanted to kill the Arsenal players.
Fly also felt a bit dizzy from several inexplicable collisions.
"Hey, kid, welcome to the Premier League. Don't think we're softies like Liverpool and Blackpool. I'll make sure to give you a good welcome in today's match."
After another off-the-ball collision, Fly was almost knocked to the ground.
Samba, the Blackburn Rovers defender known as "King Kong," said a provocative remark after hitting Fly.
Facing a muscleman who could rank in the top five in terms of strength in the entire Premier League, Fly was indeed a bit powerless.
Being hit by this black King Kong was so damn painful!
It was only now that Fly suddenly realized that completing the task in this match was even more difficult than he had imagined.
One could only say, as expected of the system, it had never given him an easy task.
Some tasks that seemed not too difficult, once you were actually on the field and playing, you would know they were not simple at all!
"No, I can't keep fighting with this muscleman here. I must cut my losses in time."
After more than 10 minutes into the match, Fly, after several highly aggressive fouls from Samba, finally realized he couldn't continue playing like this.
Although he had the Iron Man BUFF and wouldn't get injured, being fouled like this constantly would make him lose his feel for the ball, and he wouldn't be able to seize opportunities when they came.
So Fly began to drop back into the midfield, no longer engaging in close combat with Samba in the attacking third.
Samba scoffed inwardly when he saw Fly avoiding his sharp edge.
"Heh... Is this the Arsenal super talent hyped up by the media?"
"Turns out he's just a softie!"
However, considering that the entire Arsenal team played with this kind of soft approach, Samba didn't find it strange.
Could a player developed in a soft team not be a softie?
After Fly gradually dropped back, Samba no longer followed him.
After all, he didn't like chasing after the opponent's forward.
In his opinion, as long as Fly was driven out of the dangerous area, that was enough.
Fly precisely exploited this mentality of Samba's, which allowed him to gradually regain his form from the initial confusion at the start of the match.