On August 16, Leicester City faced their first Premier League match.
The King Power Stadium was already packed, with countless fans cheering as if it was a festival.
Their team can finally compete on the Premier League stage.
Think about it, it's like a dream.
In the stands, an older fan criticized the young people around him.
"Tommy, stay calm and don't get so excited."
"Grandpa, our team can finally play in the Premier League. How can I not be excited?"
"We will be able to play in the Premier League every week in the future, and we will also be able to play in the Europa League, and we will definitely be able to play in the Champions League in the future."
"Haha, it makes me happy just thinking about it!"
The fans cheered and the Leicester City players were also very excited.
In the locker room, everyone was chatting and looking forward to today's game.
Drinkwater patted his chest and told everyone: "We won this game! Our first Premier League victory is secured!"
James next to him asked, "Why?"
"You're stupid!" De Laet glanced at James. "We just beat them in a friendly match a while ago, so of course we'll win this game."
Drinkwater laughed: "That's right! Just a defeated opponent, no problem!"
Morgan frowned slightly and was about to say something when the vice-captain Schmeichel next to him stopped him and whispered something.
"Let's get excited, it's okay. For the first game in the Premier League, confidence is everything."
Morgan nodded: "We will definitely be able to defeat our opponent."
"Did you hear that? The captain has spoken, ha ha ha ha! We must win, we must win!" Drinkwater looked at several offensive players, "We are responsible for defense, you are responsible for scoring goals, try to score more goals against them."
Vardy: "No problem!"
Mahrez answered him with an arrogant look.
Xia Xing didn't say anything.
"Xia? Xia?"
"Um?"
"what's on your mind?"
"Oh, it's nothing. It's my first time playing in the Premier League, so I was a little distracted."
"Haha, it's okay if you're distracted now, just don't be distracted during the game."
Xia Xing smiled and waved his fist, expressing his confidence in the game.
In fact, he was not distracted just now, but the system suddenly sounded a prompt.
[You have a new task, please check! ]
[Task 11: 1. Defeat Everton in the first Premier League match; 2. Score a goal or assist in this match.]
[Task time: before the end of this game. ]
[Mission Reward: Andy Van der meyde Card, Grade A.]
A temporary mission, A-level.
Andy van der Meyde of Grade A is a famous talented football star in the Netherlands, but due to injuries, he was unable to realize his talent.
He debuted in the eredivise. He was a world-famous supernova during the Ajax period. In the 2002-03 season, Ajax reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Van der Meyde's star power was comparable to Van der Vaart, and surpassed teammates Sneijder, Ibrahimovic and other stars. That summer, he chose to join Inter Milan and made the worst decision in his career. Swallowed by the black hole of stars, he completely lost his form on the bench and finally chose to join Everton. However, due to injuries, he only played 20 league games in Everton's four seasons and finally retired at the age of 31.
Even so, he still left a deep impression on countless fans. This A-level positioning is really a pity for him.
Ahead of the upcoming Premier League match against Everton, the system sent a task from a former Everton star, appropriately enough.
And this task is not that difficult, just win the game, score goals or get assists.
However, it is not easy.
You have to know that the opponent is Everton.
As the fifth in the league last season, Everton is quite strong.
After Moyes was poached by Manchester United, many fans predicted that Everton would sink.
But unexpectedly, new coach Roberto Martinez saved the team.
After taking office as Everton coach, it took only one season for the team to achieve a record profit of 28.2 million pounds and a turnover of 125 million pounds, a 39% increase over the previous season, which greatly enhanced the club's brand.
The biggest reason for such economic benefits is, of course, the outstanding performance.
Under Martinez's leadership, Everton had an impressive record last season, breaking many of the club's long-standing historical records and eventually ranking fifth in the Premier League. This allowed the club to directly receive a share of £86 million in television broadcasts, and other related advertising revenues also surged significantly.
This season, they continued to recruit players, spending 35 million euros to buy out Lukaku, keeping veteran midfielder Barry on loan from Manchester City for 0 transfer fee, signing Cameroonian veteran Eto'o on a free transfer, buying wing attacker Besic for 4.8 million euros, and loaning young striker Atsu from Chelsea...
A wave of very targeted transfer operations shows that Everton has great ambitions for the new season.
They not only expect good results in the Premier League, but also hope to make a breakthrough in the Europa League.
In the live broadcast room, the commentator was carefully introducing Everton's starting lineup.
"In this game, Martinez continued his passionate attacking style,
"4-3-3 formation,
"goalkeeper Howard,
"The back four of Baines, Distin, Jagielka and Stones,
"The three midfielders are Pienaar, Barry and McCarthy,
and the three forwards are Naismith, Lukaku and McGeady.
"Also sitting on the bench are players like Mirallas, Eto'o, Keman, Besic, Atsu and others.
"Since Martinez took over the team last season,
"Everton played some fantastic attacking football.
"We have not lost out in the competition with many big clubs, especially Manchester United, which was coached by our former coach.
"It makes Martinez an object of worship for fans.
"Although they were in average form in the friendly matches before the start of the season, they have adjusted now.
"Especially with Lukaku's return, Everton's attacking power has increased dramatically.
"I believe they will be able to play like they did last season in this game.
"Leicester's squad was much more modest compared to Everton today.
"It's still the 4-4-2 formation they used in the Championship last season.
"Goalkeeper Schmeichel,
"The four defenders from left to right are De Laet, Konchesky, Wes Morgan, Danny Simpson,
"The four midfielders from left to right are Xia, Cambiasso, Drinkwater and Mahrez.
"The two forwards are Vardy and Ulloa.
"On the bench were Albrighton, James, Knockaert, Schlupp, Hammond and others.
"The £7.5 million signing of Ulloa was Leicester City's biggest purchase this summer, and with the additional fees it was just over £10 million.
"And he's only a Championship-level striker.
"The 2.5 million euro right-back Simpson has been included in the starting lineup,
" Leicester City is really tight on money.
"The fact is that if they were able to draw with Everton at home in this game that would be a big success..."
(End of this chapter)