Starting as a Defensive Midfielder at Real Madrid

Since stepping onto the professional stage, Li Ang had played in more than a few derby matches.

He’d experienced the Madrid Derby, El Clásico, and even the Derby della Madonnina. Compared to those, the ”London Derby” often felt less intense and a little lacking in gunpowder.

But that might have had more to do with London being overcrowded with professional football clubs. The fanbases were spread out, and with so many ”London Derbies” every season, the sense of anticipation had significantly diminished.

Take Chelsea’s upcoming match against Fulham, for instance—it was a derby, technically, but not one that stirred much excitement among neutral fans.

Now, in all of London, only three derby matches truly ignited widespread attention:

Arsenal vs. Tottenham—The North London Derby.

Arsenal vs. Chelsea.

And, of course, Tottenham vs. Chelsea.

Li Ang had a decent understanding of the animosity between Chelsea fans and their counterparts at Arsenal and Tottenham.

In fact, compared to Tottenham, Chelsea’s relationship with Arsenal was relatively cordial. Matches were fierce, yes, but when it came to transfers and club dealings, there had always been a degree of exchange and tolerance.

But Tottenham? That was a different beast.

The mutual hatred between the fanbases went beyond football—fights had broken out countless times between supporters over the years.

Even at the club level, Chelsea and Spurs rarely did business. There was no love lost.

If you dug into Chelsea’s early history, you’d find stories of bitter player feuds and betrayal involving Spurs—wounds that had never healed.

At this point, with what he’d heard in the locker room about Spurs, Li Ang could already picture how explosive the sixth-round clash in the Premier League was going to be.

There was no such thing as backing down. In a derby, you didn’t talk about restraint or sportsmanship. That would be a betrayal of your fans.

At most, Li Ang would stick to his personal rule of not making deliberate injury-causing tackles. But when it came to physical battles, he would not hold back.

Fortunately, the match against Fulham offered a good opportunity—a warm-up, so to speak—to get a feel for the average London Derby’s intensity.

On the afternoon of September 21, after warming up, the starting players for both Chelsea and Fulham headed back to the dressing rooms for final tactical briefings.

In the locker room, Mourinho repeatedly stressed the need to mentally prepare for Fulham’s physical style of play.

Li Ang thought he was ready.

But within the first minute of the match, he was already sent sprawling to the turf by an unorthodox tackle from Fulham’s midfielder Pajtim Kasami.

Still processing the hit, Li Ang found himself wondering whether he’d unknowingly crossed paths with this Swiss player before.

Before he could come up with an answer, Terry had already stormed up and gone head-to-head with the towering Kasami, barking at him with full authority.

A fight almost broke out in the opening minute. Neutral fans watching around the world were instantly hyped.

Li Ang quickly realized what Lampard and others had meant when they said London Derbies weren’t ”that heated.”

Apparently… this was the tame version?

He didn’t know it yet, but Kasami’s move was a calculated provocation—a ploy to steal the spotlight.

As Li Ang’s popularity skyrocketed in the Premier League, plenty of up-and-comers were eager to test themselves against the Chinese star.

Kasami, having only just established himself at Fulham, considered himself a physically dominant midfielder. If he could stand his ground against Li Ang, he might draw attention from bigger clubs.

What he hadn’t accounted for was the unwavering protection Chelsea’s veterans had for their new talisman.

Terry didn’t give him more than a second before getting in his face.

Realizing the danger, Kasami quickly backed off and scurried toward the referee, looking for protection.

Even seasoned Fulham veterans like Scott Parker and Brede Hangeland didn’t have time to lecture their impulsive teammate. They rushed over to hold Terry back before things escalated.

In the end, Terry cooled down—mostly out of respect for his old teammate Parker—but not before shooting a death glare at Kasami and retreating to Chelsea’s half.

Lampard whispered to Li Ang that everything was handled, then promptly turned around and went to the referee to argue for good measure.

Watching his captain and vice-captain handle the situation so deftly, Li Ang couldn’t help but give them a mental thumbs-up.

One played the enforcer, the other played the diplomat.

The referee ultimately issued Kasami only a verbal warning, ignoring the near-scuffle with Terry. Li Ang was satisfied with that.

But the matter wasn’t over.

He would settle the score himself.

From the moment play resumed, Li Ang locked onto Kasami and initiated one-on-one defensive harassment.

He didn’t care what Kasami’s motives had been. When had Li Ang ever taken a hit without returning the favor?

Just because he usually played clean and didn’t lash out didn’t mean he was an easy target.

If Kasami thought Li Ang would tolerate this without response—he was dead wrong.

The Swiss midfielder, standing 1.88 meters tall and weighing 87 kilograms, was initially quite confident.

He wouldn’t dare provoke Terry directly—too much risk in terms of reputation and physicality. Even if he managed to hold his own, Parker and Hangeland would probably tear him a new one in the locker room.

But against Li Ang?

Kasami believed he could handle it.

The two were similar in size. Kasami figured the height advantage would tilt things in his favor.

But within twenty minutes, he was utterly miserable.

Li Ang’s defense wasn’t about quick hits—it was a sustained siege. He believed in grinding opponents down, not just clashing with them.

Kasami quickly realized Li Ang wasn’t soft, he was lethal.

Their size may have been similar, but Li Ang’s leaner frame had deceived him. In direct physical combat, they were evenly matched—but that was just the start.

And Li Ang hadn’t even broken out the dirty tricks yet.

The same man who had once gone toe-to-toe with Diego Costa in La Liga wasn’t going to struggle with a player like Kasami.

A few subtle elbows. A well-timed body check. Within five minutes, every time Li Ang so much as raised an arm, Kasami would flinch.

The man was terrified of those iron elbows.

After taking a couple of well-placed shots, Kasami was done.

The referee noticed and warned Li Ang to tone it down, to which Li Ang responded with a wide, innocent smile and a nod of compliance.

But the damage was already done.

Kasami’s spirit was broken. He no longer had any interest in battling Li Ang.

The problem? He was playing as Fulham’s attacking midfielder—or second striker, depending on the formation.

With him defanged, Fulham’s entire attack faltered.

They were forced to use Darren Bent as the sole target man, dragging him out of the box to serve as a link-up player.

When Fulham tried to play wide and send in crosses, Bent was often the only body in the box.

Kasami, seeing the fierce glare in Terry’s eyes, quickly figured out that playing as a support outside the box was a much safer choice. In doing so, he effectively dumped all the dirty work onto Darren Bent. But how was Fulham supposed to mount any real attack like that?

In sharp contrast to Fulham’s silenced offense, Chelsea’s wings were running rampant—wave after wave of threatening attacks.

There was simply no way Fulham’s right side, with Sascha Riether and Damien Duff, could withstand the relentless storm of Eden Hazard and Ryan Bertrand combining again and again.

Li Ang had spent most of the first half tormenting Kasami and hadn’t joined the attack much. But Lampard, who picked up the offensive slack, showed he was still every bit the veteran maestro.

In the 31st minute, Lampard received a short layoff from Ibrahimović just outside the box. With no hesitation, he unleashed a fierce strike that ripped through Fulham’s net for the opening goal!

Despite conceding, Fulham didn’t foolishly push forward immediately. They smartly held back, dragging the 0–1 scoreline into halftime.

As soon as the second half began, Fulham made a change—subbing on the more technically gifted Adel Taarabt in place of the ineffective Kasami.

Li Ang saw the big Swiss oaf was gone and actually felt a little disappointed. So, naturally, he redirected his focus—this time to Taarabt, giving him the same relentless treatment.

As the clock ticked on and Fulham still couldn’t spark any meaningful attack, their Dutch manager Martin Jol grew visibly anxious.

By the 65th minute, Fulham had no choice but to start pressing forward more aggressively.

Chelsea, having waited patiently, finally welcomed their favorite kind of rhythm: the counterattack.

Mourinho replaced De Bruyne with Lukaku and signaled to Li Ang, who had done enough defensive work, to push higher up the pitch.

In the 75th minute, it was Li Ang leading the break—his burst into open space tore through Fulham’s empty midfield.

He threaded a perfectly timed diagonal through ball, allowing Lukaku to bulldoze his way down Fulham’s exposed left flank.

Once inside the box, Lukaku played it smart. Instead of going for glory, he pulled it back—low and hard—to the top of the box where Li Ang was arriving.

Li Ang could’ve gone for the shot himself, but he spotted Hazard, unmarked thanks to Ibrahimović’s clever off-the-ball run, and sent a clean through ball into his path.

Hazard took a touch, adjusted, and curled a beautiful shot from the left edge of the box.

It flew in with perfect finesse—killing the game stone dead.

2–0!

With less than twenty minutes remaining, the lead was safe.

Mourinho didn’t get greedy. He immediately made two substitutions—bringing on Matic and Gary Cahill for the two goal scorers, Lampard and Hazard.

Chelsea also switched formations, shifting into a 5-3-2.

Three center-backs stood behind a flat line of three midfielders: Matic, Li Ang, and Ramires.

Yes, the dreaded ”triple defensive midfielder” setup was back.

This time, it wasn’t just Premier League fans complaining. Even La Liga fans who occasionally tuned into English matches were groaning.

After all, in the previous two years, Mourinho’s Real Madrid had tormented nearly every La Liga team with this very tactic.

But—depending on which side you were on—that perspective could change.

If it’s your team seeing out a win? Then this isn’t boring—it’s beautiful.

That’s how Chelsea fans felt at the moment.

The comfort of locking down a deserved win with zero fuss was simply delightful.

Sure, the comeback win against Basel last week had been thrilling, full of adrenaline.

But if given the choice, most fans would happily take a ”boring” 2–0 every match over heart-pounding reversals.

When the full-time whistle blew and the score held at 2–0, Chelsea had officially opened the Premier League season with five straight wins.

Only after five rounds did Premier League fans realize something surprising: the top three spots were held by London’s big three.

Chelsea: five wins, fifteen points—top of the table.

Arsenal and Tottenham were second and third, both with four wins and one loss.

Arsenal edged Spurs into second place thanks to a slightly better goal difference.

Manchester City and Liverpool followed in fourth and fifth. In sixth was Southampton, who’d quietly gone two wins, two draws, and one loss.

Of course, this early into the season, standings didn’t mean much—sample size was still too small.

Still, fans and pundits alike couldn’t help discussing why the London trio had started so well.

For Chelsea, the reasons were obvious. Mourinho’s return, Abramovich’s open checkbook, and the signings of Li Ang and Ibrahimović? Success was expected.

Spurs had used the €100 million from Gareth Bale’s sale to overhaul their squad and reshape the team’s age structure.

It looked, at least for now, like a successful rebuild.

But Arsenal’s transformation had caught everyone off guard.

Sure, Wenger had finally spent big this summer.

Yet his haul included only two players—Edinson Cavani and Jérémy Toulalan.

Still, those two additions—one in midfield, one up front—had completely changed Arsenal’s rhythm and threat.

Toulalan was already thirty, but the French holding midfielder had lost none of his class.

It took just one match for his partnership with Arteta to elevate Arsenal’s midfield sturdiness.

For years, Arsenal had been criticized for their soft underbelly.

Arteta was never supposed to anchor the backline—he was a playmaker. But he’d been forced to fill that role for two straight seasons.

Toulalan’s arrival relieved Arteta of both defensive burden and some creative responsibilities.

With less pressure on his shoulders, Arteta flourished—playing every minute of Arsenal’s first five games and tallying three assists. His efficiency was through the roof.

As for Cavani, he only needed one game to adjust to Premier League pace.

From the second match onward, he had contributed either a goal or assist in every match.

Three goals and one assist in five matches!

His impact was so immense that many Arsenal fans had already begun to forget the pain of van Persie’s departure.

Two signings, and suddenly Arsenal had gone from fighting for fourth to being serious title contenders.

Fans were lining up to praise Wenger’s summer window.

Now, Premier League supporters were dying to see Chelsea and Arsenal face off—a proper clash between London’s titans.

Still, before that came to pass, a fiery matchup between Chelsea and Spurs would do just fine.

At Cobham Training Ground, John Terry had already gathered the entire squad for a pre-match motivational meeting.

His rallying cry was blunt, loud, and clear:

”In London, I don’t care who we lose to. But we do NOT lose to those f*ing Spurs!”**

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