Rise of a Football God

72 minutes, 1-2…

The pressure in this stadium became palpable, hitting a crescendo.

The Arsenal fans sang at the top of their lungs. And this time, their voices seemed especially more piercing to the Fulham players simply because the atmosphere in this stadium already changed.

The aura of indomitability around Fulham since was now crumbling and trust Arsenal, they took advantage of it.

The commentator asked what Arsenal could do, well, they were about to show it.

BOOM!

Like a lineup of angry Hippos who were just woken from a deep slumber, they went on an angry rampage around the pitch, putting Fulham to the chopping board and literally dissecting them apart with scintillating football.

In the build-up to the goal that changed the momentum, as soon as Bukayo Saka received the decisive pass from Declan Rice, the star boy entered the zone state and now, Antonee Robinson suffered the brunt of a Saka who was in the flow.

BZZZ!

Like a wizard of football, the silky English winger went on mazy dribbles, turning Robinson inside out as the left back was made to look like an amateur.

Every cross into the box, every dribble, every shot that he took left the Fulham defense quaking in its boots even as it ignited the stadium, making the home supporters sing his name at the top of their lungs.

And with Bukayo Saka being unlocked, his level seeped into the rest of the Arsenal team, mostly the midfielders.

Just 5 minutes after Saka's goal, Thomas Partey unleashed an absolute thunderbolt from midfield towards the top right corner of the post.

The powerful shot stung Bernd Leno's gloves, making the goalkeeper's hands hurt as he had to be attended to by medical staff before he could continue.

Of the Arsenal players who stepped up, apart from Saka, another stand-out name was Martin Odegaard.

The Norwegian midfield maestro soon became unlocked like Saka, entering the flow as every touch of the ball that he had seemed to turn into gold.

Every touch, every subtle shift of the ball, every turn, everything he did was crazy effective as he shuffled and cut through Fulham players like they were not there and with his vision, he played those penetrative through passes.

"…!" On the touchline, a certain coach was close to getting a heart attack.
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Coach Marco Silva shook where he stood as he watched Arsenal go on a riot, tearing his team apart limb by limb.

The only thing keeping this coach sane was the fact that despite the Arsenal pressure, his players remained steadfast, unwilling to give up.

'Win!' 'Win!' 'Win!'

The monster whispering in Sam's head already reared its head again.

Abusing his stamina, Sam locked his area of the pitch, intercepting 80% of balls that went through his side of the pitch till Arsenal decided to abandon his area of the pitch completely, forcing him to move out of position.

The late stages of this game were incredibly tense and full of drama.

It was not all Arsenal though. At certain intervals, Fulham won the ball back, triggering lethal counterattacks but the Arsenal defense was also high-flying.

In the 88th minute of the game, during another counterattack, Emile Smith Rowe clashed with the powerful Frenchman, William Saliba as he was bundled out of the way, left to bleed as he suffered a fractured nose.

Smith Rowe collapsed on the pitch in pain, grasping his nose.

After a yellow card was handed to William Saliba by the referee, to Fulham's dismay, Smith Rowe could not continue as Coach Marco Silva made another change this game, taking Smith Rowe off and introducing Adama Traore.

As the substitution was made, the Arsenal fans kept roaring at the top of their lungs. They could feel that a goal was coming.

"What an atmosphere in the Emirates". The commentator said. "Chills man, I don't envy any of those Fulham players currently on the pitch".

"The pressure is palpable in the stadium".

Fulham played its freekick but nothing of note came out of it, the Arsenal fans responded by roaring loudly again.

And in no time, it was fulltime.

The referee added 4 minutes of additional time.

To the Fulham players, those 4 minutes felt like a lifetime as Arsenal literally camped in their half, pressuring them to death.

The game was extremely intense and straightforward, Fulham defending for dear life while Arsenal laid siege to them.

Bam! Bam!

Shots kept on being unleashed by the Arsenal attackers like giveaways, but then, in the 3rd minute of additional time, Sam won back possession!

"…!" As soon as his leg touched the ball, intercepting it, Sam felt like a bolt of electricity just went through his brain.

Whoosh!

Declan Rice charged in to win the ball but flicking this ball high, it rose above the English midfielder, landing on his other side as Sam already slipped past him.

Sam went past Declan Rice only to meet 2 more obstacles.

On one side there was Mikel Merino who was already introduced into this game at some point and at another side, there was Ricardo Calafiori blocking his pathway from both sides.

There was no clear path to pass, Sam was blocked but not hesitating even for a moment, Sam drove forward with the ball.

As the 2 players pressed, he did his thing.

Bam! Bam!

Sam's legs hit the ball twice at such a rapid speed, exchanging it between themselves in a zig zag shape as he cut through both players with an incredibly executed la croqueta.

In that moment, Martin Odegaard who stayed back since rushed in to clear the ball but Sam was faster as he dug into his reserves of stamina.

Thud!

With one long stretch of his left leg, he poked the ball past Odegaard's reach and into space as recovering from the stretch, he erupted in pursuit of the ball!

"And Sam has it!"

"He's with the ball! He's broken past the initial press, he only has 2 Arsenal players to beat, is this the counter to kill the game?!"

"Can he do it?!"

Sam did not miss a single step, rushing along the left side of the pitch with the ball but just as he cut in and William Saliba started charging towards him, he hit the ball with the outside of his right boot.

Bam!

Sam executed an immaculate trivela pass to the right!

Immediately after Sam started his run down the left side of the pitch, the fastest player on this pitch, Adama Traore also exploded from the right.

This player ate yards of space with such imperious authority like they were not there and when Sam played this incredible trivela pass, cutting open Arsenal's last line of defense, Adama Traore was there at the receiving end.

This pass was perfectly weighted, arriving just at his front.

Adama Traore could not miss it even if he wanted, not that he wanted to.

As the ball floated in, due to David Raya already charging towards him, Adama Traore did not even bother to control the ball. Afterall, it was already passed to him in the perfect spot to shoot.

Simply swinging his right leg back, using the momentum from his run, this winger unleashed a powerful volleyed shot towards goal.

BAM!

The ball flew past David Raya like a rocket, and into the empty net.

"GOALLLLLL…!!!" The away stands that had been silent for the past few minutes erupted again, jumping and screaming at the top of their lungs.

"GOALLLLLLLLL!!!" The commentator screamed.

"What a goal!"

"Vintage Fulham!"

"Imperious Fulham!"

"Arsenal is Fulham's latest victim! The West London club has now extended their winning streak to 6 wins in 6 games, what a run!"

"What a pass, what a finish!"

"A Zinedine Sam masterclass!"

Fulham won the game 1-3.