After the League Cup quarterfinal draw was revealed...
The entire focus of English football turned toward North London!
With a week left until the match—
At Arsenal's Colney Training Centre…
Pintus was overseeing the team's pre-match training.
"Boss, that old guy you brought in has been training us for almost half the season now,"
Van Persie groaned as he trudged up to Kai, face full of complaints,
"Yeah, the results have been amazing, I admit that… but I swear, he's trying to kill us!"
Kai couldn't help but laugh out loud.
It wasn't just Van Persie.
Walcott, Arteta, Gervinho, Rosický—
Half the Arsenal squad wore the same look of dread whenever Pintus showed up for a session.
The man was merciless.
Not only was his training brutal, he was well past his prime—yet insisted on leading by example.
Every morning, he'd kick off training with a five-kilometer warm-up lap around the entire facility!
The players had no grounds to complain—
Because whatever he asked of them, Pintus could do himself.
This season, Arsenal had gone unbeaten.
But now, a crunch period was fast approaching.
With the FA Cup kicking off next month…
The Gunners were about to begin their four-front campaign!
Multiple competitions, endless travel.
To Kai, keeping the squad's morale high was part of a captain's duty.
"We're at the end of November now. In just a few weeks, most other leagues will hit their winter breaks."
"But not us. The Premier League doesn't stop."
"This time of year is when English teams are most prone to injuries."
"I heard Chelsea already lost five starters. A couple days ago, United confirmed injuries to Rooney and Carrick. Even City's lost two key players due to fixture congestion."
"But now, look at us."
"Anyone injured?"
He paused, then added with a grin, "Koscielny's cold last week doesn't count."
Koscielny scratched his nose awkwardly.
Kai went on:
"No injuries! And even if there were, they've just been minor knocks—nothing that takes us out of rhythm or disrupts our tactical plans."
"And think about this: whenever a match hits the 75-80 minute mark, that's usually when players are dropping like flies, exhausted."
"But us? We're still running at full throttle, pressing, countering, killing the game off in the final minutes!"
"That's not because we're born different."
Walcott shook his head, cutting in:
"Nope—it's because of Pintus and his killer training."
Even Van Persie, still catching his breath, nodded:
"He's right. I like to complain, yeah, but I know Pintus' training is a game-changer."
Kai's speech left the whole squad energized, exchanging looks of pride.
He wasn't wrong.
Late November through January was the peak injury period for Premier League teams.
In past seasons, Arsenal would've already had 3 or 4 players on the treatment table by now.
But this year was different.
Kai had used his influence as club captain and executive advisor to bring over the same specialist trainer who helped him last season.
Now, Pintus was in charge of fitness for the entire Arsenal squad.
And this team?
Stronger than ever.
Cardio through the roof.
In just half a season, Arsenal's overall conditioning was miles ahead of any other Premier League team.
And in modern football, fitness is a weapon no player can do without.
This season, Pintus was practically Arsenal's 12th man.
When everyone else was gassed out at the end of matches...
Arsenal players were still flying.
Right then, as the players were chatting—
Pintus walked over, stern as ever.
He headed straight for Van Persie.
"Robin, you've still got three sets of dribble shuttle runs to finish. I've been watching you."
Van Persie immediately raised his arms over his head in surrender:
"I'm going, I'm going!"
The whole squad burst into laughter and scattered back to training.
Meanwhile, Pintus and Wenger walked up to Kai.
"The players may grumble during training," Wenger said, "but they're fully motivated. You've been an excellent captain."
"And one more thing… I'm not great at expressing gratitude, but I want to say this—thank you."
"Thank you for continuing to believe in me this season… and giving me a reason to stay."
A rare smile appeared on Pintus's face.
He patted Kai on the shoulder.
The two exchanged a glance and smiled.
By now, they'd known each other for nearly a full year.
They were more than colleagues—they were old friends.
Kai, reborn with two lifetimes of memory, had a maturity beyond his years.
To outsiders, he came across as a boy who carried himself like a seasoned general.
Wenger, Pintus, Kroenke—
Men all past their sixties—"old-timers," by any standard—
Often forgot that Kai was still only seventeen when speaking with him.
Wenger's sharp gaze fell again on Kai.
This season, with Kai at the helm, Arsenal had become a cohesive, unstoppable unit from top to bottom.
Wenger couldn't help but feel grateful—again.
Looking back to the mid-season transfer window…
He'd made the bold decision to offer Kai the captain's armband as part of the negotiation.
That decision now seemed brilliant beyond measure.
Kai was a natural-born leader, through and through.
Premier League locker rooms were never easy to control…
And Arsenal, with over 120 years of proud history, wasn't just any club.
Across London, Chelsea's dressing room was in constant turmoil.
For the Blues, unrest was basically standard.
City and Spurs had both been in the headlines recently for internal clashes.
Only at Manchester United, with Sir Alex Ferguson still in charge, had things stayed quiet.
But Arsenal?
With Kai—the youngest captain in Premier League history—leading them,
The Gunners' locker room had never been more harmonious. Never more unified.
"If the club is willing to place its unconditional trust in me," Kai said to Wenger with a smile,
"Then I won't waste that trust."
"I'll win the League Cup at the end of this month, and when the FA Cup starts next month, I'll lead us through all four competitions step by step."
"This season, we're aiming for every trophy!"
His eyes burned with ambition.
Wenger couldn't help but be moved.
The weary lines of age on his face lit up with rare brilliance.
"Kai… you'll become a legend at Arsenal."
"The club will always support you—completely."
With just about a week left until the League Cup quarterfinal…
All of London was buzzing with tension.
The media followed every move from both Arsenal and Tottenham.
Unsurprisingly—
Spurs' coaching staff was in total chaos.
Once again, fate had pitted them against Arsenal.
Another North London Derby.
And how were they supposed to stop this Arsenal?
Pochettino felt like his head was going to explode.
In the Premier League opener this season,
Arsenal had slaughtered Spurs 6–0 at White Hart Lane,
Tying the largest margin of victory in North London Derby history—
A record that dated all the way back to the 1930s.
To think—eighty years ago, most of today's Premier League clubs didn't even exist in their current form.
North London then was a very different place.
And now, in the modern era—
To be humiliated by six goals in a Derby was utterly unthinkable.
Pochettino flipped through Arsenal's recent fixtures and results:
4–0 against Milan
6–1 over Dortmund
4–0 versus Manchester United
6–0 thrashing of Ajax!
Terrifying.
And those were just the highlights.
Their league matches against mid-table and lower-tier clubs were even more brutal.
Tottenham's coaching staff was feeling genuine fear.
With Kai's arrival, this version of Arsenal had undergone a complete transformation.
They were terrifying.
Since the start of the season—
Arsenal had maintained a staggering win streak across every competition.
And with the FA Cup still yet to begin, the Gunners were already fighting on three fronts—
Not once showing signs of collapse or fatigue.
~~----------------------
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