KingLara
-
Posts
539 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Forums
Articles
FAQs
Online Manual
Support: Blocks
Support: Games
Bug Tracker
SIGames Manual (beta)
Profiles
Posts posted by KingLara
-
-
Fm24 Arsenal Season 1 – November/December
A hit and miss couple of months
Premier League
Arsenal 0
Brentford 0
Having won our opening ten matches of the league season we hosted Brentford at the Emirates knowing that sooner or later that run would come to an end. Brentford had already won at Villa and Brighton so it was never going to be an easy game. They played with a back 5 going very defensive and despite an xg of 2.43 we couldn’t break them down to drop our first points of the season
Champions League group stage Match Day 4
Dynamo Zagreb 1 – Petkovic 42(pen)
Arsenal 2 – Kwior 51 Nelson 69
We comfortably qualified from our group with two matches to spare as Kwior and Nelson sealed an easy 2-1 win. Bayern won 2-0 in Munich against Real Sociadad in the other group game.
Premier League
Aston Villa 0
Arsenal 2 – Nketiah 64 Tomiyasu 83
It was always a good time to play villa after a Europa league game and so it proved. Despite making a decent game of it we were always in control and ran out comfortable winners.
Premier League
Man United 1 – Dalot 84
Arsenal 2 – Martinelli 77 Kwior 90
We headed to old Trafford without Odegaard and Zinchenko with both suffering minor injuries. I set up quite defensively and it looked set to end in a 0-0 but Martinelli came off the bench to give us the lead. However Dalot hit a thunderbolt to equalise and the game looked likely to finish 1-1. However Kwior headed in a 95th minute winner from a corner. Glorious.
Champions League group stage Match Day 5
Real Sociadad 0
Arsenal 1 – Nelson 60
Already qualified we secured top spot with a snoozefest win in Spain. Nelson continuing his good form scoring one of the only two shots on target in the game. Sane scored a 94th minute equaliser for Bayern to send them through and avoid going into the last game needing a result against us.
Premier League
Arsenal 5 – Tomiyasu 27 Rice 37 Martinelli 39 Odegaard 49 White 78
Everton 1 – Branthwaite 45
It was time for revenge as we took on Everton having lost 3-0 to them in the carabao cup at the end of October. We were missing both Gabriel and Saliba through suspension and fatigue as well as Zinchenko and Cedric meaning Partey started at right back. The game was a comfortable one with Martinelli and Odegaard starring. Nothing for goal shy Jesus though.
Premier League
Chelsea 3 – Chillwell 29 Sterling 42 Madueke 57
Arsenal 0
With neither Nketiah or Jesus playing well enough I opted for Havertz as a false 9 as we headed to Chelsea. Odegaard was missing and sadly most of the team seemed to follow him. A team average rating of just 6.44. Gabriel was our highest rated player with a 6.8. Saka hovered in the 5’s for some of the game before finishing with a 6.0. Not a good day.
Premier League
Arsenal 3 – Odegaard 45 90 Nketiah 81
Tottenham 1 – Lo Celso 12 (pen)
Spurs visited the Emirates having won their last five league games while we were still licking our Chelsea wounds. Odegaard was back and turned in a captains display with a brace and an assist. An excellent response.
Champions League group stage Match Day 6
Arsenal 2 – Martinelli 12 Nketiah 43
Bayern 1 – Choupa-Moting 68
Already top of the group we could relax playing Bayern in the final group game. I rested Saka, Rice, Ramsdale, Saliba and Odegaard completely having eight youngsters on the bench. Bayern had the better of the game but only Gnabry and Choupa-moting scored above a 7 rating. Kane with a 6.5. we were the only team with 6 wins out of 6 in the group stage. Hoping for a kind second round draw.
Premier League
Man City 0
Arsenal 0
After the horror show at Chelsea I was determined not to let the same happen when we went to the Etihad to face Man City. After a sloppy start they had had only dropped points once since September with a 1-1 draw at Brighton. Both teams cancelled each other out. Not a single clear cut chance created. I was happy with the result though.
Premier League
Arsenal 2 – Saka 26 Nketiah 54 – Saka miss/pen 89
Liverpool 2 – Salah 13 Van Dijk 84
We had a very healthy week break before we took on Liverpool at the Emirates in the last tough run of fixtures. It was a game of two halves with us having the better of the ball and the game in the first before Liverpool roared back in the second. A draw was a fair result but Saka missing a late penalty was a blow.
Premier League
Fulham 3 – Pereira 33 Vinicius 81 D-Reid 83
Arsenal 1 – Saka 23
After a five-game run of Chelsea Spurs Bayern Man City and Liverpool it was nice to have an away banker at Fulham. Unfortunately despite taking the lead the players didn’t turn up and two late goal condemned us to another away London derby defeat.
Premier League
Arsenal 4 – Gabriel 8 Nketiah 18, 66 Havertz 54
Sheffield United 1 – Larouci 38
We responded well with our final game of December. A good win over Sheffield United. Maybe could have scored a couple more. A good way to end the year though
Premier League Table
1. Arsenal P 20 P 48 GD 28
2. Man City P 19 P 46 GD 18
3. Liverpool P 20 P 40 GD 15
4. Aston Villa P20 P39 GD 18
5. Tottenham P 20 P 37 GD 17
Top of the table having played a game more with City still to play at the Emirates I’m happy with the position. Man United Chelsea and Brentford are close to Spurs so all to play for with 4th spot. Luton Sheffield United and Nottingham Forrest are in the relegation zone. Burnley four points clear of safety for now.
Premier League Top scorers
Son 16 Saka, Salah 10 Isaak, Barkley 9
Premier League Top Assists
Ward-Prowse 8 Antony, Richarlison 7 Martinelli Odegaard 6
Premier League Av Rating
Saka 7.43 Mitoma 7.32 Son 7.31 Salah 7.30 R. Sanchez 7.25
Premier League Motm
Mitoma Son 6 Salah 5 Jensen Foderingham 4 (=6th Martinelli 3)
Team XG
Arsenal, Liverpool 1.85 Man United 1.79 Aston Villa Man City 1.65
Team Av Possession
Man City 63% Arsenal 62% Chelsea, Liverpool, Man United 60%
Champions League
Man City pulled off the great escape recovering from just 1 point after 3 games to win the remaining three and progress. A 94th minute Haaland winner at AC Milan on Match Day 5 the key moment. Newcastle crashed out losing home and away to Porto the decisive games. Man United squeezed through at the expense of Sevilla. No surprises in the other groups
Second Round Draw
Feyenoord vs Arsenal
A good draw considering PSG and Napoli were lurking. Man United will play Real Madrid PSG are up against Dortmund and Bayern vs Inter the other ties of note.
FA Cup
3rd Round Draw
Arsenal vs Crystal Palace
A decent draw and should get through. Leicester vs Spurs the pick of the other ties. Woking the only side outside the top four divisions host Leeds.
Other News
In the Europa League Liverpool and West Ham topped their groups while Brighton finished second to Sporting. Thery will face Sevilla in the play off round while Newcastle face Swiss side Lugano. AC Milan vs Rangers the stand out tie.
In the Conference League Aston Villa comfortably topped their group finishing 10 points above FC Twente in 2nd.
In the Carabao Cup Everton repeated their 3-0 win over us by doing the same to Chelsea in the Quarters. Aston Villa knocked Liverpool out on penalties while Brentford and West Ham also progressed meaning no top 6 club made the semi finals. Aston Villa vs Everton and Brentford vs West Ham was how the draw fell.
Man City added to their trophy haul by winning the Club World Cup with a 3-0 win over Brazilian side ATP.
Man United finally gave up on Ten Haag and he was sacked and replaced by Zidane. Newcastle replaced Eddie Howe with Conte. Howe is now at Burnley who sacked Kompany.
In the other domestic leagues Barcelona hold a 3 point lead of real madrid in Spain. PSG are unbeaten in France with 13 wins and 4 draws but are only level on top with Nice. Bayern are top in germany but 4 points separate the top 4. Finally in Italy Inter are 9 points clear but have played 2 games more than Roma in 2nd.
The Under 21s are currently 6th in their league 3 points off to with 5 points separating the top 7. In the invitational cup the topped their group which included Dortmund ii Barcelona B and Man City under 21s. Meanwhile in the premier division cup they are also top after three games. Ethan Nwaneri started the season well but then suffered a broken leg and will still be out for around three months. In a horrible twist of fate our most talented youngster in the under18s Myles Lewis-Skelly also broke his leg. The team are 2nd in their league but are through in the youth cup and uefa youth league. Seb Ferdinand has been their best player so far.
January/February Fixtures
Premier League
Bournemouth (A) West Ham (A) Crystal Palace (H) Wolves (A) Newcastle (H) Brighton (A) Burnley (H)
Champions League
Feyenoord (A)
FA Cup
Crystal Palace (H)
1 -
FM24 ARSENAL SEASON 1 – SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER
Premier League
Crystal Palace 0
Arsenal 1 – Zinchenko 77
We travelled to Selhurst Park for the first game of September. Palace were yet to win this season after two draws and a defeat. Also being dumped out of the Carabao Cup on penalties at Swansea. We controlled the game but needed a Zinchenko arrowed shot from a clever Rice pass to get the winner. 94% pass accuracy was nice.
Premier League
Arsenal 4 – Martinelli 39 Saka 49 Nketiah 53 Odegaard 57
Wolves 2 – Dawson 25 Sarabia 77
Wolves came to the Emirates having won their opening four league games. Having played for England (I forgot to withdraw him) Saka played for the first time this season. Partey came back from International duty a little tired so Jorginho came in and grabbed two assists. Wolves took an early lead and despite conceding 76% possession had a high XG of 2.35. However 3 goals in 8 second half minutes took the game beyond them. I rested some legs with the Champions League game on the Tuesday although would have liked a couple more goals.
Champions League – Group Stage MatchDay 1
Arsenal 1 – Rice 25
Real Sociedad 0
The Champions League returned to the Emirates for the first time since 2016. Kieran Tierney was eligible to play but picked up a yellow card in an average display. None of the attacking players sparkled in a tight game of only three shots on target. Declan Rice on his Champions League debut heading in from a corner via a rebound. Happy to start with a win. The other game in our group also saw a 1-0 win, This time for Bayern at Dinamo Zagreb. Kane scoring after just 2 minutes.
Premier League
Newcastle United 1 – Isak 65
Arsenal 2 – Saka 15 Odegaard 27
Having won our opening five league games we faced our toughest task so far with a trip to Newcastle. They were riding high after beating Barcelona 1-0 a fews days before. We got off to a good start taking a 2-0 lead before going into our shell a bit and allowing Newcastle back into it. They pulled a goal back through Isaak but the equaliser never really came close.
Carabao Cup – 3rd Round
Arsenal 3 – Havertz 13, Trossard 38, Sousa 54
Leeds 3 – Gnonto 60 83 Enciso 63
Arsenal win 5-3 on penalties
I rang the changes for the Carabao Cup. Injuries to White, Cedric and Tomiasu while also wanting to rest Zinchenko Gabriel and Saliba meant I started with a back four of Sousa Kwior, Foran and Walters. Azeez also started whilst James Sweet, Sagoe, Henry-Francis, Ferdinand, Rosiak and Cozier-Duberry were on the bench with the latter coming on as a sub. Having gone 3-0 up we seemed to be cruising but then Gnonto started to be a pain and with me being too lazy to make tactical changes Leeds came back to level. I pushed again to avoid penalties but we couldn’t get the fourth. However in the shootout Vieira, Havertz, Trossard, Cozier-Duberry and Nketiah all scored while Raya finally did something right in the match and saved Liam Coopers penalty. A relief to get through.
Man City's tricky start to the season continued as the lost to Everton on penalties at the Etihad. Just 11 points from the first six games after draws with Chelsea and home to Fulham and a 3-0 humbling at Anfield coupled with also losing their opening champions league tine and home to Ac Milan. Elsewhere Liverpool won 3-0 at Brighton a good result in the context that Brighton were 2nd in the league wolves knocked out Newcastle while Man United trailed Fleetwood 3-2 at half time before coming back to win 5-3 in the second half.
The fourth Round draw would see us play Everton at the emirates. Man United would play Liverpool and Fulham would be up against Chelsea.
Premier League
Arsenal 2 – Saka 55 Gabriel 82
Brighton 1 – Fati 39
Brighton headed to Emirates having suffered their first defeats of the campaign first at Brentford in the league and then in the carabao cup at home to Liverpool. After an early Nketiah goal was ruled out for offside Fati gave Brighton the lead. Saka got us back level before Gabriel scored from our 13th corner. Seven out of seven in the premier league with a good chance to make it 10 with the three games in October.
Champions League – Group Stage Match Day 2
Bayern 1 – Muller 15
Arsenal 2 – Nketiah 8 Saliba 11
Our second game of the champions league group saw us head to Bayern for a reunion with Harry Kane. I went with the double pivot of Jorginho and Rice wanting to stifle bayerns attack and try and get a 0-0. However a 30 yarder from Nketiah and a Saliba header saw us gain an early 2-0 lead. Muller quickly pulled one back but Bayern didn’t create enough to get an equaliser despite clawing back a 40-60 possession first half to 48/52 by the end. Kane ending with a 6.3 and a yellow card. Sociedad and Dinamo drew the other group game 1-1. It left us in a very strong position after the first two games.
Premier League
Burnley 1 – Roberts 9
Arsenal 3 – Havertz 2 Trossard 26 Saka 34(pen)
We headed to Burnley after the high of the win in Germany. Zinchenko was out with an ankle sprain meaning Kwior started at left back. A comfortable first half performance was enough to get an easy win.
Premier League
Arsenal 4 – Saka 12 23 Partey 52 90
Nottingham Forrest 0
After another international break we hosted Nottingham Forest. Braces for Saka and Partey in another easy win. A couple of assists for Kwior as well. Providing good cover for Zinchenko
Champions League – Group Stage Match Day 3
Arsenal 3 – Rice 14 Trossard 56 Partey 79
Dinamo Zagreb 0
Match day 3 saw us host Dinamo Zagreb. They failed to muster a shot on target while our 3.29XG should have led to more than the three goals. Just like at Dinamo Bayern won 1-0 at Real Sociedad courtesy of Kane.
Premier League
Luton 0
Arsenal 4 – Saka 30(pen) 65 Cedric 73 Nketiah 83
Luton started life in the premier league with a 3-0 win over west ham followed by a 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace. However the had since lost the next seven league games. We could have scored more in an easy win to make it 10 wins from 10 in the league. Saka with a perfect 10 display.
Carabao Cup 4th Round
Arsenal 0
Everton 3 – Danjuma 7 Young 85 Beto 88
Having won our opening 15 games of the season we played Everton at The Emirtates in the carabao cup. As expected I rang the changes choosing to rest most of the senior players but having a little insurance on the bench with Trossard and Nketiah. However only one youth player (Azeez) started so it was still a decent side. We went behind early but I tried not to panic. However with time running out we pushed more and more forward and Ashley young got a second for Everton before Beto put a cherry on the cake. We had a better XG than them and 70% possession but just couldn’t score. Raya with a 5.9 not helping his chances of making the loan deal permanent. Khayon Edwards came on late to make his debut. Go again next season.
Premier League Table
1. Arsenal P 10 P 30 GD 21
2. Man City P 10 P 23 GD 7
3. Man United P10 P20 GD 4
4. Brentford P 10 P 20 GD 3
5. Liverpool P 10 P 19 GD 6
Spurs and Chelsea are just hovering underneath Liverpool both on 17 points. Luton Sheffield United and Everton are in the relegation zone. Wolves finished August in 3rd but having lost 6 of their next seven are now down in 12th.
Premier League Top scorers
Son 9 Saka 8 Hojbjerg Cunha 6 Salah 5
Premier League Top Assists
Richarlison Antony 6 Groß 5 Lo Celso Ward-Prowse 4 (8th Saka 3)
Premier League Av Rating
Saka 8.52 Mitoma 7.58 Son 7.43 Partey 7.42 Enzo Fernandez 7.40
Premier League Motm
Mitoma 4 Salah Foderingham Son 3, Saka 2
Team XG
Arsenal 2.16 Man United 1.96 Tottenham 1.69 Liverpool 1.66 Man City 1.62
Team Av Possession
Man United 65% Arsenal Man City 64% Chelsea 61% Liverpool 59%
Arsenal stats (1st team)
Appearances (16 played)
Saliba Ramsdale Rice Gabriel 14 Odegaard 12(+1)
Zinchenko 10 Nketiah (9+4) Partey 9(+3) Tomiyasu 9(+2)
Saka 9 Nelson, Martinelli 8(+4) Trossard 7(+6) White 7(+3)
Jorginho 6(+5) Kwior, Jesus 6(+1) Havertz 4(+12) Vieria 2(+4)
Raya, Azeez 2 Sousa, Cedric 1(+1) Walters, Foran 1
Cozier-Duberry, Edwards 0(+1)
Goals
Saka 8, Havertz Partey Odegaard Nketiah Trossard 3
Rice Martinelli Gabriel 2
Sousa Zinchenko Cedric Saliba Jorginho Nelson Jesus 1
Assists
Odegaard Saka Nelson 4 Jorginho 3
Kwior Partey Tomiyasu Nketiah Rice Martinelli 2
Zinchenko White Trossard 1
Man of Match
Partey Saka Nketiah 2
Zinchenko Tomiyasu Odegaard Jorginho Ramsdale Nelson Rice Gabriel 1
Europe
While we seem to be cruising in our group all three other premier league teams are struggling. Man United are currently 3rd after losing both away matches in Sevilla and Marseille. Newcastle are also 3rd but are level on 6 points with Barcelona and Porto above them. Meanwhile Man City are bottom after losing their first two games home to Ac Milan and Away at Dortmund. They then followed it up with a goalless draw at Celtic. They are four behind Dortmund an six behind Ac Milan.
In the Europa League Liverpool and Brighton are progressing well and should go through but west ham are currently facing a battle for 2nd with Toulouse on maximum points after three games. The hammers to have Ajax at home though so a slight advantage. Englands only representative in the Conference league aston Villa have won all of their games and should top their group.
Other news
Domestically five points separate the top 5 in Germany Bayern are 3rd 3 points behind Leverkusen and Dortmund. Like us Inter have had nearly a perfect start with nine wins and a draw giving them an early 7 point lead. PSG and Nice have already opened up an 8 point gap at the top of Ligue 1. Finally in Spain Villareal lead the way with Barcelona and Real Madrid 1 point behind.
The Under 21s got off to a poor start but are now recovering and are currently 5th in the league 5 points behind Brighton. They also won their opening international cup match against Barcelona. The under 18s are currently 2nds in their league behind Norwich. In the Uefa youth league they are currently 3rd but have a good chance to still progress.
November/December Fixtures
Premier League
Brentford (H) Aston Villa (A) Man United (A) Everton (H) Chelsea (A) Tottenham (H) Man City (A) Liverpool (H) Fulham (A) Sheffield United (H)
Champions League
Dinamo Zagreb (A) Real Sociadad (A) Bayern (H)
1 -
FM24 ARSENAL SEASON 1 – PRE/SEASON/AUGUST
A bit late to get started this year. Looking forward to the challenge.
Transfers
In
None
Out
Elneny (5m) – Roma
Smith-Rowe (loan) – Juventus
Ejiheri (loan) - Doncaster
Having already spent a huge amount of money before I took over there wasn’t much left in the kitty for new signings so I drew a blank. I was tempted by Lingard who was the only decent option on the free transfer market but ultimately chose against it. I also decided to keep most of the youth players at the club for the first half of the season. On deadline day Juventus came from nowhere and asked for smith-rowe on loan. I decided to do it. Cedric somehow managed to escape another transfer window and remains at the club. I will use him at some point though.
A wealth of Staff also came in. My trusted assistant from previous iterations Bryan Klug came in alongside 33 other additions. Among them were a new loan manager David Woodfine and an absolute joke of a head of youth development Paolo Morganti who has a 20 rating in all three recommended categories. Norbert Elgert would take charge of the under 21s.
Pre-Season
[SQUAD]
I will start with Ramsdale as my number one and see how the season goes from there. Cedric will likely be 3rd choice in both full back positions.
GK – Ramsdale – Raya
DL – Zinchenko
DR – Tomiyasu – Cedric
DC – Gabriel – Kwior
DC – Saliba – White
DMC – Rice - Jorginho
MC – Partey – Vieria
AMC – Odegaard – Havertz
AML – Martinelli – Trossard
AMR – Saka – Nelson
ST – Jesus – Nketiah
Pre-Season Fixtures
We cruised through our first four pre-season games winning all of them. Defensively we were good and no team had over a 1.00xg. Bristol City giving us the toughest game. Saka broke his arm in the Antwerp match meaning he would miss the first six weeks of the season.
Charlton (A) 2-4 – Anderson o.g Partey Saka White
Bristol City (A) 0-1 - Azeez
Antwerp (A) 0-3 – Nelson, Nketiah, Havertz
LASK (A) – 1-4 – Jesus White Nketiah Odegaard
Emirates Cup
We hosted Boca Juniors, Frankfurt and Espanyol in a watered down Emirates Cup. We eased past Boca in the semi finals with youngster seb Ferdinand getting a goal Despite going behind early on in the final a rampant first half saw us score four goals in another good display. An excellent final showing before the competitive matches began.
SF – Boca – 3-0 - Nketiah Ferdinand Martinelli
FINAL – Frankfurt – 6-3 – Martinelli (3) Jesus Nelson (2)
COMMUNITY SHIELD
ARSENAL 0
MAN CITY 0
Arsenal win 4-2 on pens
The first game of the season turned into a snoozefest with neither side creating many chances. Just the combined three shots on target and 0.87xg. However our possession was better (57%) as well as our passing accuracy (93% vs 90%). Rice and Havertz made their debuts but neither took a penalty as Jesus, Trossard, Odegaard and Vieira all scored while De Bruyne saw his saved by man of the match Ramsdale and needing to score to keep City in it Bernardo Silva blazed high and handsome. Happy with the first trophy in the cabinet.
Premier League
Arsenal 2 – Gabriel 3 Odegaard 61
Bournemouth 0
A gentle start to the season at The Emirates, We were a bit waseful having 29 attempts 74% possession and a 2.19xg but happy enough to start with a win and not face a shot on target.
Premier League
Sheffield United 0
Arsenal 2 – Nelson 21 Havertz 87
Another kind fixture saw us travel to Sheffield United. They had lost 4-1 at Brentford on the opening night of the season. They restricted us well but a goal in each half was enough.
Premier League
Arsenal 3 – Jesus 7 Martinelli 35 Jorginho 83(pen)
West Ham 1 – Paqueta 26
The final game of August saw Declan rice have his west ham reunion. A fiery game saw 34 fouls but we dominated it and should have scored more with our 3.66xg. A good start and already some daylight from other teams struggling.
Table
1. Brighton P3 W3 D0 L0 GF10 GA4 GD+6 P9
2. ARSENAL P3 W3 D0 L0 GF7 GA1 GD+6 P9
3. Wolves P3 W3 D0 L0 GF5 GA 1 GD +4 P9
4. Man United P3 W2 D1 L0 GF5 GA2 GD+3 P7
5. Man CIty P3 W2 D1 L0 GF3 GA1 P7
Liverpool began the season with two goalless draws against Chelsea and Everton before winning at Spurs 2-1 thanks to a Salah brace. Spurs are currently in 14th with 1 point having also lost at Man City and conceded a 95th minute Moussa Diaby equaliser at home to Aston Villa.
Summer Transfers
Unsurprisingly Saudi Arabia were still the busiest place for transfers with most sides having done their signings earlier. Jose Gaya was the most expensive deal moving to al ittihad for £63million Spurs sold Bissouma for £54m and brought in Andre and Matheus Reis. Liverpool brought in Bayern right back Mazraoui while Raphinha went from Barcelona to Man city on a 1.8m loan. Chelsea also dipped into the loan market signing Guardado from Betis.
Europe
We were handed an early reunion with Harry Kane in the champions League draw with Bayern, Real Sociadad and Dinamo Zagreb making up a potentially tricky group. Man united were drawn with Sevilla, Crvena and Marseille. Newcastle face Barcelona Porto and Shakhtar while Man City are against Dortmund Ac Milan and Celtic.
Liverpool, West Ham and Brighton should all qualify from their groups in the Europa League. Aston Villa face Vitesse, FC Twente and Lizern in the conference league and should also get though.
Carabao Cup
In the Carabao Cup we drew Leeds at home. Man City vs Everton, Brighton vs Liverpool and Manchester United vs Fleetwood the most notable ties of the 3rd Round. Spurs are already out having lost in the 2nd round 3-0 at home to Fulham.
September/October Fixtures
Premier League
Palace (A) Wolves (H) Newcastle (A) Brighton (H) Burney (A) Forrest (H) Luton (A)
Champions League
Real Sociadad (H) Bayern (A) Dinamo Zagreb (H)
Carabao Cup
Leeds (H)
0 -
FM23 Arsenal Season 3 Review
One last dance before FM24
PRE-SEASON
TRANSFERS
IN
Jude Bellingham 105m
Out
Granit Xhaka (Fiorentina) 17m
Cerdric (Montpellier) 5.5m
Trusty (Troyes) 1.5m
Pepe (Crystal Palace) 12.5m
Flores (Barcelona) 22m
Balogun (Nottingham Forrest) 2.2m
A slew of loans and small transfers
There was only one man I wanted for my team and that was Jude Bellingham. I matched the release clause and he joined us after the Euros. Departures were quite simple.
Elsewhere, Havertz went to PSG for a whopping 182m. Dembele joined Man City. Brandon Soppy and Renato Sanches also made the move. Citys neighbours United spent 44m to sign Watkins from Villa as well as Kumbulla. Chelsea signed Guedes and a still at Benfica Enzo Fernandes. Chelsea brought in Tapsoba and an Out of contract Kyle Walker. Spurs and Newcastle were busy but unproductive. Finally Real Madrid raided Bayern for three players as Gravenberch, Goretska and Coman made the switch for a combined fee of 176m.
Matches
After a strong side beat our affiliate club Milwall in the pre-season opener we travelled to the USA to play three more games. We won all of them but only scored four goals. We returned for an Emirates Cup semi-final against Real Madrid but lost 2-0 to two late goals. We easily won the 3rd play off though thumping Ac Milan 4-0. We rounded off Pre-season with another 4-0 win at AZ. Mika Biereth doing his first team hopes no harm by scoring a hat-trick.
Milwall 3-1 (Saka, Kroos Nketiah) . Colorado 2-1 (Ideho, Pulisic), San Antonio 1-0 (Biereth), LAFC 2-1 (Smith-Rowe Pulisic) Real Madrid 0-2, AC Milan 4-0 (Saka Odegaard, Martinelli, Nketiah, AZ 4-0 (Green Biereth 3)
Squad
GK – Ramsdale / Turner
DL – Zinchenko / Tierney
DR – Tomiyasu / Norton-Cuffy
DC – Gabriel / Umtiti
DC – Saliba / White
DM/CM – Kroos / Patino
DM/CM - Bellingham / Partey / Danilo
CAM – Odegaard / Vieira / Ndour
LW – Martinelli / Pulisic
RW – Saka / Smith-Rowe
ST – Jesus / Nketiah
Community Shield
Our Competitive Season got underway with the Community Shield against Liverpool. Neither side were at their best but an early naby keita goal condemned us to defeat at Wembley. We would get a quick chance for revenge when we travelled to Anfield on the third week of the Season.
Arsenal 0-1 Liverpool
PREMIER LEAGUE
Attempting to win three titles in a row we hosted West Ham on the opening weekend of the season. Jesus opened the scoring after ten minutes but just two minutes later Gabriel got himself sent off and two second half goals saw us lose at home. We got back to winning ways at Leicester before Saliba this time got himself sent off in a 5-2 drubbing at Anfield. After a win against Crystal Palace we travelled to Man City and this time I shut up shop in a goalless draw. Jesus missing a late penalty for us to nick it. However Ederson getting man of the match shows that we gave a good account. But just seven points from the first five matches saw us lying in 10th at the end of August.
However we would go on to win our next ten games including victories at Chelsea and Spurs (a last minute winner from Saka) and a martinelli inspired 3-0 win over Man United at The Emirates. We would go on to score 32 goals conceding just 5 with Pulisic hitting a hat-trick in a 7-0 win over Middlesbrough.
December started with our run ending in poor style losing 4-0 at Aston Villa. The rest of December was positive though winning five of our six games with the only blemish a goalless draw at Everton. Liverpool were also going well and although we led the table by three points they weren’t out of it.
The new year started with a comfortable win over Norwich before we suffered another defeat this time conceding an injury time winner at old Trafford to lose 3-2. We drew the next game at West Ham before going on to win the following four including a 6-0 thrashing of Everton at the Emirates and an excellent 2-1 win at Newcastle.
Aston Villa followed up their 4-0 win over us at villa park by holding us to a 1-1 draw at the Emirates. We dispatched Spurs 2-0 in the North London derby and a 5-1 win at Fulham saw us end March 7 points clear with a game in hand over Man united and Liverpool. A favourable fixture list in April saw us win all four games by a two goal margin with the premier league title wrapped up with a 4-2 win at crystal palace.
The potential crunch Liverpool clash ended up as a dead rubber and a 2-2 draw. We also drew at Wolves in the next game by the same scoreline before rounding off the season with a 5-1 over a ninth place Man City at the Emirates.
Table
1. ARSENAL P38 W28 D6 L4 GF105 GA43 P90
2. Man United P38 W25 D4 L9 GF79 GA42 P79
3. Liverpool P38 W22 D11 L5 GF88 GA39 P77
4. Fulham P38 W21 D4 L13 GF69 GA57 P67
5. Brentford P38 W19 D9 L10 GF51 GA38 P66
Premier league stats
Goals – Haaland 28, Mitrovic 27 F. Torres (Chelsea) 23 Scamacca 21 Calvert Lewin 20 – =6th Odegaard 18
Assists – Saka 13 Perreira, R. James, Odegaard, Salah 11
AV Rating – Odegaard 7.42 Mitrovic 7.39 Saka 7.38 Haaland 7.36 F. Torres 7.35
MOM – Mitrovic 11 F. Torres Calvert-Lewin 9 Haaland 7 Saka 6
Clean Sheets – Pickford Alisson Raya Areola 15 Ramsdale 13
Possession – Tottenham 58%, Arsenal 57%, Liverpool, Chelsea 56% West Ham 55%
X.G – Arsenal 2.08, Liverpool 1.80, Man United 1.79, Newcastle 1.50, Chelsea 1.46
Pass Accuracy – Tottenham 89% West Ham 88% Arsenal, Chelsea, Southampton 87%
Season Awards
Footballer of the Year – Martin Odegaard
Players Player of the Year – Martin Odegaard
Young Player of the Year – Jude Bellingham
Golden Glove – Jordan Pickford (15)
Manager – Kinglara
Team of the Season – Pickford Dalot, Van Dijk, Saliba, Tomiyasu, Martinelli Kroos, Bellingham, Saka, Haaland Mitrovic
Arsenal in the Premier League
Home
P 19 W16 D2 L1 GF63 GA15
Away
P19 W12 D4 L3 GF42 GA28
Overall
P38 W28 D6 L4 GF105 GA43
Performance timeline
LWLWDWWWWWWWWWWLWWDWWWLDWWWWDWWWWWWDDW
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Our Champions League campaign started with a home game with Marseille. The new format proved testing to some teams but not us as a relatively kind draw saw us win all eight group games scoring at least three each time.
The new format meant no major casualties exited although Bayern only scraped through in 20th.
Marseille – (H) – 4-0 – Odegaard 13 Saka 65 Nketiah 79 Balogun 90
Villereal – (A) – 2-3 – Martinelli 4 Saka 22 Odegaard 41
Benfica – (H) – 3-1 – Odegaard 9 Pulisic 49 Saka 84
Legia – (H) 6-1 – Martinelli 5 49 71(pen) Vieria 35(pen) 43 Bellingham 56
Napoli - (A) – 0-3 – Bellingham 9 Saka 27 Jesus 90
Bayerrn - (H) – 3-2 – Odegaard 1 Martinelli 70 Pulisic 81
Young Boys – (A) – 4-6 – Pulisic 3 Martinelli 21 64 Nketiah 30 Zinchenko 81 Dymond 90
Apol Limassol – (A) – 1-5 – Smith Rowe 10 Nketiah 18 34 39 Vieria 29
Table
1. ARSENAL P8 W8 D0 L0 GF33 GA11 P27
2. Liverpool P8 W7 D0 L1 GF19 GA5 P21
3. Real Madrid P8 W6 D2 L0 GF24 GA6 P20
4. PSG P8 W6 D2 L0 GF16 GA5 P20
5. AC Milan P8 W6 D1 L1 GF16 GA6 P19
6. Inter P8 W5 D2 L1 GF19 GA6 P17
7. Gladbach P8 W5 D1 L2 GF13 GA8 P16
8. Barcelona P8 W4 D3 L1 GF16 GA4 P15
9-16 – Ajax, Hertha Berlin Dortmund Benfica Roma Porto Napoli Juventus
17-24 – Real Sociadad Rangers Tottenham Bayern PSV Marseille Wolves Villereal
25-36 – Southampton Celtic Nice Copenhagen Jablonec Salzburg Young Boys Qarabag Legia Partizan Antwerp Apol Limassol
Wolves and Spurs were both knocked out in the play off round to Italian opposition. Spurs beat Napoli 2-1 at home before losing 5-0 in Naples. Wolves also won the first leg at home 1-0 before losing 4-0 in Turin. Meanwhile Bayern beat Dortmund 2-0 both home and away to progress
The second round saw us face Herta Berlin. We drew a nervy first leg in Germany before a Jesus Brace overcame them at The Emirates. Liverpool almost pulled off another of their great European comebacks. Having lost 3-0 to bayern in Germany they managed to win 4-1 at anfield to take it to extra time before running out of steam and losing 7-4 on aggregate.
Hertha Berlin 1-1 Arsenal – Odegaard 14
Arsenal 2-0 Hertha Berlin – Jesus 6. 24
2nd Round
Roma 4-3 Gladbach – Gladbach 0-1 Roma – Roma through 5-3 on aggregate
Bayern 3-0 Liverpool – Liverpool 4-4 Bayern(aet) – Bayern through 7-4 on aggregate
Porto 0-0 AC Milan – AC Milan 3-0 Porto – AC Milan through 3-0 on Aggregate
Juventus 1-0 Barcelona – Barcelona 0-2 Juventus – Juventus through 3-0 on Aggregate
Benfica 2-2 Real Madrid – Real Madrid 3-0 Benfica – Real Madrid through 5-2 on Aggregate
Napoli 3-0 Inter – Inter 2-0 Napoli – Napoli through 3-2 on Aggregate
Real Sociedad 0-1 PSG – PSG 2-1 Real Sociedad – PSG through 3-1 on Aggregate
Quarter Final
The Quarters saw us face PSG. I went slightly damage limitation for the first leg in paris but two assists from 182million man Kai Havertz saw us lose 2-0 despite dominating possession and having a decent 1.55xg. Neymar and Raphina with a goal in each half. Having rested nine of the eleven for the league fixture I expected us to come out and and blow them away at the Emirates, which we did but a combination of wastefulness and bad luck saw us squander a 3.87XG to only score once. Soler pulled one back at the end to get a draw as we pushed for the second. A disappointing end.
PSG 2-0 Arsenal
Arsenal 1-1 PSG – Jesus 65 – (Jesus miss/pen 10)
Napoli 0-2 Real Madrid – Real Madrid 2-0 Napoli – Real Madrid through 4-0 on Aggregate
Roma 3-0 Bayern – Bayern 3-2 Roma – Roma through 5-3 on Aggregate
Juventus 1-3 AC Milan – AC Milan 3-0 Juventus – AC Milan through 6-1 on Aggreagte
Semi Finals
Real Madrid 3-0 PSG – PSG 3-3 Real Madrid – PSG win 6-3 on Aggregate
Roma 1-0 AC Milan – AC Milan 1-2 Roma – Roma through 3-1 on Aggregate
FINAL
Roma 0-2 Real Madrid
FA Cup
Our defence of the FA Cup began at Hull a comfortable 5-1 win saw us ease into a fourth round date away again at Huddersfield. Circumstance meant we played a stronger side than I usually would have. Braces from Nketiah and Ndour saw us comfortably through 4-0. Our third straight away game saw us travel to Middlesbrough. I again played a strong side and we eased through Gabriel opening the scoring before setting up a nervy last 20 minutes by getting himself needlessly sent off. The Quarter finals saw us finally drawn at home this time to Man City. Both sides played near full strength teams. We raced into a 5-0 lead at half-time before taking our foot off the gas in the second half to finish 5-2. We got the toughest of the semi-finals playing Liverpool whilst Chelsea met West Ham. Our defence stood firm as Liverpool had over double our xg but a lovely Jesus dink sent us into the final against Chelsea who beat West Ham 4-3. Feran Torres hitting a first half hat-trick. The final was a tight game unfortunately settled by a 93rd Rahim Sterling winner. Chelsea committing 26 fouls with only 1 yellow card but overall played better than us.
3rd Round – Hull (A) – 1-5 – Biereth 2, 78 Pulisic 9 Patino 25 Jesus 55(pen)
4th Round – Huddersfield (A) – 0-4 – Nketiah 19, 59 Ndour 55, 89
5th Round – Middlesbrough (A) – 1-3 - Gabriel 15 Partey 40 Jesus 65 – Gabriel s/o 74
QF - Man City – (H) – 5-2 – Pulisic 2 Odegaard 9, 44 Jesus 18 Bellingham 35
SF – Liverpool – (N, Wembley) – 1-0 – Jesus 57
FINAL - Chelsea – N, Wembley) – 0-1
CARABAO CUP
Our Carabao cup campaign began and ended in the 3rd Round. I played a decent fringe side but we were comprehensively beaten.
3rd Round – (A) West Ham 4-1 – Nketiah 79
SEASON STATS
GK
Ramsdale had a solid season but dipped from the previous campaign with a -17 average rating and conceding 10 more goals with a whopping 9 less clean sheets. Neither Turner nor Hein were given much of a chance to stake a claim.
Played
Conceded
Clean sheets
Assists
MoM
Av rating
Ramsdale
52
57
17
0
1
7.02
Turner
3
6
0
0
0
6.60
Hein
3
5
1
0
0
6.97
Defence
Overall the defence was also solid. Tomiyasu with a decent return as well as Saliba but I would expect better from the others. Not enough goals. I was happy with Cuffy though with it being his first season with the first team.
Played
Goals
Assists
MoM
Av Rating
Tomiyasu
49 (+5)
2
8
1
7.12
Saliba
44 (+1)
2
1
2
7.15
Zinchenko
38 (+8)
1
4
1
6.88
Gabriel
35(+6)
1
1
0
7.05
White
35 (+5)
0
1
0
7.05
Tierney
15 (+12)
0
3
1
6.93
Norton-Cuffy
9 (+7)
0
0
0
6.90
Umtiti
4 (+5)
0
0
0
6.76
Foran
2
0
0
0
7.10
James (regen, loan Jan)
1
0
0
0
6.6
Midfield
Good numbers for the midfielders with Odegaard clearly the standout. Bellingham with at least a 7 in every competition he played. Surprised by Partey making 23 appearances off the bench.
Played
Goals
Assists
MoM
Av Rating
Kroos
46(+3)
4
13
1
7.20
Odegaard
45(+2)
25
15
6
7.43
Bellingham
44(+2)
6
13
2
7.20
Vieria
11(+23)
9
5
1
7.22
Danilo
9(+7)
0
5
0
7.12
Patino
9(+6)
1
8
1
7.53
Ndour
6(+7)
2
0
0
6.91
Partey
5(+23)
1
0
0
6.88
Forwards
Martinelli was a bit below par but happy with the rest of the players. Smith-Rowe suffering the same problem as Partey and not starting enough. Conway making it onto the season stats after coming on for the last 11 minutes in the final game of the season. Great prospect though.
Played
Goals
Assists
MoM
Av Rating
Saka
45(+1)
20
18
9
7.36
Martinelli
32(+18)
14
8
4
7.22
Pulisic
30(+17)
19
7
4
7.22
Jesus
30(+11)
23
6
3
7.24
Nketiah
27(+16)
21
8
4
7.15
Smith-Rowe
5(+24)
2
5
0
6.95
Dymond (regen)
1(+5)
4
0
1
7.20
Conway (regen)
0(+1)
0
0
0
N/A
Biereth (loan Jan)
2(+2)
2
0
0
6.97
Balogun (left Jan)
1(+4)
1
0
0
6.65
Final Bits
Middlesbrough Norwich and Leicester were relegated. Man City finished 9th and Spurs 11th. Watford won the Championship finishing on the same points as fellow promoted side Brighton while Sheffield United beat Stoke 1-0 in the play off final. Samuel Bamba on loan from Dortmund II with the goal.
An early Rodrygo brace saw Real Madrid beat Roma in the Champions League final in Munich. Roma with an X.G of 0.09.
Man United made it all the way to the Europa League final only to lose to Atalanta. Midfielder Ederson with the goal. Man City and West Ham both made the semis but lost. West Ham won the first leg 2-1 in Italy but lost 2-0 at home to a Leandro trossard brace. United won 2-0 in the first leg at Old Trafford before losing 3-2 at the Etihad. A haaland Hat-trick not enough on this occasion.
Newcastle suffered more trophy heartache as they made it to the conference final only to lose 12-11 on penalties to Lazio after a 1-1 draw. No other English representation.
PSG, Bayern Napoli and Real Madrid won their respective leagues. Madrid were run the closest winning by just 3 points from Barcelona. A 1-0 victory at Barcelona in May the crucial clincher. They also won the Spanish Cup beating Villareal 1-0 in the final to complete a treble.
The under 21s won their league by 11 points and reached the quarter finals of the papa johns trophy but failed in the other three competitions. The under 18s romped to the north division league by 18 points. 22 goals fore Pearce Dymond before beating Norwich 3-0 in the final. They reached the second round in the uefa youth league but lost on penalties to Marseille. Birmingham knocked them out of the cup in the quarters of the north division cup but round things off nicely by being victorious in the fa youth cup beating Norwich 5-3 after extra time. Lots of talent in the squad. At one point winning 21 consecutive games.
Summary
Happy with the three league titles but no European trophy and just one fa cup and one league cup are disappointing returns. Maybe I will return for one more season if I get bored of FM24.
0 -
FM23 ARSENAL SEASON 2 REVIEW
I finally finished my Season 2 after having an over-extended break.
PREMIER LEAGUE
We won the Premier League at a canter. Retaining our title by 10 points after a stuttering end to the season having to juggle other competitions.
We were unbeaten for the first 33 games before losing 1-3 at Southampton before going on to also lose 2-3 at Leeds. Keeping tradition with winning the title at rival grounds we headed to anfield needing just a draw but managed a 4-3 win in a highly entertaining game. Pulisic and Odegaard with braces. We finished the season with 96 points seven better than the previous season.
Elsewhere, Liverpool, Wolves and Tottenham made up the top 4. Southampton finished fifth but will also be playing champions League football next season due to the new rules. The two Manchester Clubs finished 6th and 7th. United and City the right way around. Newcastle were 8th and Chelsea 12th. Watford, Burnley and QPR completed a three up-three down relegation. Leicester and Middlesborough won automatic promotion to the Premier League while Norwich beat Brighton in the Play off Final.
Table
1. ARSENAL P38 W30 D6 L2 GF99 GA33 P96
2. Liverpool P38 W27 D5 L6 GF 93 GA38 P86
3. Wolves P38 W25 D3 L10 GF66 GA42 P78
4. Tottenham P38 W23 D7 L8 GF64 GA38 P76
5. Southampton P38 W21 D4 L13 GF66 GA55 P67
Premier league stats
Goals – Isak, Nketiah 23 Saka 21 EL-Nesri (Man Utd) 20 Mitrovic 19
Assists – Salah 23 Saka 15 Kroos, Son 13 Rashford 12
AV Rating – Saka, Haaland 7.56 Odegaard 7.43 Salah 7.40 Rashford 7.34
MOM – Saka 10 Daamsgard, Son 7 lsak, Watkins 6
Clean Sheets – Ramsdale 17, Alisson 16 Domenech (Wolves), Leno 15 Lloris 13
Possession – Chelsea 60% Arsenal 58, Tottenham 57, Liverpool 56, Man City 55
X.G – Liverpool 1.97, Arsenal 1.88, Man City, Newcastle 1.65 Man United 1.64
Pass Accuracy – Chelsea 90% Tottenham 89% Arsenal 88%, Liverpool, Man City 87%
Season Awards
Footballer of the Year – Bukayo Saka
Players Player of the Year – Bukayo Saka
Young Player of the Year – Bukayo Saka
Golden Glove – Aaron Ramsdale (17)
Manager – Kinglara
Team of the Season – Ramsdale, Robertson, Gabriel, Saliba, Tomiyasu, Diaz, Milinkovic-Savic (man utd) Kroos, Saka, Nketiah, Isak
Arsenal in the Premier League
Home
P 19 W17 D2 L0 GF61 GA12
Away
P19 W13 D4 L2 GF38 GA21
Overall
P38 W30 D6 L2 GF99 GA33
Performance timeline
WDWWWWDWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWDWDWWWWDDWLWLW
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Having topped our Group with 14 points we faced Leipzig in the round of 16. I set up defensive in Germany for the first leg culminating in a drab goalless draw. It was a different story at Emirates and we raced into a 4-0 lead before half-time courtesy of a Pulisic hat-trick and Nketiah. Werner pulled one back on the hour but we eased through to a meeting with old foes Barcelona. Elsewhere Liverpool dumped out Bayern Atletico Madrid beat Man United. PSG beat Ajax 9-0 across the two games. Mbappe scoring a hat-trick in a 3-0 win in Amsterdam before netting another five ina 6-0 demolition in Paris. Messi with the other.
In the Quarters we faced Barcelona with the first leg at home. I wanted a win so it meant we could sit and counter in spain. Lewandowski scored first before Elneny preferred to partey alongside Kroos equalised. Martinelli got us the winner in the second half. In the second leg Lewandowski again opened the scoring but Jesus equalised and we seemed to be heading into the semis but Lewandowski scored form a corner in injury time to send the game into extra time. It meandered out into a penalty shootout and Lewandowski missed the opening penalty which turned out to be the only one missed sending into s semi final with PSG. Real Madrid would play Liverpool in the other semi.
The semis pitched my master tacticial tactical mind (if a say so myself) against the messi mbappe Neymar attack. We blew PSG away in the first half of the first leg at Emirates only to be caught twice by mbappe on the counter but still leaving us with a 4-2 cusion heading to Paris. The second leg saw us fail to have a single shot on target but we restricted them to just three as PSG’s front three were shunted and the game ended 0-0 to send us into the final. Real Madrid beat Liverpool 4-3 after extra time.
The final saw us produce one of our worst collective performances of the season. Having said that we were only two minutes asway from taking the game to penalties but Valverde grabbed Madrids winner in 118th minute. Still an alround decent champions league run and a good springboard for the change of format next season.
Champions league stats
Goals – Mbappe 16, Laborde 12, Nketiah 10, Lewandowski, Benzema 9
Assists –Kroos, Neymar 8, Salah 6, Hakimi 5, Sarabia (Juventus) 4
AV Rating – Nketiah 7.98, Pulisic 7.93, Lewandowski 7.86 Laborde, Sarabia 7.82
MOM – Lewandowski, Mbappe 4, Pulisic 3, Nketiah, Laborde 2
Clean Sheets – Donnarumma 7 Alisson, Courtois 6, Ramsdale, Maignan 5
Possession – Sporting 60 Dinamo, Barcelona, At Madrid 59 Bayern 57 – (12th - Arsenal 54%)
X.G – Bayern 2.16, Barcelona 2.06, Real Madrid 2.00, Liverpool 1.87, Arsenal 1.83
Pass Accuracy – Sporting 91% At Madrid 89 Gladbach, Barcelona, Bayern 89 - (14th - Arsenal 87%)
FA Cup
Our Fa Cup journey began at home to Fulham. A decent side needed a second half brace from Smith Rowe to advance. Gabriel Jesus went one better in the next tie hitting a hat-trick as we eased past Forrest. Next up was Man City. Both sides went strong but city were certainly more physical with 27 fouls. Ben White struck the only goal in extra time. CItys best player on the day a certain Declan Rice. We strolled into a north London derby semi final with a first half onslaught in the quarters. Spurs were comfortably put to the sword in the semis offering little in attack. The final saw another London derby as we faced Crystal Palace who knocked us out in the 3rd round at the Emirates last season. . We dominated the game but found Sam Johnstone in inspired form unable to get past him. We missed the first penalty in the shootout but Ramsdale made a good save from Jesse Lingard before Kelvin Amian missed to win us the cup. A good journey if a little fortunate to have every game drawn at home.
3rd Round – Fulham (H) 2-1 – Smith Rowe 55, 82
4th Round - Nottingham Forest (H) – 3-1 – Jesus 9, 30, 75
5th Round - Man City (H) – 1-0AET - White 108
QF – QPR (H) 3-0 – Kroos 10 Isco 18 Vieira 39
SF – Tottenham (Wembley) – 2-0 – Pulisic 19 Jesus 38(pen)
Final - Crystal Palace (Wembley) 0-0AET (Arsenal win 7-6 on penalties)
Carabao Cup
Our carabao cup campaign started away at now championship side Brighton. We needed penalties to win after a goalless draw. Back to back comfortable home wins over Everton and Blackburn saw us into a semi final with Newcastle. We comfortably won the first leg before falling to a 1-0 at St James Park but it still meant we were in the final against Aston Villa. Tierney gave us the lead inside 2 minutes. We had an x.g of 4.32 with 29 shots on goal and 14 on target but old gunner Martinez produced an inspired display with an 8.4. However, Martinelli grabbed the winner in the 111th minute and another trophy was secured.
3rd round – Brighton (A) – 0-0 (Arsenal win 3-0 on pens)
4th round – Everton (H) – 4-3 – S-Rowe 3, 68 Vieira 31 Lokonga 41
QF – Blackburn (H) – 4-1 – Vieria 1, 31 Jesus 21 78
SF 1st Leg – Newcastle (H) – Pulisic 56 Nketiah 60 66
SF 2nd Leg – Newcastle (A) – 0-1
FINAL – Aston Villa (Wembley) – 2-1AET – Tierney 2 Martinelli 111
OVERALL SEASON STATS
Played
Goals / CS
Assists
MoM
Av rating
Ramsdale
55
26
0
3
7.19
Tomiyasu
54(+5)
1
7
2
7.12
Kroos
54(+4)
7
23
3
7.36
Saka
51(+4)
23
19
10
7.38
Saliba
49(+3)
7
2
3
7.25
Odegaard
46(+5)
14
13
5
7.31
Gabriel
46(+1)
1
1
0
7.18
Partey
39(+5)
0
4
0
6.99
Tierney
35(+17)
3
4
2
7.16
Nketiah
33(+17)
35
5
7
7.22
Jesus
32(+15)
19
5
3
6.94
Zinchenko
29(+20)
0
1
0
6.94
White
27(+11)
1
1
1
6.94
Martinelli
26(+16)
7
6
3
7.10
Vieria
24(+24)
10
16
3
7.27
Elneny
22(+29)
2
3
1
7.03
Smith-Rowe
21(+20)
6
8
2
7.09
Umtiti
10(+2)
0
1
0
6.77
Turner
9
1
0
1
6.93
Isco (Loan Jan)
6(+14)
1
2
1
6.95
Kirk
1(+1)
0
0
0
7.20
Ndour
0(+8)
0
0
0
6.73
Diamond (regen)
0(+1)
0
0
0
Unrated
Lokonga (Sold Nov)
4(+1)
1
1
0
7.40
Marquinhos (Sold Jan)
0(+4)
2
0
0
7.07
Rosier (Sold Jan)
5(+8)
0
2
0
6.88
Final Bits
Bayern and PSG won their leagues easily. A different story in Italy where the top five were separated by just seven points. AC Milan finishing 1st. Real Madrid won the league losing just one game amassing 105 points. They were denied a treble by losing the Spanish cup final to Valladolid.
Napoli won the Europa League beating Inter in the final having knocked out Man City along the way. An own goal in the final was enough for West Ham to beat Lyon to win the Conference League.
Looking towards next season my main transfer target is Jude Bellingham. 105Million release clause will get him but he isn't too keen and will only discuss offers after the Euros. I don't expect many outgoings but Odegaard currently isn't happy so I have allowed to let him go if a 100 million pound bid is made. I also plan to use more of the youngsters, especially the regens.
0 -
SEASON 2 January/February
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 4 – Martinelli 18 Saka 50 60(pen) Vieira 76
SOUTHAMPTON 0
We held a four point lead at the top from Liverpool heading into January. We had also won 16 games in a row. We started the new year in good fashion. The saints lucky it was only the four.
PREMIER LEAGUE
CRYSTAL PALACE 0 - Telles s/o 69
ARSENAL 1 – Nketiah 10
Just 65 hours later we headed to Crystal Palace. We were the better side but just lacked a clinical edge. Telles getting sent off allowed us to relax and we killed the game from there.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 6 – Tierney 3 Nketiah 10, 63 Saliba 20 Kroos 61 Odegaard 90
QPR 0 - Johansen s/o 37
Another red card meant another easy win. However QPR suffered more punishment than Crystal Palace. Vieria with another three assists.
CARABAO CUP SEMI FINAL 1ST LEG
ARSENAL 3 – Pulisic 56 Nketiah 60 66
NEWCATLE 1 – Gonzalez 45(pen)
After three games in six days and with more to come I was able to rest players for the start of three cup matches in a row beginning with the first leg of the carabao cup semi final. Newcastle came out strongly but in the second half we showed our quality and built a healthy lead to take to St James’s Park in a weeks time. Aston Villa beat Man United 1-0 at Villa park in the first leg of the other semi-final.
FA CUP 3rd Round
ARSENAL 2 – Smith-Rowe 55, 82
FULHAM 1 – Mitrovic 87
We hosted Fulham as we began our FA Cup campaign. I started the same back five as against Newcastle just shuffling the forward line. Fulham came with quite an attacking game plan but a brace from smith-rowe saw us record a routine win before Mitrovic pulled one back. No major casualties from the third round. Liverpool winning 4-1 at Leeds. We would face another home tie in the fourth round against Nottingham Forrest. Chelsea vs Liverpool and Everton vs Tottenham the pick of the other ties.
CARABAO CUP SEMI FINAL 2nd LEG
NEWCATLE 1 – Isak 69
ARSENAL 0 –
Our run of 19 consecutive wins stretching back to October ended as Newcastle won a tight second leg 1-0. I actually played a strong team but set up quite defensive and Newcastle could only find the one goal. Aston Villa beat Man United 2-0 at Old Trafford meaning we would play them in the final having lost to them in the 4th Round last season.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 1 – Odegaard 34
TOTTENHAM 0 -
We returned to league action for the first time in a fortnight with the small matter of the north London derby. A tight game saw only five shots on target settled by odegaards flicked rebound after Lloris had saved from Nketiah.
PREMIER LEAGUE
WEST HAM 0
ARSENAL 1 – Saka 44
We travelled to west ham for another London derby. A solid display by the defence saw us nick a another 1-0 after Saka bundled the ball in just before half-time. Only 45% possession by far our lowest of the season. Just a single shot on target as well in not one of our best displays.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 3 – Vieria 9 84 Saka 15
MAN UNITED 0 - Fernandes miss/pen 87
Having only scored three goals in our last four games we hosted Man United at the Emirates. Nketiah turned form goal machine to provider to lay off two on a plate for Vieria and Saka to give us an early 2-0 lead. De Gea was Uniteds best player as Ronaldo and Fernandes both scored only 6.0 ratings. 16 league wins in a row.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 3 – Nketiah 19 20 36(pen)
WOLVES 0
Our last game of a 10-match January saw us host Wolves. Just the five January goals for Nketiah but he made amends with a first half Hattrick. Wolves were still pushing for champions league places but were no match for us.
TRANSFER DEADLINE DAY
The January transfer window was busier for us than expected. I received good offers for both Rosier and Marquinhos so sold both. It did mean a slight shortage in central midfield so I yet again went to the Real Madrid graveyard and signed Isco on loan from Sevilla. At right back I have White as cover and will decide in the summer whether to promote Norton-Cuffy or buy someone.
There are no decent offerings on the pre-contract list so I will wait for next January.
IN
Isco - Loan
Out
Rosier 23.5m - Benfica
Marquinhos 24.5m – Bayer Leverkusen
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 1 – Nketiah 47
MAN CITY 1 - Alvarez 35
Our third home league game in a row saw us entertain Man City. City set up with a back five looking to frustrate which they managed but also had chances of their own and were good value for a point. It ended our 17 match winning streak but meant we were still unbeaten. Nature of the game meant no debut for Isco.
FA CUP 4th Round
ARSENAL 3 – Jesus 9 30 75
NOTTINGHAM FORREST 1 – Broja 31
We eased into the fifth round with a dominant performance against Forrest. Isco started and performed well although we should have won by more. Liverpool won 2-0 at Chelsea, Spurs beat Everton at Goodson Park. The fifth round draw gave us another home time but this time against Man City. Man United travel to crystal; palace and Southampton host Newcastle.
PREMIER LEAGUE
WATFORD 0
ARSENAL 2 – Saka 23 Odegaard 90
Having collected just 2 points from their first 23 league matches Watford had gone and won their previous two games against Brentfort and Leeds prior to facing us at Vicarage Road. For them they saw the game as pure damage limitation. Only mustering one attempt to our 25. It would have been nice to win by more but I’ll take the win.
PREMIER LEAGUE
EVERTON 1 - Calvert-Lewin 75
ARSENAL 1 – Pulisic 60
Friday Night Football on the eve of our champions league game saw us travel to Everton. The toffees were midtable but had only lost once at Goodison in the league all season. Their good run continued as we put in a pretty poor display and despite taking the lead on the hour never looked like holding on and were a bit lucky to come away with a draw.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2ND ROUND 1ST LEG
ARSENAL 0
RB LEIPZIG 0
The champions League returned as we travelled to Leipzig in the first leg. I parked the bus and we kept the dangerous Leipzig forwards fairly quiet. I would back us to get the win at the Emirates.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 4 – Jesus 52 Saka 71 79 86(pen)
FULHAM 2 - Okafor 64 76
Our final game of February saw us host Fulham. After a poor first half we were dominant throughout the second but the pacey Okafor twice took advantage of the high line to draw Fulham level. Saka hitting good form.
Premier League Table
1. Arsenal P28 P76 GD56
2. Liverpool P27 P67 GD47
3. Tottenham P27 P55 GD20
4. Wolves P27 P53 GD16
5. Newcastle P27 P45 GD15
10 games away from an unbeaten season. Man United are sixth two points behind Newcastle. Chelsea and 9th and Man City 10th although there are only six points difference between 5th and 10th. Watford Burnely and QPR look set to be relegated. West Ham are 17th with a 6 point cushion. In the Championship Leicester are closing in on 100 points while Brighton also look set to gain automatic promotion back to the premier league.
Arsenal stats (1st team)
Appearances (43 played)
Kroos 38(+1) Tomiyasu 36(+3)
Saka 35 (+2) Ramsdale 35
Saliba, Gabriel 33(+1) Odegaard 31(+3)
Partey 27(+1) Nketiah 24(+9)
Zinchenko 23(+13) Tierney 20(+16)
Jesus 20(+10) Martinelli 18 (+11)
Vieira 17(+17) Smith Rowe 17 (+14)
Elneny 13(+20) White 13(+9)
Pulisic 13(+6) Umtiti 9
Turner 8 Isco 1(+5)
Ndour 0(+6)
Goals
Very disappointing from Martinelli.
Nketiah 31 Saka 15
Jesus 14 Odegaard 10
Pulisic 8 Vieira 7
Saliba, Smith-Rowe 6 Kroos 4
Martinelli 3 Tierney 2
Tomiyasu Gabriel Elneny 1
Assists
Kroos 17 Vieria 13
Saka 12 Odegaard 9
Smith-Rowe 8 Martinelli 6
Tomiasu 5 Partey, Nketiah 4
Pulisic Jesus 3 Tierney Elneny 2
Umtiti Zinchenko Saliba White 1
Man of Match
Saka 8 Nketiah 6
Odegaard 4 Vieria, Jesus 3
Pulisic Tierney Ramsdale Smith-Rowe Martinelli 2
Turner Saliba Tomiyasu Elneny Kroos 1
Other News
The january transfer window for the premier league was quiet. Chelsea and Liverpool did no business at all while Man City only brought in an 18 year old Roony Bardghji on a free transfer. Brighton down in the Championship lost Caicedo and Lamptey to Brentford and Wolves. Man United signed centre back kumbulla.
There were mixed fortunes for Liverpool and Man United after the first legs of their champions league knockout ties. Liverpool beat Bayern Munich 5-2 at Anfield while Man United lost 2-0 at Atletico Madrid. PSG, Real Madrid Roman and Nice look likely to go through but Juventus vs Barcelona is delicately poised after the first leg finished 1-1 in Italy.
In the Europa League Man City needed extra time to get past Wolfsburg. Rangers are out after losing 2-0 home and away to Napoli. Celtic also departed to Club Brugge 3-2 on aggregate.
Domestically PSG comfortably lead the way in France. Likewise Bayern in Germany. Over in Italy things are much tighter with Juventus Milan and Roma separated by just 2 points at the top. Finally in Spain Real Madrid hold a whopping 16 point lead over Barcelona in second.
With so many players out on loan the depleted Under 21s have taken a hit this season and are currently lying in seventh in the league.
The under 18s are top of the south group with Omari Benjamin again leading the way with 17 goals. They are also still in both the cup competitions with the added help of the youth candidates to come in just a few weeks time.
March/April Fixtures
Aston Villa – (N) – Carabao Cup final
Manchester City – (H) – FA Cup 5th Round
Chelsea (H)
Leipzig (H) – Champions League 2nd round 2nd leg
Bournemouth (A)
Burnley (H)
Aston Villa (A)
Brentford (H)
QPR (A)
0 -
Season 2 – November/December
CARABAO CUP 4TH ROUND
ARSENAL 4 – Smith Rowe 3 68 Vieira 31 Lokonga 41
EVERTON 3 – Calvert-Lewin 9 Onana 44 Mcneil 77
Having fallen at this stage the previous season I was determined to advance to the quarters having been given a favourable draw. Without having suitable replacements in midfield wanting to rest Kroos and Partey I paired Jesus and Nketiah upfront. A Vieria free kick was the highlight in an entertaining if a little nervy game but we got over the line to set up a quarter-final again at home to Blackburn. No other shocks in the 4th round other than Bournemouth winning at Brentford. Man United won 3-0 at Salford. They would host Spurs in the quarters, Newcastle would play L:iverpool and there would be a midlands derby with Aston Villa against West Brom. Jesus and Vieria both picked up minor knocks and would be out for a couple of weeks.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 4 – Odegaard 40 Saka 48 53 Nketiah 60
WEST HAM 1 – Orsic 10
Riding high in the Europa Conference League with five wins from five including a 13-0 drubbing of Sheriff Tiraspol, West Ham arrived without a league win in six since a 4-3 win over everybody's whipping boys this season Man City. They weren’t going to get any reprieves from us as we ran out easy 4-1 winners. Every outfield player with a plus 7 rating.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE MATCH DAY 4
PARTIZAN BELGRADE 2 – Jovanovic 4 Bojanic 15 – Prodanovic miss/pen 83
ARSENAL 5 – Smith Rowe 20 Nketiah 28 37 55 78
Usually by this stage of the european group stages I would be able to play a weakened team. However after drawing the first two games I couldn’t do that meaning the liksd of white and rosier were getting angrier at not playing. Gabriel and Saliba were both suspended but otherwise I played the strongest available team Belgrade had lost the three previous group games by three goals including a 3-0 loss at the Emirates. That run continued after we overcame a dreadful start. Nketiah and Kroos helping themselves to foursomes in goals and assists. Nice and Inter drew the other game in the group 2-2 meaning we just had to beat Nice at the Emirates to go through.
PREMIER LEAGUE
BRENTFORD 0
ARSENAL 1 – Odegaard 88
We put in a solid if unspectacular performance at Brentford to keep up our winning run. An Odegaard free kick enough to beat a side who had a higher xg and a better pass accuracy while only narrowly missing out on having the same possession as well.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 3 – Gabriel 22 Odegaard 42 Nketiah 54
ASTON VILLA 0
With fresher legs after the international break, we recorded a routine win over Aston Villa. Martinez keeping the score to just the 3 goals. I stupidly put Pusilic available for international duty and of course he suffered another injury meaning he wouldn’t play again until January.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE MATCH DAY 5
ARSENAL 6 – Nketiah 8 31 36 48 Saliba 15 Marquinhos 90
NICE 0
Needing a win to go through we delivered in spectacular style. Another four-goal haul for Nketiah with Vieira this being the main assist provider with three. Inter needed a couple of late goals to beat Partizan 4-2 in Belgrade which meant we would have to avoid defeat to the in the san siro to top the group.
PREMIER LEAGUE
BURNLEY 0
ARSENAL 1 – Nketiah 20
Vieira kept his place in the team for the trip to Burnley. It was a bit of a slog and we were quite wasteful but Nketiah smashed in a martinelli ball over the top and burnley never looked like equalising. Martinelli twisted his ankle so would be out for a few weeks.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE MATCH DAY 6
INTER MILAN 0 – Martinez s/o 75
ARSENAL 2 – Nketiah 13 Kroos 25(pen)
We travelled to Milan knowing just a draw would see us top the group and avoid some of the big boys in the knockout stages. I played the strongest team available to me knowing Inter had threats. We started the game well with Nketiahs clever flick giving us the lead before Kroos killed the game with a penalty. We just sat back and let Inter pepper the goal but Ramsdale was comfortably behind everything. Martinez then hacked at Smith-Rowe and it was game over. Top of the group is a good feeling as are five clean sheets in a row. Not sure where that has come from. Nice beat Partizan 6-0 meaning they leapfrogged Inter and went through to the second round.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 3 – Nketiah 3, 5 Marquinhos 88
BOURNEMOUTH 0
Bournemouth having escaped relegation on the final day of the previous season were comfortable this time around in mid-table. Nketiah put us 2-0 up after just five minutes and it seemed like another high scoring win but the next goal never came and it took Marquinhos to come off the bench to get the third late on. An easy day for Ramsdale with Bournemouth having an XG of just 0.04.
PREMIER LEAGUE
CHELSEA 0
ARSENAL 2 – Saka 12 Jesus 90
At one point Chelsea seemed like our closes title challengers but a poor run of form had seen them drop to seventh when we visited Stamford Bridge. Saka picked the pocket of mount to open the scoring and it was pretty easy from there. Jesus heading in an Odegaard corner in stoppage time to seal the win. There wasn’t a single clear cut chance in the game and just a combined XG of 1.7. Always nice to beat Chelsea especially away from home. Our seventh clean sheet in a row.
CARABAO CUP QF
ARSENAL 4 – Vieira 1 31 Jesus 21 78
BLACKBURN 1 – Hyam 53 – Buckley s/o 67
Due to Under 21s and Under 18s having key fixtures I had a very thin squad to choose from. Kroos, Partey and Saka all started where they would usually be resting. The game was very comfortable. Rovers had been doing well in the championship challenging for a play off place but were nowhere near good enough. They did manage to score though as we conceded our first goal in eight games. The winning run stretches to fourteen.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 4 – Nketiah 2 48 Saliba 53 Saka 59
WATFORD 0
December 23rd finally saw us play bottom club Watford. A 2-2 draw at home to Everton the only point the have picked up in the 17 league games. With Man United just three days away I rested Odegaard and Partey. Watford showed why they only had 1 point with a toothless display in which they had 0 shots on goal to our 30. Kroos got all four assists in a perfect 10 display. 13 assists in all competitions for him now this season.
PREMIER LEAGUE
MAN UNITED 1 – Fernades 6
ARSENAL 3 – Nketiah 34 73 80
Boxing Day saw our final game of the month and year as we headed to Old Trafford. United started well and took an early lead but we soon grew into the game with Nketiah scoring another hat-trick taking him to 22 in 14 starts. United huffed and puffed but didn’t create a single clear cut chance as we comfortably saw the game out and made it 16 wins in a row.
Premier League Table
1. Arsenal P17 P47 GD33
2. Liverpool P17 P43 GD32
3. Wolves P9 P38 GD14
4. Tottenham P36 P20 GD12
5. Man Utd P9 P34 GD22
We won every league game in November and December but so did Liverpool. They also beat United at Old Trafford. Wolves are still defying expectations but suffered a 5-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield in their previous game. Man City have found their feet slightly but are still 11th. West Ham and Burnley are in the relegation zone alongside Watford.
Premier League Top scorers
Nketiah N. Gonzalez 13 Calvert Lewin 10 Isak, Lukaku 9
Premier League Top Assists
Salah 11 Kroos, Son 8 Odegaard, Saka 7
Premier League Av Rating
Salah 7.60 Saka, Nketiah, Semedo 7.49 Odegaard 7.38
Premier League Motm
Saka, Milinkovic-Savic (Liverpool) Gonzalez Edouard 4 Calvert Lewin 3
Team XG
Liverpool 2.05 Man City 1.82 Chelsea 1.77 Man United 1.75 Arsenal 1.74
Team Av Possession
Chelsea 61% Arsenal 58% Tottenham 57% Liverpool 56% Man United 55%
Transfer News
At the beginning of November, Lokonga left for Al Hilal after I accepted a 40million bid. It means we are short in Midfield so I may buy or loan in January as I don’t feel any of the youngsters are ready to step up and I want Vieria and Smith Rowe to concentrate on the forward positions. Zinchenko is an option as he hasn’t been playing as much recently due to Tierney's good form.
I don't plan to do any business in January although I might look at getting in a free transfer for next season. Gundogan for 11million is tempting.
Loan Watch
36 players on loan I am not going to go through all of them but here are the stats of the first team members and a couple of youth
Balogun (Toulouse) – Played 5(+5) Goals 3 – Assists 0 – MOM – 0 – AV Rating 6.77
Biereth (Stoke) - Played 12(+2) Goals 4 – Assists 0 – MOM – 1 – AV Rating 6.78
Cedric (Montpellier) - Played 12 Goals 2 – Assists 2 – MOM – 0 – AV Rating 6.91
Danilo (Sporting) - Played 25 Goals 1 – Assists 3 – MOM – 0 – AV Rating 6.98
Flores (Montpellier) - Played 8 Goals 1 – Assists 3 – MOM – 1 – AV Rating 7.20
Norton-Cuffy (Millwall) - Played 23 Goals 1 – Assists 3 – MOM – 1 – AV Rating 6.93
Patino (RB Salzbug) - - Played 5(+5) Goals 1 – Assists 0 – MOM – 0 – AV Rating 6.5
Pepe (Crystal Palace) - Played 14 Goals 5 – Assists 3 – MOM – 2 – AV Rating 7.09
Rekic (FC Lorient) - - Played 15 Goals 0 – Assists 0 – MOM – 0 – AV Rating 6.63
Xhaka (Fiorentina) - Played 14 Goals 1 – Assists 2 – MOM – 0 – AV Rating 7.06
Europe
In the champions League Liverpool won their final group game against Dormund at Anfield to pip them to second spot in the group behind Barcelona. Dynamo Kiev lost all six games. Man City crashed out after finishing third behind Bayern and Real Sociedad. Man United finished top of their group though above Real Madrid. Celtic and Rangers both finished third in their group. Not too many surprises elsewhere. The second round draw will see us play RB Leipzig. Man United play Atletico Madrid and Liverpool are up against Bayern. PSG play Juventus in the stand out tie of the other games.
Man City now in the Europa League will play Wolfsburg in the play off round. Spurs and Chelsea finished top of their groups.
West Ham won all six games in their Europa Conference League Group and finished with a +25 goal difference mainly thanks to a 13-0 win over Sheriff. They didn’t even concede a goal.
Draws
Two draws domestically. In the Fa Cup we drew Fulham at home. Leeds vs Liverpool and Man United vs Brentford the stand out ties from an insipid draw.
In the Carabao Cup semi-finals we will play Newcastle with the first leg at the Emirates. Aston Villa face Man United in the other game.
January/February Fixtures
Ten games in a packed January.
QPR (H)
Newcastle (H) – Carabao Cup Semi-final 1st Leg
Fulham (H) – FA Cup 3rd Round
Newcastle (A) – Carabao Cup Semi-final 2nd Leg
Tottenham (H)
West Ham (A)
Man United (H)
Wolves (H)
Man City (H)
Everton (A)
Leipzig (A) - Champions League 2nd Round 1st Leg
Fulham (H)
0 -
Arsenal Season 2 September/October
PREMIER LEAGUE
WOLVES 1 – Barnes 88
ARSENAL 3 – Martinelli 11 Odegaard 65 Smith-Rowe 87
Our first game of September was a trip to Wolves who had two wins from two. There was an early season appearance for Matt Turner after Ramsdale suffered food poisoning on the eve of the game. The match itself was a comfortable one. We managed to pick up four yellow cards from just seven fouls but everything else was positive. Saka with two assists.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 3 – Jesus 58, 90(pen) Pulisic 77
LEEDS 1 – Doan 85
Ramsdale returned but Odegaard was missing as we hosted Leeds. It was another comfortable game and we should’ve won by more. Pulisic scoring on his debut off the bench.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE MATCHDAY 1
ARSENAL 1 – Pulisic 85
INTER MILAN 1 – Brozovic 85
Our first forays into the champions league saw us host Inter. I set up tight with the Italians going five at the back trying to counter. Brozovic headed home a free kick to give Inter a late lead only for Pulisic off the bench again to equalise straight from kick off. I was happy to start the campaign with a draw even if it was at home. Nice won 3-0 at Partizan Belgrade to get their group stage off to a good start. We would travel to Nice next.
PREMIER LEAGUE
NEWCASTLE 0 – Gonzarlez miss/pen 31
ARSENAL 1 – Jesus 46 – Saliba s/o 53
With tired legs we travelled up to a Newcastle side having won three of their opening four games and thumped wolves 5-1 in the carabao cup. Nicolas Gonzalez didn’t live up to his 48 million price tag as ramsdale saved his penalty in a cagey 1st half. Jesus gave us an undererved lead before Saliba was harshly sent off. From there it turned into the Ramsdale show with a 9.0 rating. Newcastle had a 2.67xg to our 0.28 but just couldn’t beat him. The kind of game that wins you leagues.
CARABAO CUP 3RD ROUND
BRIGHTON 0
ARSENAL 0
(Arsenal won 3-0 on penalties)
Saliba chose the right game to be suspended as we travelled down to Brighton. I made eleven changes but named a strong bench. Brighton had started the season well with sitting top of the championship with six wins from seven. It showed as our best player was again the goalkeeper. Turner with an 8.4 not quite Ramsdale level but still good. A poor game with just three shots on target combined was decided by penalties. Wood, Buonanotte and Pereira all missed for Brighton while Jesus Vieiria and Elneny scored for us. Man citys poor domestic form continued. 14th in the league five points from five games they lost 1-0 at Wycombe. No wins in their last six. Chelsea also went out losing 1-0 at home to Newcastle. We would play Everton at the Emirates in the fourth Round. Salford at home to Man United and Bournemouth hosting Liverpool the pick of the other ties.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 3 – Saka 3 Tomiyasu 22 Jesus 90
LIVERPOOL 2 – Thiago 31 Odegaard o.g 52
Liverpool won both league games last season so it would be interesting to see if we could stop the rot meeting them at the Emirates. Pulisic was preferred to Martinelli in the only change from the win at Newcastle. We started well going 2-0 up after just 22 minutes. However goals either side of half time seemed set to earn Liverpool a deserved draw. But up popped Jesus from a Tomiyasu cross to earn the win.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE MATCHDAY 2
NICE 4 – Koita 1, 6 Laborde 23 Delort 56
ARSENAL 4 – Pulisic 10 60 71 Tierney 67
We travelled to Nice for out first away game and got off to the worst possible start giving away two sloppy goals to trail 2-0 inside 6 minutes. Pulisic pulled one back shortly after and I thought from that point we would run away with it but Nice went and scored again. They made it 4-1 after half time and I had to make a choice whether to take the loss or go and try and get back into it. I went with the latter and as we went all out attack the goals kept going in. Sadly having got back to parity we couldn’t find one more. Not a good game for the heart or the defence. Luckily Pulisic with a 9.7 saved our blushes. Partey limped off before the hour with an ankle injury meaning he would miss the next few games. Two draws from the first two games isn’t idea but with Partizan home and away to come we can be confident. Inter beat Belgrade 4-1 at the san siro which included a maitland-niles penalty.
PREMIER LEAGUE
TOTTENHAM 1 – Richarlison 79
ARSENAL 1 – Saka 61
Spurs weren’t the ideal opponents to be facing after a 4-4 draw. Unsurprisingly I set up much more rigid and it worked with both sides creating little. Tomiyasu was out but I thought it was too early for Rosier so played White at right back. Sakas second half goal seemed likely to be the winner only for Richarlison to slot past a poorly positioned ramsdale to equalise. Not the worst result. Just a 0.2xg for us plus only 51% possession.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 5 – Elneny 14 Odegaard 34 Pulisic 51 Nketiah 90 Kroos 90(pen)
CRYSTAL PALACE 2 – Zaha 17 Mateta 81
Post international break we responded well to the draw at Spurs. Saliba missed the game through injury but Elneny stepped up for Partey with a man of the match performance. We should have scored more.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE MATCHDAY 3
ARSENAL 3 – Saliba 10 Martienllli 11 Jesus 43 – Jesus miss/pen 48 Gabriel s/o 69
PARTIZAN BELGRADE 0
Having already lost 3-0 and 4-1 we added to belgrades woe with a routine win despite playing the last 20 or so minutes with ten men after Gabriel got a red card. Saliba joined him in being suspended for the next game after picking up a yellow card. On another day it could have been more painful. An xg of 3.83 hitting the woodwork three times and a missed penalty all letting the Serbian team off lightly. Inter and Nice drew 1-1 in the san siro meaning the top three all have five points after three games.
PREMIER LEAGUE
FULHAM 1 – Mitrovic 26
ARSENAL 4 – Odegaard 30 Nketiah 48 87 Vieria 68
Despite scoring in the last game Jesus wasn’t performing at his best so I took the chance to play Nketiah. He bagged a brace in a dominant display once we drew level. Vieria scoring his first of the season.
League Table
1. Man Utd P9 P23 GD22
2. Arsenal P9 P23 GD14
3. Wolves P9 P22 GD14
4. Chelsea P9 P20 GD18
5. Liverpool P9 P19 GD16
Us and Man United the only teams yet to lose a game. Man City under new manager Vincent Kompany are having a terrible season. 14th in the league, out of the carabao cup to Wycombe and also in danger of being knocked out in the champions league. West Ham and Burnley are in the relegation zone while Watford have lost all nine games scoring only three and conceding 27 including six at Man United and five at Chelsea.
Premier League Top scorers
Isak 9 De Bruyne, Barnes (wolves), Jesus, Lindstrom (Southampton) 6
Premier League Top Assists
Saka Mount 6 Chilwell Salah 5 Antony 4
Premier League Av Rating
Antony 7.77 Pavard (Liverpool) 7.63 Barnes 7.59 Isak 7.58 Rashford 7.57 ( 7th Saka 7.54)
Premier League Motm
Damsgaard 3 Antony Barnes Milinkovic-Savic (Liverpool) Rashford 2 ( =2nd Jesus, Saka 2)
Team XG
Liverpool 2.05 Chelsea 2.00 Man City 1.99 Man United 1.91 Newcastle 1.81 ( 8th Arsenal 1.44)
Team Av Possession
Chelsea 63% Arsenal 59% Liverpool 58% Man United 57% Tottenham 55%
Where’s Haaland?
14 league goals at this stage last Season there is no sign of Erling Haaland on the charts this time. Here is his season so far. It still isn’t too bad by normal standards.
Played 7(+3) Goals 7 Assists 0 MOM 2 Av Rating 7.28
Arsenal stats (1st team)
Appearances (17 played)
No youngsters yet.
Saka 13(+1) Gabriel, Kroos 13
Jesus 12(+2) Saliba Tomiyasu Ramsdale 12
Odegaard 11 Zinchenko 10(+2)
Martinelli 9(+4) Partey 7
Elneny 5(+5) Pulisic 5(+2)
Tierney 4(+5) Vieira 3(+9)
White 3(+3) Lokonga 3(+1)
Nketiah 2(+6) Turner 2
Smith Rowe 1(+6) Rosier 1(+3)
Umtiti 1
Goals
Jesus 7
Pulisic 6
Odegaard 4
Saliba, Saka Nketiah 3
Martinelli Kroos 2
Vieria Tierney Tomiasu Smith-Rowe Elneny 1
Assists
Saka 8
Odegaard, Kroos 5
Tomiyasu 3
Vieria Jesus Elneny 2
White Smith-Rowe Martinelli 1
Man of Match
Pulisic Ramsdale Saka Jesus 2
Turner Odegaard Saliba Elneny 1
Youth teams
With 36 players on loan the Under 21s have suffered and have only seven players in the squad which include two goalkeepers. I will address this for next season. Currently fifth in the league but not a lot of good to report. Goalkeeper Tom Smith has so far been by far and away the best player. The under 18s however bolstered from some regen signings are unbeaten at the top of their league. Omari Benjamin again leading the way with 22 goals.
Europa League / Champions League Conference League
Bayern and PSG are the only teams with a 100% record in the champions League. Liverpool, Barcelona and Dortmund all have six points in group A while Man City only have three trailing Bayern with nine and Real Sociadad on six. Man United are level with Real Madrid at the top of Group F with six points.
In the Europa League Spurs and Chelsea should qualify comfortably. As should West Ham in the conference league.
Europe
Domestically the same old story in Ligue 1 PSG have ten wins and a draw from their first eleven games. In italy the top seven are separated by just three points. Juventus lead the way. In Spain and Germany Real Madrid and Bayern are like PSG also unbeaten with both having 28 points from 30.
November/December Fixtures
Everton (H) – Carabao Cup 4th Round
West Ham (H)
Partizan Belgrade (A) – Champions League
Brentford (A)
Aston Villa (H)
Nice (H) – Champions League
Burnley (A)
Inter (A) - Champions League
Bournemouth (H)
Chelsea (A)
Watford (H)
Man United (A)
0 -
Arsenal Season 2 – Pre-Season / August
After a good first Season where we won the league I returned following my short summer holiday to begin the start of pre season and returning to proper European football in the name of Champions League.
I made a few staff changes bringing in a new regen assistant David Puig. Jose Fontes came in as loan manager.
We head many players returning from Loans plus a few I wanted to get rid of so balancing that wasn’t an easy task and took many sheets of paper trying to whittle down who I wanted to keep sell and loan. Even by 11pm on September 2nd I still wasn’t overly happy.
Transfers IN
Christian Pulisic 22m
Valentin Rossier – 10m
Samuel Umtiti – 165k
Cher Ndour - Free
Transfers OUT
Nuno Tavares – 11.75m – Rangers
Rob Holding – 8.25m – Ajax
Maitland Niles – 8m – Inter
Pablo Mari – 4.3m – Zenit
Lino Sousa – 1.2m – Bournemouth
Runnarson, Awe, Bandeira, Quamina, Taylor-Hart, Butler-Odeyeji and Kovacevic all departed for small fees.
36 players went out on loan including Xhaka, Cedric, Pepe and Balogun. The likes of Patino, Flores and Norton-Cuffy have also left with me feeling they are just short of being in the first team squad.
I tried to sell Xhaka Pepe and Cedric to gain funds but had no takers or the contracts were rejected. Pulisic adds depth to wide areas after Eden Hazard finished his loan spell. I should have kept Mari but needing a back up left footed Centre back the only decent option was Umtiti. Tomiyasu is current first choice but I expect Rosier to push him. Marquinhos has stayed at the club in the under 21s just in case we need him at some point. Of course lots of players can play in multiple different positions but I would have like one more winger to back up Saka.
Speaking of Saka with a 101m release clause I was worried Man City would pay it but the offer never came. I will try to extend his contract before January but his demands are very high. Bellingham has a release clause of 105m and although I don’t like spending that kind of money I would like to have him so am kind of saving up.
SQUAD - 4-2-3-1 wide
GK – Ramsdale – Turner
DL – Zinchenko – Tierney
DR – Tomiyasu – Rosier
DC – Gabriel - Umtiti
DC – Saliba – White
CDM – Partey – Elneny
CM – Kroos – Lokonga – Vieria
AMC – Odegaard – Smith-Rowe
AML – Martinelli – Pulisic
AMR – Saka
ST – Jesus - Nketiah
PRE SEASON
Pre-season saw us travel to Singapore. However, international tournaments in America and Africa slightly disrupted us.
The trip as well as the matches went well with all players contributing. We managed to win every game quite easily until a draw with Genk in the Emirates Cup semi-finals. As fun as it is to rack up the goals I don’t think I will be visiting Singapore again. Niigata were the domestic champions.
Milwall (A) 3-1 – Smith Rowe, Jesus (pen) Saka
Si Ling United (A) 16-0 – Vieria 3 Saliba Saka Smith-Rowe Nketiah 6 Odegaard Balogun Gabriel Kroos
Niigata Unicorn (A) 10-0 – Nketiah Partey 2 Marquinhos 2 Odegaard 2 Jesus 2 Saka
Colchester (A) – 2-0 – Martinelli Rekik
Anderlect (A) – 2-0 – Pepe Kroos
Emirates Cup
Genk – 1-1 (5-4pens) – White
Barcelona – 4-2 – Saka 2 Jesus Vieira
COMMUNITY SHIELD
ARSENAL 1 – Saliba 7
LIVERPOOL 1 – Fabinho 41 – Robertson s/o 42 Alexander-Arnold s/o 48
(Arsenal won 4-3 on penalties)
The season started with an entertaining if not frustrating curtain raiser at Wembley with Liverpool. Playing the last 42 minutes against 9-men despite 25 shots we just couldn’t score and were one kick away from an embarrassing loss only for Pavard to miss. Smith-Rowe struck the winning kick. No summer signings made debuts as Pulisic picked up an injury meaning he would be out until after the first international break and I didn’t find space in the game to bring Rosier on.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 3 – Jesus 8, 71 Saka 60
EVERTON 1 – Gordon 59
Our defence of the premier league began with a home game against Everton. We were good if not spectacular but a solid enough start. A hat-trick from Cody Gakpo saw Liverpool beat Burnley 5-1 at Anfield on the opening night. They look like being the biggest challengers again. We will play them in the penultimate game of the season at Anfield on May 11th. The last of four league away games in a row.
PREMIER LEAGUE
MAN CITY 3 – B. Silva 2, 75 De Bruyne 26
ARSENAL 3 – Odegaard 29 Saliba 30 Kroos 86
It was Man City away in our second game for the second consecutive season. Last time it was a 2-2 draw and on this occasion the same result. New manager Vincent Kompany left Haaland on the bench having also done so in their opening 4-1 win at Watford. New signing Declan Rice started. We were at full strength but didn’t play like it finding ourselves 2-0 down. Once odegaard and Saliba had pulled us level though the game became even and we dominated possession but City had more shots. A late Kroos equaliser very much deserved and another good point. Ederson with a 5.9 in the city goal.
League Table
Newcastle setting the pace in the early days. Spurs beat Liverpool 3-0 but lost at Man united in their opening games.
1. Newcastle P2 P6 GD7
2. Wolves P2 P6 GD5
3. Man Utd P2 P6 GD4
4. Man City P2 P4 GD3
5. Chelsea P2 P4 GD3
6. Arsenal P2 P4 GD2
Other News
The summer was busy with transfers both home and abroad. Liverpool spent nearly 140million to bring in Cody Gakpo and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. Chelsea signed Ferran Torres and Icardi. Koopmeniners went to Spurs. Man City brought in Declan Rice and Douglas Santos while Newcastle were the biggest spenders of all buying seven players with Pedro Porro the standout name. Man United didn’t spend a penny until deadline day when they brought in En-Nesyri. Leicester now in the championship lost Ndidi who went to real madrid, Tielemans and barnes but kept maddison, daka,vardy etc. Similarly Brighton also relegated only lost Trossard to Atalanta.
PSG raided the premier league taking Neves and Toney. They also signed Luis Suarez on a free transfer to go alongside my target Asensio. Real Madrid signed Todibo, Zubimendi and Sutalo. Chukwueze and former gunner Lucas Torreira joined Barcelona. Aubameyang went to Sociadad on loan. Germany and Italy were fairly quiet.
Guardiola became Chelsea manager. Two former arsenal players took up new roles. Arteta at Fiorentina and Vieira at Strasbourg. Internationally Rafa Benitez became England manager. Keeping my seat warm until after the Euros 2024.
Draws.
Back in the champions league we were given a favourable draws with Inter Partizan Belgrade and Nice. The balls weren’t so lucky for some of the other English teams. Liverpool will do well to get out of their group with Barcelona and Dortmund. Man United also won’t have it easy with Real Madrid, Benfica and Gladbach. Man City drew Bayern but should overcome Sociedad and Salzburg.
In the Europa and Conference League Spurs Chelsea and West Ham should comfortably qualify from their groups.
Last season we crashed out in the 4th round of the carabao cup on penalties to Aston Villa. Our third round would get underway at now championship side Brighton. Leeds host Man United and Chelsea play Newcastle in an otherwise tame 3rd round draw.
September/October Fixtures
Wolves (A)
Leeds (H)
Inter (H) - Champions League
Newcastle (A)
Brighton (A) – Carabao Cup 3rd Round
Liverpool (H)
Nice (A) - Champions League
Tottenham (A)
Crystal Palace (H)
Partizan Belgrade (H) - Champions League
Fulham (A)
0 -
Fm23 season 1 – MAY / END OF SEASON REVIEW
PREMIER LEAGUE
WOLVES 2 – Jimenez 33 Neto 48
ARSENAL 2 – Odegaard 44 Nketiah 73
We lead Liverpool by three points heading into the final four fixtures of the season. For the first one we found ourselves both playing at the same time away from home with us at Wolves and them at the trickier looking Newcastle. Ramsdale picked up an injury followed by a setback meaning he wouldn’t play again this season. Wolves had earlier in the season beaten Liverpool 4-1 at home, so I knew it would be difficult and so it proved. They were the far better team with 21 shots on goal to our 10 and a 2.31 xg to our 1.07. Jimenez missed a free header from about six yards out in the dying seconds. Partey picked up a yellow card which was his 15th in the league and meant a three match ban and no domestic games for the rest of the season. To compound our miserable day a Nunez brace saw Liverpool win 2-1 at Newcastle and move 1 point behind with a +20 on goal difference and us still to go to Chelsea.
EUROPA LEAGUE SEMI FINAL 1ST LEG
ROMA 4 – Cristante 15 Dybala 44 Zaniolo 88 Abraham 90
ARSENAL 2 – Jesus 53 Zinchenko 88
Having beaten Lazio in the previous round we returned to Rome to face Roma in the semi finals. Much like the Wolves game we were mostly outplayed with Roma having a 93% pass accuracy. We were 2-0 down at half time and I decided to shut up shop but from nowhere Odegaard produced a beautiful pass for Jesus and then Zinchenko scored a cracker for his first for the club. 2-2 was a good result but Roma retook the lead straight from kick off and with the last kick of the game Tammy Abraham gave them daylight with a header from a corner. Not out of it but work to do. Braces by Eriksen and Rashford saw Man United beat Leipzig 4-1 at Old Trafford which should mean enough to send them through to the final.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 4 – Gabriel 2 74 Hazard 28 Saliba 53 – Jesus miss/pen 57
NOTTINGAM FORREST 0
A game at home to already relegated Nottingham Forest was exactly what was needed. I rested Saka and Odegaard completely to keep the fresh for the Roma return leg and the Chelsea game. All three defender goals came from Fabio Vieria deliveries. Liverpool beat Man United 4-0 at Anfield to keep the gap the same. Darwin Nunez with a hat-trick. They would play first in the penultimate weekend away at Crystal Palace.
EUROPA LEAGUE SEMI FINAL 2nd LEG
ARSENAL 0
ROMA 1 – Abraham 90
I was confident heading into the second leg against Roma. Unfortunately, in a scrappier game than the one in Rome their stubborn defence were able to keep us at arms length until Abraham popped up with another 90th minute header from a corner. Man United lost 2-1 to Leipzig in germany but went through to the final 5-3 on aggregate.
PREMIER LEAGUE
CHELSEA 1 – Sterling 12
ARSENAL 2 – Jesus 22 Smith-Rowe 83
Things were slightly rosier as Odsonne Edouard hit a 93rd minute winner as relegation threatened Crystal Palace beat Liverpool 1-0 which meant a win at Stamford Bridge would give us the title with one game to go. The game was tight and tense and I would have taken a draw but with seven minutes to go Smith Rowe poked home at the back post to win us the league. Stamford Bridge joining White Hart Lane ’71, ’04, Old Trafford ’02 and Anfield ’89.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 0
BRENTFORD 1 – Toney 45
The final game of the season saw us host Brentford at a celebratory Emirates. On another day I would have been annoyed as we were the better team and should’ve won easily but the result didn’t matter.
Final Table
Premier league table - Played/Points/Goal Difference
1. Arsenal P 38 P 89 GD 47
2. Liverpool P 38 P 85 GD 68
3. Man Utd P 38 P 75 GD 37
4. Man City P 38 P 74 GD 41
5. Tottenham P 38 P 64 GD 21
Chelsea finished 6th one point behind Spurs. Bournemouth won at Aston Villa on the final day to stay up as Nottingham Forest, Brighton and Leicester were relegated.
Burnley and QPR were promoted automatically. Watford beat Middlesbrough in the playoff final.
Premier league season stats
Goals – Haaland 34, Jiminez 27 Toney, Salah 26 Jesus 22
Assists – Salah 16 Eriksen 15 Damsgaard 13 B Silva, Son 10 - (=8th Saka 9 )
AV Rating – Salah 7.78 Haaland 7.60 D Nunez 7.38 Mount 7.34 Tsimikas 7.27 ( - 7th Gabriel 7,25 )
MOM – Salah 14 Toney Jiminez 9 Haaland 8 Ronaldo 7 (=6th Odegaard 6 )
Clean Sheets – Alisson 17 Lloris 16 Raya 15 Ramsdale 13 Ederson 12
Possession – Arsenal, Chelsea 61% Man City, Tottenham 59 Liverpool 56
X.G – Liverpool 2.32 Man City 1.95 Arsenal 1.81 Newcastle 1.71 Man United 1.65
Pass Accuracy – Chelsea 91% Tottenham 90% Arsenal, Man City 89% Aston Villa 88%
Season Awards
Footballer of the Year – Mohamed Salah
Players Player of the Year – Mohamed Salah
Young Player of the Year – Erling Haaland
Golden Glove – Alisson
Manager – Kinglara
Team of the Season – Ramsdale Robertson Gabriel Saliba Alexander-Arnold Diaz Partey Keita Salah Jesus Haaland
Arsenal in the Premier League
Home
P 19 W17 D0 L2 GF51 GA14
Away
P19 W11 D5 L3 GF32 GA22
Overall
P38 W28 D5 L5 GF83 GA36
Performance timeline
WDWWWWDWLWWWWWWWWLWWWWDLWWWWWWWDWLDWWL
Arsenal premier league stats
Goals – Jesus 22 Nketiah 12 Saka 10 Odegaard 9 Martinelli, Gabriel 5 Smith Rowe Hazard 4 Xhaka Vieria 3 Saliba 2 Cedric Lokonga Elneny 1 Own goal - 1
Assists – Saka 9 Odegaard 8 Kroos 6 Vieria Zinchenko Martinelli 5 Xhaka Tomiyasu 4 Jesus lokonga hazard 3Tierney cedric Saliba Smith-Rowe Nketiah 2 Partey White Elneny 1
Mom – Odegaard 6 Saka Jesus 5 Gabriel 3 Xhaka Tierney 2 Vieria Partey Saliba Smith-Rowe Martinelli Lokonga Hazard 1
OVERALL SEASON STATS
Played
Goals / CS
Assists
MoM
Av rating
Odegaard
41
9
13
6
7.23
Gabriel
40
5
0
3
7.19
Jesus
39(+8)
32
4
7
7.09
Saka
39(+3)
10
10
5
7.16
Ramsdale
38
14
0
0
7.08
Partey
37
0
1
1
7.03
Martinelli
31(+12)
8
6
2
7.07
Zinchenko
31(+5)
1
6
1
6.99
Tomiyasu
31(+1)
0
4
0
7.00
Saliba
29(+1)
2
2
1
7.18
White
28(+5)
0
2
0
6.96
Tierney
21(+11)
0
2
2
7.02
Cedric
21(+2)
1
2
0
6.96
Hazard
20(+18)
6
3
1
6.89
Xhaka
20(+8)
5
6
2
7.24
Lokonga
17(+8)
1
6
1
7.37
Kroos
17(+5)
1
7
1
7.25
Turner
15
5
0
0
6.95
Nketiah
14(+19)
16
2
1
7.09
Elneny
12(+19)
4
1
2
7.27
Smith-Rowe
11(+15)
5
8
1
7.33
Vieria
9(+23)
4
8
2
7.11
Holding
8(+4)
0
0
0
7.06
Butler-Odeyeji
2(+2)
2
0
0
6.93
Marquinhos
1(+5)
0
0
0
6.70
Bandeira
1(+2)
0
0
0
7.05
Awe
1(+1)
1
0
1
8.00
Walters
1(+1)
0
0
0
7.00
Jeffcott
1
0
0
0
7.20
Ideho
0(+2)
0
1
0
7.50
Vigar
0(+1)
2
0
1
8.40
Nelson (Sold Jan)
7(+4)
1
3
0
7.14
Final Bits
Two goals in the last six minutes from Depay and Lewandowski saw Barcelona beat PSG 3-2 in the Champions League Final. Mbappe with a brace not enough for PSG
Our Semi final conquerors Roma beat Man United 2-0 in the Europa League final. A brace from Zaniolo
In the Conference League Fc Koln needed extra time to beat Monaco 2-1.
Domestically PSG totalled 105 points in winning Ligue 1. In Germany Bayern also won the title easily with Dortmund just scraping in the champions league places. Ac Milan won a tight three way battle in Italy despite losing to Inter on the final day. Juventus needing only a win could only draw at home to Roma. Finally, Real Madrid comfortably beat Barcelona to the title in Spain.
Liverpool needed penalties to beat Nottingham Forrest in the FA Cup final after a goalless draw at Wembley.
Man City sacked Guardiola. Potter also left Chelsea.
Final Summary
Premier League – 1st
Europa League – Semi Finals – Lost 5-2 on Agg to Roma
FA Cup – 3rd Round – Lost 1-0 at Home vs Crystal Palace
Carabao Cup – 4th Round – Lost 3-3 7-8 on penalties Away vs Aston Villa
Obviously delighted to win the league although it was tighter than I would have liked.
Our Fa Cup loss was unlucky but I would like to do better than that for next season and get to at least the latter stages. Back in the Champions League we will try to at least make it out of the group stages and go from there.
I will look for another winger and a right back in the summer plus replacing players that are sold. Lokonga and Smith-Rowe were two players that surprised me when looking back at the stats for the season and I will try and give them more game time. I want to bring in some of the youngsters like Patino and Awe to the first team as well.
Like most first seasons our goal outputs were poor. We also lost four of our last nine games winning only three which wasn’t a great way to end the season.
I will also replace and bring in better staff for all three teams.
0 -
FM23 SEASON 1 ARSENAL – MARCH/APRIL
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 2 – Jesus 64 Saka 79
MAN UNITED 1 – B. Fernandes 53
We faced a big challenge in our first game of March but rose to it well with a very convincing win. The scoreline flattered United. We should have won by a lot more.
EUROPA LEAGUE LAST 16 1ST LEG
FRANKFURT 1 – Kamada 33
ARSENAL 0
Our Europa League campaign continued with a clash against Frankfurt. They were languishing in midtable domestically and I was expecting a routine victory. We played a near full strength eleven but didn’t turn up and despite Saka and Xhaka hitting the crossbar we lost a tight game by a goal. I’m still confident of going through though.
PREMIER LEAGUE
LEICESTER 0
ARSENAL 1– Odegaard 90
Sandwiched in between was a tricky trip to Leicester. Liverpool had lost the previous day at Wolves so it was a chance to extend our lead at the top of the league. I again went strong making only three changes from the Frankfurt loss. Leicester made the game bitty giving away 23 fouls but had the better chances and deserved at least a draw. However having thrown the kitchen sink late odegaard headed in the winner after a vardy goal had been ruled out moments earlier for offside. The fifth 1-0(odegaard) match of the season.
EUROPA LEAGUE LAST 16 2nd LEG
ARSENAL 3 – Jesus 53, 70 Martinelli 76
FRANKFURT 1 – N’dicka 55
We qualified comfortably through to the Europa League quarters as I suspected with a good display. Frankfurt kept the ball well and had 47% possession which is higher than pretty much every team we have faced especially at the Emirates but it was only us that was creating the chances. They didn’t have a single player receive a rating over 6.9. Saka went off injured and would be out for a month. We would play Lazio in the Quarter Finals. The first leg being the Emirates bringing a different challenge. Man United eased past Nantes and would play Union Berlin. The other two matches were Roma vs Marseille and an all german clash with Leipzig vs Freiburg.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 4 – Smith Rowe 44 Jesus 47 68 Odegaard 52
EVERTON 1 – Mcneil 88 – Gordon miss/pen 4
Our first game back after the international break saw us host a struggling Everton. We had a sloppy first half first giving away e penalty which was saved by Ramsdale and then despite possession being unable to create much. A goal by Smith -rowe before half time though galvanised us and in the second half we were much better and ran away with it. A goal and assist for Smith Rowe on his first start since boxing day.
PREMIER LEAGUE
BOURNEMOUTH 2 – Zinchenko o.g 14 Billing 37
ARSENAL 4 – Jesus 59 83(pen) Hazard 75 Nketiah 90
A trip to relegation threatened Bournemouth seemed like an easy three points but 2-0 down at half time I had to get the hairdryer out. It worked though as second half we were much better. Smith-Rowe rolled his ankle and joined an ever extending injury list.
EUROPA LEAGUE LAST 16 1ST LEG
ARSENAL 1 - Patric o.g 85
LAZIO 0
Saliba returned to the bench after two months out. In the absence of Saka and Smith-Rowe I opted for Marquinhos at right wing. Quite a game to make his first start. Lazio committed 25 fouls but came to play and narrowly had more possession. Both teams had a 90% pass accuracy in a good game just lacking chances. Hazards shot deflecting off the unlucky Patric. A good win heading to Italy for the second leg.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 1 – Martinelli 83
CRYSTAL PALACE 0 – Konsa s/o 75
I hadn’t realised Fabio Vieira could play right wing before the Lazio game so he started at home to Palace. Saliba also came in for the rested Gabriel. Marquinhos looked like he had scored his first goal for Arsenal two minutes after Martinelli but it was disallowed for offside. Saka made his return from injury late on.
EUROPA LEAGUE LAST 16 1ST LEG
LAZIO 1 – Immobile 28 – Pedro s/o 40 Milinkovic-Savic s/o 56
ARSENAL 3 – Hazard 10 Jesus 15 Kroos 21
I expected a tough game In Italy but never got one as we raced into a 3-0 lead to basically kill the game in the first 20 minutes. Toni Kroos ran the show with an 8.8 rating including a rocket for the third goal. Lazio players got frustrated and two terrible challenges meant they played the last 35 minutes with 9 men. I rather have my players rested so just took the win. A tricky obstacle overcome. We would be staying in Rome for the semi-finals as we drew Roma. Man United eased to a 7-0 aggregate win over Union Berlin and will play Leipzig.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ASTON VILLA 2 – Watkins 53 Bailey 90
ARSENAL 2 – Gabriel 45 Jesus 90
We headed to Villa Park on a high after the Europa League win in Rome. Villa took advantage of tired legs and played pretty well having got back level. Gabriel giving us the lead heading in a Kroos corner on the stroke of halftime. Jesus seemed like he had bagged us a late winner after pouncing on a poor touch by mcginn in the area but before my park the bus tactics could be sent out bailey had equalised for Villa. They deserved it.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 3 – Jesus 38 45 47
SOUTHAMPTON 1 – Adams 46 – Ryerson s/o 40
We responded well three days later with a comfortable win over Southampton at the Emirates. I took the opportunity to rest Gabriel, Kroos, Partey and Odegaard. A red card for Southampton meant the game was done by half time.
PREMIER LEAGUE
WEST HAM 2 – Soucek 49(pen) Scamacca 83
ARSENAL 0
A fourth game in nine days proved too much as we lost a poor game at the London Stadium. Despite having 70% possession we had no energy and lost easily. Only four games left and still a three point lead but can’t afford another loss with a -22 goal difference to Liverpool.
Premier league table
1. Arsenal Played 34 Points 82 Goal Difference + 43
2. Liverpool P 34 P 79 GD 65
3. Man Utd P 34 P 70 GD 40
4. Man City P 34 P 67 GD 37
5. Tottenham P 34 P 58 GD 21
The top four seems done with City 9 points above Spurs. Nottingham Forrest are all but relegated with just 19 points. Brighton are five points off Palace in 17th so seem likely to also go down. Bournemouth are just a single point adrift and Fulham are also not safe yet. With one game left in the championship Burnley are promoted. QPR are all but there with a 3 point lead and 6 goal difference over preston in third. Six other teams can still make the play offs with one game left.
Title run-in –
Liverpools much tougher on paper but I would have preferred the United and Spurs games to be away rather than at Anfield
Arsenal – Wolves (A) Nottingham Forrest (H) Chelsea (A) Brentford (H)
Liverpool – Newcastle (A) Man United (H) Crystal Palace (A) Tottenham (H)
Relegation run-in -
Brighton (25 Points) – Crystal Palace (A) Brentford (H) Newcastle (A) Chelsea (H)
Bournemouth (29 Points) – Leicester (H) Leeds (A) Southampton (H) Aston Villa (A)
Crystal Palace (30 Points) Brighton (H) Fulham (A) Liverpool (H) Southampton (A)
Fulham (34 Points) – Chelsea (A) Crystal Palace (H) Everton (A) Wolves (H)
Premier League Top scorers
Haaland 29 Salah 26 Jimenez 24 Ronaldo, Jesus 21
Premier League Top Assists
Eriksen 15 Salah 13 Damsgaard, Harrison 10 B. Silva, Tsimikas, Saka, Son 9
Premier League Av Rating
Salah 7.79 Haaland 7.55 Tsimikas, Mount 7.34 Nunez 7.31 - (8th Xhaka 7.26)
Premier League Motm
Salah 13 Jimenez 8 Haaland, Toney, Ronaldo 7 – (=6th Odegaard, Jesus, Saka 5
Team XG
Liverpool 2.36 Man City 1.95 Arsenal 1.84 Man United 1.69 Newcastle 1.66
Team Av Possession
Arsenal 62% Chelsea 60% Man City, Tottenham 59% Liverpool 56%
Europe/Other News/Transfers
PSG have comfortably won Ligue 1. Just the 25 points above Nice with five games left. They have won 29 games but did suffer one loss 1-2 at home to Lille. Bayern have also had it easy in Germany winning the Bundesliga. Champions League places are tight though with Dortmund in danger of missing out. Real Madrid have all but secured the title in Spain. Finally in Italy Milan hold a four point lead over Juventus in second but have played a game more. Inter in third also aren’t out of it despite being 14 points behind have played three games less. There is a Milan derby in the final round of fixtures.
In the champions league Man City recovered from a 0-2 deficit to Bayern to stun them, 3-0 at the Etihad and progress. A Lukaku brace saw Inter beat Chelsea having won the first leg at Stamford Bridge. Liverpool knocked out Ream Madrid after winning 3-0 at Anfield. Courtois with a 5.9 rating. In the Quarters Liverpool and Ac Milan drew 2-2 at Anfield before the Italians won 2-0 in Italy. Man Citys quest for a first champions league was over after getting thumped 4-1 at the nou camp after drawing 0-0 in Manchester. Benfica held their nerve to see off Juventus and Hakimi hit an 88th minute equaliser which ended up with PSG beating inter on penalties after both games were drawn. The semi finals are Ac Milan vs PSG and Barcelona vs Benfica
In the conference league west ham were knocked out in the last 16 by Villarreal drawing 2-2 in Spain but losing 2-1 at home. The semi finals see Villarreal's conquerors in the quarters Koln play Austria Vienna and Monaco vs Real Sociedad.
The Fa Cup final will see Liverpool play Nottingham Forest.
The under 21s have won the premier division league, cup as well as the Johnsons paint trophy. Sadly in the international version they were knocked out in the group stages.
The Under 18s came 3rd in their league and were knocked out in the premier division cup but did manage to win the fa youth cup beating Chelsea in the final.
All the regens and youth candidates came in. We have a decent five star potential striker in Pearce Dymond. The rest are ok but nothing outstanding. There were a couple of decent players that we scouted but most wouldn’t come. I did snap up five players from other domestic academies and am still on the search for more.
Edu stupidly put a 101 million minimum release clause in Sakas new contract which means he may leave in the summer if Man City as expected match it. Xhaka also wants to go.
May Fixtures
Wolves (A)
Roma (A) - Europa League Semi Final 1st Leg
Nottingham Forrest (H)
Roma (H) - Europa League Semi FInal 2nd Leg
Chelsea (A)
Brentford (H)
0 -
On 22/02/2023 at 22:17, hasdgfas said:
Tight for you at the top! Good luck!
Thanks. Losing home and away to Liverpool hasn't helped!
0 -
FM23 SEASON 1 ARSENAL – JANAUARY/FEBRUARY
The good, the bad and the unlucky
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 7 – Cedric 11 Jesus 13, 45(pen) Odegaard 22 Saka 32 Martinelli 42 Elneny 77
BRIGHTON 2 – March 52 Buonanotte 78
Our last game in December had ended in a disappointing defeat at Old Trafford so I wanted to see a reaction in our next game less than 48 hours later and categorically got one. Unlikely goalscorer Cedric struck his first of the season and then turned provider two minutes later for Jesus. The other three attackers and a Jesus penalty made it 6-0 at half time. Brighton won the second half 2-1 but the players had their feet up by then.
FA CUP 3RD ROUND
ARSENAL 0
CRYSTAL PALACE 1 – Edouard 90
With a gap of a week before the next fixture I went strong for our FA Cup opener at home to Palace. The front four attackers all started as well as Lokonga and Cedric from the Brighton game. We dominated the game and Sam Johnstone was excellent by my blasé tactics at the end to get the winner came back to bite me as with no defenders back we got hit on the break from a corner and Edouard knocked us out of the cup with one of palaces only two shots on target.
PREMIER LEAGUE
LEEDS 0
ARSENAL 2 – Jesus 40 57
We Responded well to the disappointment of going out of the fa cup with a good win at leeds. A goal in each half by Jesus taking him to double figures in the premier league.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 1 – Vieria 88
TOTTENHAM 0
After going goalless at the Tottenham Stadium back in September we hosted Spurs at the Emirates. That day we were lucky to get a draw with Tottenham having a 3.19xg but this time they set up for another 0-0. It looked like happening but up popped Vieria off the bench to poke in a late winner. Turner deputising for an Ill ramsdale was never really tested.
TRANSFER DEADLINE DAY
A quick pause in the fixture list as we entered the last few days of the transfer window. Rob Holding seemed certain to leave to either Ajax or Newcastle but ended up rejecting both. Reiss Nelson did go though in a 7.5 million move to West Ham as I didn’t wish to extend his contract.
I didn’t plan to buy anyone but a trawl though the asking prices I saw Toni Kroos for 2.8 million and couldn’t say no.
The only player I tried to sign on a pre-contract was Asensio who I was close to getting in the summer but he chose PSG. I did sign one player for next season in the form of Danilo from Porto but I think I will loan him out.
IN
Kroos 2.8m
Out
Nelson 7.5m
Smith, Vigar. Sousa, Walters. Ideho – Loan
PREMIER LEAGUE
NEWCASTLE 3 – Isak 4 Joelinton 45 Murphy 81
ARSENAL 5 – Martinelli 30, 32 Jesus 42, 48 Saka 53
A 14 day break meant we were well rested for the trip to Newcastle. Ramsdale had recovered from a virus and started in goal. Kroos was on the bench on his first appearance We got off to a terrible start with Isak giving Newcastle a 4 minute lead. Martinelli struck twice in three minutes to turn the game around and when Jesus added a third before half time it seemed job done but Joelinton gave Newcastle a lifeline going into the break. Kroos came on at half time for the injured lokonga and after Jesus gave us daylight he set up sakas goal to finally put Newcastle out of reach before Jacob Murphy added a third for the toon late on. Saka outstanding with 2 assists to add to his goal and a 9.3 rating. Kroos debut saw a solid 7.8. A good result heading into the crunch Liverpool game.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 1 – Odegaard 90
LIVERPOOL 2 – Diaz 24 Salah 65
We headed into the top of the table clash with Liverpool 4 points clear. Unfortunately we produced our worst performance of the season to deservedly lose 2-1. A very poor display. The gap cut to 1 with Man City also not far behind.
PREMIER LEAGUE
BRIGHTON 1 – Welbeck 84
ARSENAL 1 – Saka 46
News didn’t improve with Saliba ruled out for two months with a hip injury. Ben White has been very unhappy at not playing but will now get a chance. We had scored 7 at the Emirates against Brighton but found goals harder to come by at the amex. We produced a better performance than the Liverpool game though and looked like getting a vital 1-0 win only for Danny Welbeck to sucker punch us with a late equaliser. Liverpool beat Man City 2-0 at Anfield the same evening who we would play next.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 1 – Odegaard 78
MAN CITY 0
31 goal Erling Haaland was suspended for the game in a huge stroke of luck. They were also missing Grealish and Walker. City had come to the emirates off the back of two 2-0 defeats to Liverpool and Bayern Munich. They dominated the first half having 59% possession but had nobody to finish the chances. We were better in the second and pulled possession back to 50/50 by the end of the game. Odegaard striking a low shot past Ederson with 12 minutes to go. City failed to have a single effort on target from their 14 shots. Seven points clear of City with a game in hand should be enough of a lead. A big win.
PREMIER LEAGUE
FULHAM 0
ARSENAL 1 – Odegaard 47
It was Adam Websters turn to score a late equaliser for Brighton this time at Liverpools expense on the Friday night football. We took full advantage on the Saturday with a nervy win at Fulham. Odegaard again scoring the only goal from of all things a header. Just 4 goals in our last 4 games. One point clear at the top but a whopping 21 behind in goal difference.
Premier league table
1. Arsenal Played 26 Points 63 Goal Difference +35
2. Liverpool P 26 P 62 GD 56
3. Man City P 26 P 56 GD 35
4. Man Utd P 26 P 52 GD 25
5. Chelsea P 27 P 46 GD 10
Spurs are a point behind Chelsea. Fulham Wolves Bournemouth and Brighton are separated by just two points from 16th-19th. Nottingham Forest are 10 adrift at the bottom and will need a miracle to stay up. In the championship Burnley are 8 points clear while Watford QPR and Sheffield United are fighting for the other promotion spot. 6th-19th is separated by just 5 points.
Premier League Top scorers
Haaland 26 Salah 23 Jimenez 17 Ronaldo 16 Toney 14 - (=8th Jesus 12)
Premier League Top Assists
Salah 11 Silva, Tsimikas, Saka 8 Eriksen 7
Premier League Av Rating
Salah 7.96 Haaland 7.69 Tsimikas 7.40 Foden 7.36 Mount 7.32 (7th Xhaka 7.30)
Premier League Motm
Salah 12 Haaland 7 Ronaldo Toney 6 Goncalves 5 (=8th Odegaard, Saka 4
Team XG
Liverpool 2.49 Man City 1.96 Newcastle 1.81 Arsenal 1.80 Man United 1.71
Team Av Possession
Arsenal 61% Chelsea 60% Man City, Tottenham 59% Aston Villa, Liverpool 56%
Arsenal stats (1st team)
Appearances (35 played)
Saka 27 (+1) Ramsdale 26
Odegaard Gabriel 25 Martinelli 23 (+4)
Partey 23 Saliba 22
Jesus 21(+8) Tomiyasu 20
Tierney 17(+8) Zinchenko 17(+4)
Xhaka 16(+4) White Lokonga 15(+4)
Nketiah 14(+9) Cedric 14 (+2)
Hazard 10(+13) Elneny 9(+14)
Turner 9 Smith Rowe 8 (+10)
Holding 7 (+3) Vieira 5(+15)
Kroos 4(+1) Butler-Oyedeji 2(+2)
Bandeira 1(+2) Awe Walters 1(+1)
Jeffcott 1 Ideho 0(+2)
Vigar, Marquinhos 0(+1)
Goals
Jesus 18
Nketiah 14
Saka 9
Odegaard, Martinelli 6
Xhaka 5
Elneny Vieira 4
Smith-Rowe Hazard 3
Gabriel, Butler-Odeyeji, Vigar 2
Awe Cedric Lokonga Saliba Nelson 1
Assists
Saka 8
Odegaard 7
Xhaka 4 Smith-Rowe 6
Martinelli Lokonga 5
Vieria Zinchenko 4
Tomiyasu, Nelson 3
Tierney Cedric Nketiah Jesus Hazard Kroos 2
Partey 1 Saliba White Ideho 1
Man of Match
Odegaard Saka Jesus 4
Xhaka, Vieria, Tierney, Martinelli, Gabriel, Elneny 2
Awe Partey Nketiah Lokonga Hazard, Vigar 1
Europe/Other News/Transfers
Celtic were knocked out of the last 32 in the Europa league on penalties to Freiburg. The draw for the next round sees us play Frankfurt. Man united are against Nantes. It looks like us and United are among the heavy favourites to make the final. In the champions league all three English sides lost their first knockout round ties. Chelsea the only one losing at home though so nothing is over. In the conference league West Ham face a tough tie against Villarreal.
West Ham beat Man City 9-8 on penalties to win the Carabao Cup. Ake the only player to miss. Scamacca had given the hammers a 13th minute lead only for Haaland to equalise in the 90th minute. Two minutes into extra time Kalvin Phillips was sent off for City but West Ham couldn’t find the goal.
Both teams are out of the Fa Cup with City losing 2-1 at the Etihad to Chelsea from a 91st minute winner from Aubameyang. Man United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs all kept apart in the fifth round draw. My conquerers Villa are at home to Bournemouth.
A few manager sackings and replacements in the premier league. Conte was replaced at Spurs by Luis Enrique. Neil Lennon became manager of Leicester and Mark Van Bommel joined Brighton. Eight managers replaced this season if if I am included as well.
The January transfer window was quiet on the whole. Nicolaz Gonzarlez joined Newcastle from Fiorentina for 48 million in the biggest deal. Man united signed Mac Callister from Brighton for 32m. United also signed Thauvin for 18m
March/April Fixtures
Man United (H)
Frankfurt (A) – Europa League 1st Leg
Leicester (A)
Frankfurt (H) – Europa League 2nd Leg
Everton (H)
Bournemouth (A)
Palace (H)
Villa (A)
Southampton (H)
West Ham (A)
0 -
16 hours ago, hasdgfas said:
@KingLara you seem to be doing a lot of tactical swaps here! I've usually struggled with that, but it seems to be going fine for you.
I pretty much play the same system just make minor tweaks depending on personel etc. I agree with not making too many radical changes.
0 -
FM23 SEASON 1 ARSENAL – NOVEMBER/DECEMBER
World cup fever but still strong domestically.
EUROPA LEAGUE
AS MONACO 1 – Ben Yedder 18 – Camara s/o 45
ARSENAL 3 – Awe 19 Martinelli 47 Xhaka 83
The group stages concluded with on paper its toughest fixture. After five wins from five we were guaranteed top spot but the clash of the under 21s own European fixture meant I played more of a second string than a youth team. Zinchenko, Gabriel and Elneny were all one yellow card away from suspension so I left them out completely. Zach Awe was the only under 21 to feature from the start having not played in the other game. I started Martinelli upfront as he had still yet to score. Monaco struck first through Ben Yedder before Awe got a goal from a smith rowe free kick. The game was even but Camara got himself sent off and the second half was a stroll. Martinelli duly did bag his first of the campaign while Xhaka came off the bench to rocket a shot past Nubel for a 3-1 win. Six out of six in a tricky group stage well negotiated. Freiburgs 2-0 win against Zurich in the final game meant they progressed and Monaco dropped down to the conference league. Zurich finish bottom with 1 goal scored and 20 conceded.
1st ARSENAL 9 Points 2nd Freiburg 9 3rd Monaco 9 4th Zurich 0
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 4 – Nketiah 4, 77 Vieria 36 Saka 46
BOURNEMOUTH 1 – Rothwell 77
We eased to a win at the emirates against Bournmouth with two goals being scored in the same minute. Rothwells came first.
CARABAO CUP 3RD ROUND
ARSENAL 4 – Jesus 16 54 Elneny 27 79
BIRMINHAM 1 – Sanderson 15
Our Carabao cup journey started at home to Birmingham. Scheduled on the same day as the under 21s youth game against Bayern I again fielded the first team fringe players. We recovered well from going a goal down to net a good win with two Elneny crackers continuing his good form. There is usually one casualty and it was Liverpool who lost 2-1 at stoke. Newcastle nearly joined them in being knocked out but overcame Norwich on penalties. We would face Aston Villa away in the fourth round. Chelsea vs Spurs the pick of the ties.
PREMIER LEAGUE
EVERTON 0
ARSENAL 1 – Hazard 49
The final match before the world cup saw us travel to Goodison Park. Despite both scoring braces in the previous game Jesus and Elneny found themselves back on the bench. It was not the most exciting game with a combined 1.05 xg but Hazards bit of quality got the winner. Lampard was sacked afterwards. Liverpools draw at Aston Villa meant we had a five point cushion heading into the world cup. Odegaard returned from injury added a further boost.
CARABAO CUP 4th ROUND
ASTON VILLA 3 – Watkins 38 Bailey 43 Ings 50
ARSENAL 3 – Xhaka 8 Martinelli 23 Smith Rowe 90 – Xhaka s/o 34
Aston villa won 8-7 on penalties.
We had two friendlies after the world cup winning 1-0 in Greece against Paok thanks to odegaard and then winning 2-0 at the Emirates to dutch team RKC Waalwijk with Jesus and Smith Rowe scoring in a very ill tempered game that saw 12 yellow cards and Elneny miss a penalty. Due to it being the first game after the world cup I played a strong side with White and Holding the only non regular starters. We got off to a great start going 2-0 up early but then Xhaka stupidly got himself sent off and despite shutting up shop Villa were back level by half time. They took the lead through Ings and that seemed to be it but I threw a few men forward late on and Smith Rowe managed to prod in a late equaliser to send the game to penalties. Villa scored all eight of their penalties with ramsdale doing a great impression of real life Petr Cech and diving the wrong way almost every time. Tomiyasu eventually missed our one. A shame to go out but at least a few less games. Chelsea hammered Spurs 4-0 in one of the other fourth round ties while Man United also suffered penalty loss away at Hull. They play Everton in the quarters while Villa are at home to Leicester. Man City vs Millwall and West Ham vs Chelsea the other ties.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 6 – Martinelli 46 Nketiah 52 Smith-Rowe 56 Lokonga 73 Jesus 77, 79
LEICESTER 0
We responded well to the villa loss with my biggest win so far. 0-0 at half time I told the players I expected more and they delivered in style. Poor Leicester just fell apart. Lokonga starting ahead of Xhaka was outstanding. Food for thought going forwards.
PREMIER LEAGUE
MAN UNITED 2 – Sancho 34 Martinez 57
ARSENAL 1 – Odegaard 50
New Years eve saw us visit Old Trafford. Lokonga kept his place and despite playing well and having 63% posession we succumbed to two soft goals and lost 2-1. Odegaard scoring just his second of the season. Not a great way to end the month and year but we still have a 2-point lead.
Premier league table
1. Arsenal Played 18 Points 44 Goal Difference + 24
2. Liverpool P 18 P 42 GD 40
3. Man City P 18 P 39 GD 26
4. Chelsea P 18 P 34 GD 10
5. Man Utd P 18 P 33 GD 8
Nottingham Forrest are 10 points below safety and look likely to go down. Fulham and Brighton also in the relegation zone. In the championship Burney and Watford look well set for promotion.
EUROPE
No real surprises in the Europa league group stages. Feyenoord finished second in their group behind Betis. Sociedad finished third but had a tough group with Fenerbahce and Lazio.
One smile to be had watching the champions league from afar. Spurs finished bottom of their group after losing the crunch final match 1-0 to Celtic in Glasgow. Chelsea went through but as runners up with Milan going above them after the final matchday. They face the other Milan, Inter in the second round. Bayern play Man City and Liverpool are up against Real Madrid.
In the conference league West Ham topped their group but Hearts and Dundee went out.
WORLD CUP
Tomiasu, Saliba and Martinelli among the surprises left out.
Arsenal players
England – Ramsdale, Nketiah, Saka, White
Ghana – Partey
Brazil – Jesus, Gabriel
Switzerland – Xhaka
USA – Turner, Balogun
Belgium – Hazard. Lokonga
Tunisia – Rekik
Group Stage
The World Cup kicked off with Holland thumping Qatar 6-0. The hosts would also concede six in the next game against Senegal. However Ecuador would pip the african champions to second spot in the group behind the dutch. England got off to a good start in Group B beating Usa 3-1 in the first game thanks to two Harry Kane Penalties. Ramsdale the only gunner to play from either side. However a 1-0 defeat to Wales thanks mostly due to a reece James red card saw the top three all finish on six points. England only managed a 1-0 win over Iran (kane again) and went home early on their head to head result with wales. Argentina, Mexico France and Denmark qualified from Groups C and D while Germany and Spain sent a tomiyasu-less Japan home in the first round. Croatia couldn’t recover from losing to Morocco in the opening game and went out. Belgium came top. Serbia finished above Brazil in Group G on goal difference despite their game finishing 4-1 to the Brazilians. Portugal failed to win a game as Uruguay and Ghana went through in group H.
Second Round
Neymar was sent off as Uruguay beat Brazil 2-0 while Serbia and Belgium needed penalties to beat Ghana and Spain. No other surprises in the other games. Holland easily dispatching the welsh.
Wales 2-4 Holland, Argentina 2-0 Denmark, France 2-1 Mexico, USA 4-3 Ecuador (AET)
Ghana 1-1 Serbia (Serbia 5-3 on pens) Morocco 0-3 Germany Brazil 0-2 Uruguay Belgium 1-1 Spain (Belgium 10-9 on pens)
Quarter-Finals
Serbia earned a superb win over Germany while Lionel Messi struck a 94th minute winner as Argentina beat Holland. Luis Suarez hit a hat-trick and Eden Hazard was sent off as Uruguay beat Belguim in a brilliant game while France edged out USA.
Serbia 1-0 Germany, Holland 1-2 Argentina
Uruguay 5-2 Belgium, USA 1-2 France
Semi-Finals
Argentina left messi on the bench but still easily beat Serbia. While despite scoring again Suarez wasn’t able to prevent Uruguay losing to France.
Argentina 5-1 Serbia
France 2-1 Uruguay
3rd play off/Final
The 3rd place play off saw Serbia beat Uruguay on penalties whole had played much of the game with ten men. An Argentina vs France world cup final had a distinct déjà vu. Not quite the same spectacle though with just a 0.78xg. Lionel Messi did get his moment of magic and struck the winner in the 46th minute.
Serbia 1-1 Uruguay (Serbia win 5-3 on penalties)
France 0-1 Argentina – Messi 46
World cup stats
Top Scorers – Suarez 8 Mbappe 5 Alvarez 4 Kane 3 Lewandowski 3
Top Assists – Tadic Nkunku 4 Stengs Vlahovic Arrascaeta 3
Top Av Rating – Vlahovic 8.02 Lewandowski 7.93 Noboa 7.75 Nunez 7.62 De Ligt 7.53
Mom – Vlahovic Suarez 3 Kane Lewandowski Zigi 2
TOTT – Guzman Acuna Molina Boyata Kounde Lazovic Messi Kante E. Ferandez Giroud Mbappe
Arsenal at the world cup
No appearances for Balogun. Jesus producing the only goals and assists in an otherwise poor tournament for our representatives.
Ramsdale Played 3 Clean Sheets 1 Conceded 2 Assists 0 Av Rating 6.87
Saka Played 1 Goals 0 Assists 0 Av Rating 6.7
Nketiah Played 1 Goals 0 Assists 0 Av Rating 6.4
White Played 0(+1) Goals 0 Assists 0 Av Rating 6.9
Turner Played 1 Clean Sheets 1 Conceded 0 Assists 0 Av Rating 7.5
Hazard Played 4 Goals 0 Assists 0 Av Rating 6.6
Lokonga Played 1(+3) Goals 0 Assists 0 Av Rating 7.1
Xhaka Played 0(+3) Goals 0 Assists 0 Av Rating 6.57
Gabriel Played 0(+3) Goals 0 Assists 0 Av Rating 6.65
Jesus Played 3 Goals 1 Assists 2 Av Rating 7.10
Partey Played 3(+1) Goals 0 Assists 0 Av Rating 6.93
Rekik Played 2(+1) Goals 0 Assists 0 Av Rating 6.0
January/February Fixtures
Brighton (H)
Crystal Palace (H) – FA Cup 3rd Round
Leeds (A)
Tottenham (H)
Newcastle (A)
Liverpool (H)
Brighton (A)
Man City (H)
Fulham (A)
0 -
FM23 ARSENAL SEASON 1 – SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER
A busy two months but going well.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 1 – Nketiah 82
CHELSEA 0
Our first game of September saw us host Chelsea at the Emirates. It was Hazards first game as an arsenal player so naturally he had to start due to it being against his former club. Sadly he recorded only a 6.7 in an overall poor display from the team. Xhaka was suspended after having his one match ban for getting sent off in August at Wolves extended. A team average rating of 6.96 is not what I want to see in a big game at home. Fortunately for us Ramsdale was in good form and Nketiah came off the bench to grab a late underserved winner. A fourth 1-0 win in the first six games.
EUROPA LEAGUE
ARSENAL 4 – Nketiah 1, 14, 40, 49
MONACO 2 – Ben Yedder 26 Boadu 80
Cards on the table, I don’t care about the Europa League. I forgot to add Matt Smith, Marquinhos, M’Hand, Ibrahim and Sousa to the squad registration so all were ineligible for the group stages. I did like all the glossy indents though and look forward to seeing the champions league version next season. Our tournament began at home to Monaco. Xhaka due to being suspended domestically started as did Gabriel and Odegaard as I wanted to get off to a good start and Monaco have some dangerous players. Nketiah struck all four goals in a perfect 10 display. Zach Awe made is debut late on. A good performance and win.
PREMIER LEAGUE
TOTTENHAM 0
ARSENAL 0
We headed down the road for the first north London derby of the season. After his four goal haul Nketiah kept his place. Both teams combined to hit the woodwork five times but Spurs missed the only two clear cut chances of the game. I was happy to come away with a point.
EUROPA LEAGUE
SC FREIBURG 0
ARSENAL 1 – Nelson 39
A fifth 1-0 win of the season. Midfield and defence excellent, attack apart from nelson not so much.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 3 – Hazard 18 Nketiah 54, 59
LEEDS 1 – Harrison 9
We had a good response against Leeds in our next game as Eden Hazard got his first goal for the club. A commanding display saw more attacking intent as we had 28 shots on the Leeds goal but only three managed to go in.
PREMIER LEAGUE
LIVERPOOL 2 – Salah 66 Thiago 87(pen)
ARSENAL 1 – Nketiah 25
Our first game post international break saw us travel to Anfield. We were dreadful and suffered our first defeat of the season. Even though Thiago needed a soft penalty to score a late winner Liverpool dominated the game.
EUROPA LEAGUE
ARSENAL 5 – Jesus 25 41 53 75(pen) Elneny 72
FC ZURICH 0
We responded well to the anfield defeat with a thumping win over Zurich at the emirates. Jesus had been stuck on the bench or the treatment room recently so was good to see him find his shooting boots. Tomiyasu also returned after being injured in the win over Spurs. Elneny with one of his 30 yard specials just to add a cherry on the cake. Butler-Odeyeji and Walters the latest young guns to make their debuts late on.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 4 – Jesus 28 Xhaka 44, 78 Saka 50
NEWCASTLE 1 – Isak 66
Similar to Nketiah after his four goals against Monaco Jesus kept his place in the starting eleven. He opened the scoring in another free flowing display.
EUROPA LEAGUE
ARSENAL 3 – Butler-Odeyeji 25 72 Vieira 77
FC ZURICH 0
I wanted to try an experiment against Southampton on the Sunday so rested both strikers and started Butler-Odeyeji. A goal in each half against a very poor Zurich team. Every player scored above a 7 rating. Vieria the highest with an 8.9. Bandeira and Ideho were the latest to make debuts.
PREMIER LEAGUE
SOUTHAMPTON 1 – Armstrong 25(pen)
ARSENAL 2 – Gabriel 55 Nketiah 71 – Hazard s/o 72
I decided to pair both strikers together so played a 4-2-2-2 with two defensive midfielders and two wingers. It meant no place for Odegaard. A feisty game saw 8 yellow cards and 1 red. Despite having 75% of the ball we needed a bit of luck to get out of St Marys with a win. Gabriel scoring our first set piece goal of the season.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 2 – Nketiah 10 Jesus 28
ASTON VILLA 0
Back at home and missing Partey through suspension I played the same team but with Odegaard as a cam and Xhaka covering the centre. I felt we didn’t need a dm at home. Both strikers scored in the first half an hour and it was game management from there on in. A pretty drab midweek game.
PREMIER LEAGUE
CRYSTAL PALACE 2 – Ayew 24 Milivojevic 37
ARSENAL 3 – Gabriel 30 Xhaka 32 Nketiah 62
Odegaard was injured in training the day before the game and would be out for around 4-6 weeks. With him injured it was back to the 4-2-2-2. It worked well on the whole and we created enough chances but were hit on two counter attacks. Palace managed to score twice from just a 0.31xg. Still, we held on and recorded our sixth win in a row.
EUROPA LEAGUE
ARSENAL 3 – Hazard 8(pen) Vigar 78, 82
SC FREIBURG 1 – Griffo 31
With four wins from four just a draw would see us progress as group winners. I afforded the luxury of starting a few youngsters with Jeffcott and Walters at full back, Bandeira alongside Lokonga in midfield and Butler-Oyedeji again leading the line upfront. Despite the youth we played well and had a 4.19 xg only for flekken in the Freiburg goal to keep the score down. I had given every first team member that had played 10 matches five days off so had 12 youngsters on the bench but picked the right one Billy Vigar to come on and score a brace to give us the win.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 3 – Saka 15 Vieria 74 Saliba 90
WEST HAM 1 – Cresswell 46 – Paqueta s/o 32
The final game of an exhausting October saw the visit of West Ham. I threw Vigar on the bench as a reward for his brace against Freiburg but unfortunately the nature of the game meant I couldn’t bring him on. We started well with Saka opening the scoring and then Paqueta getting himself stupidly sent off. However West Hams only shot on target of the game a cresswell free kick flew in and we couldn’t seem to get the winner until finally Vieria curled in a beauty. Saliba scored his first goal for us in stoppage time. 38 shots was a season high although 84 passing accuracy lower than the usual early nineties. It was however our eighth win in a row and a perfect October record after the defeat at Anfield.
Premier League Table
1. Arsenal Played 14 Points 35 Goal Difference +15
2. Liverpool P 14 P 32 GD 31
3. Man City P 14 P 27 GD 17
4. Man Utd P 14 P 26 GD 8
5. Tottenham P 14 P 26 GD 6
Newcastle and Chelsea trail Spurs and Man United by a single point in a tight top 7. Brighton Fulham and Nottingham Forest are in the bottom 3.
Premier League Top scorers
Haaland 14 Salah 12 Jimenez 9 Ronaldo Scamacca Trossard 8 - (=7th Nketiah 7)
Premier League Top Assists
Silva 6 Sancho Tsimikas Salah Harrison Lingard 5 - (=7th Odegaard 4)
Premier League Av Rating
Salah 7.81 Haaland 7.68 Foden 7.45 Keita 7.42 Nunez 7.42 (= 7th Xhaka 7.35)
Premier League Motm
Salah 5 Haaland 4 Aubameyang Eduoard Coutinho Scamacca KUlusevski Jimenez 3 (=9th Xhaka Odegaard 2)
Team XG Av per 90mins
Liverpool 2.42 Man City 2.22 Arsenal 1.86 Newcastle 1.83 Leicester 1.48
Team Av Possession
Arsenal 61% Chelsea 60% Tottenham 58% Man City 58% Liverpool 56%
Arsenal stats (1st team)
Appearances (19 played)
Gabriel 15 Ramsdale, Saka 14
Xhaka, Saliba 13 Odegaard 12
Jesus 11(+5), Partey 11
Tierney Nketiah (9+4), Zinchenko 9(+3)
Martinelli 9 (+2), Cedric 9 (+1)
Tomiyasu 9, Hazard 7 (+4)
Lokonga 6 (+4), White 6 (+2)
Elneny 5 (+9), S-Rowe 5 (+6)
Nelson 5 (+4), Turner 5
Vieria 4(+4), Holding 4 (+1)
B-Oyedeji 2(+1), Walters, Bandeira 1(+1)
Jeffcott 1, Ideho 0 (+2)
Vigar, Awe 0 (+1)
Goals
Nothing for the fullbacks or Martinelli yet
Nketiah 11
Jesus 8
Saka 5
Xhaka Gabriel Vieria Hazard B-Odeyeji, Vigar 2
Odegaard Saliba S-Rowe Nelson Elneny 1
Assists
Odegaard 5
Xhaka 4
S-Rowe 3
Vieria Zinchenko Tomiyasu Nelson Martinelli Lokonga Hazard 2
Cedric Saliba Saka Nketiah Jesus Ideho 1
Man of Match
Xhaka Vieria Odegaard Saka Jesus 2
Partey Tierney Nketiah Gabriel Hazard Elneny Vigar 1
Youth Teams
The Under 21s are top of their group aided by 9 goals from Vigar and 8 from Cozier-Duberry. Matt Smith leading the team well with an average rating of 7.47. The have qualified for the next round of the papa johns but in the domestic cup have work to do after just two points from three games,
The Under 18s are second in the south group behind runaway leaders Norwich. They have won their first two matches of the cup. Omari Benjamin has 21 goals at an average rating of 7.86. Still only 16 but one to keep an eye on. Seb Ferdinand also performing well.
Europa League / Champions League Conference League
Not much to report on the Europa League. No real surprises or casualties at this stage. Man United should also qualify in first place.
In the champions League Spurs are out. Despite beating Celtic in their opening game have gone on to lose home and away to Bayern and Napoli. Celtic will finish above them if they beat them in the final matchday. All four teams can qualify from Group E with Chelsea on 8 points with AC Milan and Dortmund 7 and Marseille 6. Chelsea travel to Marseille in the final game. All the other big guns are safely through.
West Ham have qualified from their Europa Conference group.
Europe
Domestically in Ligue 1 PSG are unbeaten after 11 wins in their first 13 games. In Germany Bayern lead Hoffenheim by four points with a game in hand. Milan and Juventus are separated by a point in Italy while Real Madrid lead a tight race in Spain with 8 teams above 20 points.
November December Fixtures
Set to be a strange two months disrupted by the world cup before two tricky trips against Leicester and heading to Old Trafford on New Years Eve.
Monaco (A) – Europa League Matchday 6
Bournemouth (H)
Birmingham (H) – Carabao Cup 3rd Round
Everton (A)
Leicester (H)
Man United (A)
0 -
FM23 Season 1 – Arsenal
A bit late to get started but I finally am underway with FM23.
[PRE SEASON]
Pre-season began with the usual staff culls. I improved most areas of the first team as well as a more varied scouting network. Wilshere is still Under 18s manager and looks promising going forward but Mehmet Ali was sacked and replaced by Bryan Klug in the under 21s.
[TRANSFERS]
I looked at a few options but ultimately only made one loan signing in the form of Eden Hazard on the penultimate day. His debut will be against Chelsea. I was tempted by Asensio for 18m but his contract is expiring in a year so I might go back for him in January for Season 2 unless something better comes along.
Outgoings saw Cirjan, Sweet, Graczyk, H-Francis, Lewis and Edwards all go out in loan. Nobody was sold.
[SQUAD]
I will stick to White as a Centre back for now. Marquinhos will have a season in the under 21s unless he is loaned out.
GK – Ramsdale – Turner
DL – Zinchenko – Tierney
DR – Tomiyasu – Cedric
DC – Gabriel – Holding
DC – Saliba – White
DMC – Partey – Elneny
MC – Xhaka – Vieria – Lokonga
AMC – Odegaard – S-Rowe
AML – Martinelli – Hazard
AMR – Saka – Nelson
ST – Jesus – Nketiah
[Pre-Season Fixtures]
We got off to a dreadful start as a near full strength eleven lost at RB Salzburg. We picked it up from there winning four in a row including a 4-1 thumping of Barcelona at the Emirates before a mishmash team lost at Celtic just a few days before the league opener.
RB Salzburg (A) – 0-2
AYR United (A) – 3-1 – Marquinhos x2 Gabriel
Hartlepool (A) – 5-0 – Tierney, Vieria, Jesus, Saka, Nketiah
Anderlect (A) – 2-0 – Marquinhos Jesus
Barcelona (H) – 4-1 – Jesus (x3-2pen) S-Rowe
Celtic (A) 1-3 – Saka
[August}
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 1 – Odegaard 22
FULHAM 0
We began the season at home to Fulham. We put in a good display having 23 attempts and 72% possession but only got the one goal. Jesus went off injured and would need an injection to play at Man City the next game.
PREMIER LEAGUE
MAN CITY 2 – Haaland 62 Akanji 71
ARSENAL 2 – Jesus 55 S-Rowe 83
It wasn’t the easiest fixture for the second game of the season. City were held at Leicester in their opening fixture but had won the community shield 2-0 against Liverpool at Wembley. I named an unchanged team with City at full strength. The game was pretty even in terms of possession and XG and a draw a deserved and good result even if the performance wasn’t the best.
PREMIER LEAGUE
NOTTINGHAM FORREST 0
ARSENAL 1 – Saka 90
Nketiah replaced Jesus in the only change from the City draw. We put in a better performance but need a defensive error to score the winner in the third minute of added time. Saka coming to life for the first time this season.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 3 – Saka 45pen, 76 Jesus 88 – Xhaka s/o 55
WOLVES 2 – Nunes 41 Jimenez 54
We again needed a late winner but the game was more of a rollercoaster. We had nearly a +4 XG over wolves who had passing stats of 59% and 26 possession. However woeful finishing from our clear cut chances nearly cost us as wolves twice took the lead. Xhaka getting a red card also didn’t help but luckily he would only miss one game. Jesus back from injury to stab home the late winner. Saka excellent again.
PREMIER LEAGUE
BRENTFORD 0
ARSENAL 1 – Raya o.g 46
A third 1-0 win to finish the first month of the season. Jesus’s hit the post and fumbled in by Raya. Zinchenko finally made his debut after pulling his ankle ligaments before the opening game to Fulham.
Premier League Table
1. Tottenham Played 5 Points 13 Goal Difference +5
2. Arsenal P 5 P 13 GD 4
3. Aston Villa P 5 P 12 GD 4
4. Chelsea P 5 P 12 GD 4
5. Man City P 5 P 11 GD 7
Not a nice looking table with Spurs at the top if it. Liverpool 8th, Man United 10th with Crystal Palace bottom with just a solitary point from a draw to Southampton having lost their first four games.
Global Transfers
Pavard to Liverpool was the biggest transfer story of a quiet summer.
Europe
We drew Monaco, Freiberg and Zurich in a tricky Europa League group. Man United draw was kinder (Surprise, surprise) with Lech, Rennes and Apol Limassol.
Over in the Champions League all the English clubs got draws that should see them go through. Chelsea have the toughest ask with Dortmund Marseille and Milan.
Carabao Cup
We will play Birmingham at home in November. Man United travel to Brighton and Stoke Host Liverpool.
September/October Fixtures
14 fixtures in a busy two months especially October.
Chelsea (H)
Monaco (H)
Tottenham (A)
Freiberg (A)
Leeds (H)
Liverpool (A)
Zurich (H)
Newcastle (H)
Zurich (A)
Southampton (A)
Villa (H)
Palace (A)
Freiberg (H)
West Ham (H)
0 -
Arsenal Season 2 – May (and a bit of June)
Heading into May we had a five point lead over Man City and Liverpool having played a game less meaning just five points separated were required for consecutive titles. But first we had a champions League semi-final second leg against United to negotiate.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI FINAL 2nd LEG.
MAN UNITED 1 – Rashford 67
ARSENAL 0
(After Extra Time)
Arsenal won 4-2 on penalties
In a copy and paste from the Liverpool Quarter Final we headed to Old Trafford with a one goal lead courtesy of a 2-1 win at the Emirates. We played almost a perfect European performance but just like Matip did for Liverpool Rashford popped up with an undeserved goal to send the tie to extra time and the inevitability of penalties. Rashford and Dalot missed for United while Bale, Vlahovic, Aubameyang and Gravenberch all scoring even allowing for another Asensio miss. We set up a final against Real Madrid who having held a 4-0 lead over Bayern after the first leg lost 3-2 in Germany. Should be an interesting final for my young team.
PREMIER LEAGUE
LEEDS 0
ARSENAL 0
We headed to Leeds after the United win needing just five points for the title. However they proved a tough nut to crack and despite controlling the game we couldn’t get a goal. White was restored to the team having sat out the semi final for inform Saliba. Liverpool had won but Man City were held at home to Leicester meaning it was only Liverpool as our sole challengers again.
PREMIER LEAGUE
SOUTHAMPTON 0
ARSENAL 2 - Vlahovic 20 Martinelli 65
We put in a solid display at St Marys with every player scoring between a 7.1-7.7 rating other than Aubameyang whose mind was elsewhere as he scored a lowly 6.6. A point in our final two games against Newcastle and Chelsea would be enough.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 4 - Vlahovic 13 43 67 Martinelli 84
NEWCASTLE 1 – Saint-Maximin 53
A match against Newcastle with high stakes on offer. What could possibly go wrong?! Luckliy I had Vlahovic in my ranks and he scored yet another hat-trick (sixth for the season) to fire us to our successful defence of the league title. It meant a potentially tricky last game as Chelsea as left null and void.
PREMIER LEAGUE
CHELSEA 2 – James 69 88
ARSENAL 1 - Vlahovic 29
We were in party mood for the final game of the season. Vlahovic gave us the lead and we seemed to be ending the domestic season with a win but two rockets from Reece James gave Chelsea the victory. A rare high in a poor league season for them finishing 9th.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL
ARSENAL 1 – Bale 4
REAL MADRID 0
There was plenty of drama off the pitch in the 13 day gap between the Chelsea match and the champions league final. A few players took the opportunity to come to me and complain about promises not been kept. One was Aubameyang who was transfer listed and then signed for Zenit. He suffered shin splints days before the final so would miss playing his last game for us. We made a big signing for the next season as the old adage of “never go back” was ignored. A number of minor injuries also didn’t help us. Gabriel was passed fit but the orange injury sign put me off and I left him out. I started both former Madrid men in Bale and Asensio who had been preferred to Odegaard over the recent matches. I unsurprisingly went very cagey and once we got the early goal we frustrated them and they couldn’t break us down. A potentially good season turns into a great one. Now I want a treble next season.
ARSENAL – Ramsdale, Tierney, Saliba, White, Pavard, Gravenberch (Xhaka 90) Partey, Asensio, Bale, Saka (Guendouzi 78) Vlahovic
Subs not used: - Hradecky Martinelli Nelson Odegaard Tavares Tomiyasu S-Rowe Pepe Ballard Balogun
REAL MADRID – Courtois, Alaba, Militao, Milenkovic, Nacho, Casemiro, Kroos, Valverde (Modric 61), Hazard, Coman (Vincius Jr 56) Benzema (Jovic 67).
Subs not used: - Guaita, Romagnoli, Gutierrez, Carvajal, Camavinga, Kubo, Park, Arribas, Rodrygo
Match Stats – Shots(ot) – 10(3)/14(3) – Possession 61/39 - XG 1.47/1.37 – Fouls 3/13 Yellow Cards 1/2
Woodwork 0/0 - CCC 1/0 – Passes 785(93%)/548(89%) – Av Rating 7.25/6.66
Man of Match – Ryan Gravenberch 7.8
Final Table
Premier league table - Played/Points/Goal Difference
1. Arsenal P 38 P 90 GD 62
2. Liverpool P 38 P 87 GD 66
3. Man City P 38 P 82 GD 38
4. Man Utd P 38 P 81 GD 56
5. Newcastle P 38 P 75 GD 24
Everton finished a respectable 6th Spurs 7th and Chelsea finished 9th. West Brom, Norwich and Brentford who finished 5th last season were the teamsto get relegated.
Burney and Nottingham Forrest were promoted automatically. Burnley finished with 100 points. QPR joined them after beating Sheffield United in the play off final.
Premier league stats
Goals – Aubameyang, Lukaku 30 Calvert-Lewin 27 Vlahovic, Salah 26 Greenwood 23 Jimenez 20 Wilson 19 Mane 15 Iheanacho 14
Assists – De Bruyne 20, Saint-Maximin 14, Pulisic, Salah 13 Odegaard 12 Fraser, B Fernandes 11, Asensio, Robertson, Tierney
AV R – Robertson 7.73, De Bruyne 7.72 Vlahovic 7.61, Calvert-Lewin 7.55 Lukaku 7.50 Salah 7.49 Origi 7.41, Odegaard 7.38 Pulisic 7.37, Aubameyang 7.36
MOM – Calvert Lewin 12, De Bruyne 10, Aubameyang 8 Vlahovic, Lukaku, Salah 7, Robertson Saint Maximin 6 Iheanacho B Fernandes 5
Clean Sheets – Ederson 17, Ramsdale, Alisson, Pickford 16 Martinez (newcastle) De Gea 12 Mendy 11, Meslier 10, Kohn (Southampton) Lloris 9
Awards
Footballer of the Year – Andrew Roberston
Players Player of the Year – Andrew Robertson
Young Player of the Year – Mason Greenwood
Golden Glove – Ederson
Manager – Kinglara
Team of the Season – Ramsdale Roberston Tomiyasu White Gabriel De Bruyne Rice Partey Salah Calvert-Lewin Aubameyang
Arsenal in the Premier League
Home
P 19 W18 D1 L0 GF65 GA13
Away
P19 W10 D5 L4 GF29 GA19
Overall
P38 W28 D6 L4 GF94 GA32
Performance timeline
WWWLWLWDWWWWWWWWWWDWWWWDDWWWLDWWWWDWWL
Arsenal premier league stats
Goals – Aubameyang 30 Vlahovic 26 Saka 10 Odegaard 7 Martinelli 5 Pepe 3 Xhaka Partey Saliba Smith-Rowe Bale 2 Tavares Asensio 1
Assists – Odegaard 12 Asensio Tierney Saka 9 Xhaka S-Rowe 5 Tavares Smith Rowe Tomiyasu 4 Aubameyang Gravernberch 3 Pepe Partey 2 Pavard Vlahovic Saliba Guendouzi Nelson Bale 1
Mom – Tomiyasu Aubameyang 8 Vlahovic 7 Tierney 3 Xhaka White Ramsdale 2 Tavares Asensio Odegaard Saliba Saka 1
OVERALL SEASON STATS
Played
Goals / CS
Assists
MoM
Av rating
Ramsdale
48
22
0
2
7.23
Hradecky
3
1
0
0
7.02
Tierney
39(+1)
0
10
3
7.10
Tavares
21(+9)
1
4
1
7.17
Tomiyasu
41(+1)
0
5
0
7.12
Pavard
15(+2)
0
2
1
7.38
White
47
0
0
2
7.14
Gabriel
39
1
0
1
7.22
Saliba
24(+4)
2
2
1
7.45
Ballard
10(+1)
2
0
0
7.53
Partey
43(+1)
2
2
0
7.11
Guendouzi
20(+10)
1
2
1
7.05
Gravenberch
28(+9)
2
5
1
7.24
Xhaka
28(+4)
2
6
2
7.20
Odegaard
41(+2)
8
17
2
7.36
Asensio
22(+18)
2
13
2
7.07
Smith-Rowe
13(+14)
4
5
0
7.04
Saka
40(+9)
15
13
3
7.08
Martinelli
16(+19)
7
8
1
7.05
Bale
12(+16)
5
5
1
6.88
Pepe
12(+12)
3
4
0
6.79
Nelson
7(+10)
2
2
0
7.05
Aubameyang
42(+6)
36
4
9
7.30
Vlahovic
36 (+7)
37
5
9
7.49
Balogun
5 (+3)
3
1
1
7.14
Norton-Cuffy
3(+1)
0
0
0
6.80
Lopez
1
0
0
0
6.80
Azeez
0(+2)
0
0
0
6.50
Leno
10
4
0
0
7.12
Bellerin
4(+1)
0
0
0
7.12
Torreira
1(+9)
1
1
1
7.05
Final Bits
There was heartbreak for Brentford in the Europa League final as they lost 2-1 to Benfica.
In the Conference league a Lukaku brace saw Chelsea beat Lazio 2-1
Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayern and PSG all won their respective leagues. The latter three defending their title from the previous season.
Season Summary
Delighted to win the league again with the added bonus of the Champions League. I will try to add to the trophy hall and give a better go in the two domestic cups. Losing both semi finals was disappointing.
We gave a better attacking output this season but only 29 away goals in the league is shocking. I will try and be a bit more attacking.
Next season I will set my focus on the youngsters such as Patino and Azeez and try to give them more 1st team football. Aubameyang will need to be replaced and I am looking at moving on Guendouzi, Xhaka, Pepe and a few others.
I will be doing things a bit differently as I want to get five seasons done before FM23 so might give an update at some point but otherwise just play the whole season and then do a report afterwards
1 -
Arsenal Season 2 – March/April
March and April are always two of the busiest months in my saves with plenty of games and scouring through thousands of regen reports.
We began March with a four point lead over Liverpool.
FA CUP 5TH ROUND
ARSENAL 3 – Bale 6 Martinelli 19 39
BARNSLEY 0
After narrow away victories over Hull and Stoke we were back at the Emirates and with it an easier win. Martinelli with a brace and also an assist in a much changed lineup. 70% possession and 95% pass accuracy for the mostly second string.
Liverpool Spurs and Chelsea were the three big sides still left in the competition and all survived to make it to the quarters.
FA Cup Quarter-Final draw –Ipswich vs Arsenal
Another good draw for us. Spurs host Liverpool Newcastle play Southampton and Chelsea vs Luton are the other games.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 6 – Vlahovic 15 48(pen) 64 79(pen) Cahill o.g Saka 85
BOPURNEMOUTH 1 – Hughes 49
After his brace in the Fa Cup Martinelli kept his place in the starting eleven but only managed a 6.7. Vlahovic however scored four as we finally gave somebody a thrashing. XG of 4.37. Only our third +4 goal haul of the season.
PREMIER LEAGUE
MAN UNITED 2 – Sancho 65 Greenwood 84
ARSENAL 0
We headed to Old Trafford 11 points clear of them but put in a really poor performance. Despite dominating the ball we didn’t have our shooting boots on and only managed a dismal two on target that were easily saved by De Gea. Liverpool beat Norwich to cut the gap to three points at the top.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SECOND ROUND 2ND LEG
ARSENAL 4 – Vlahovic 6 72 80(pen) Saka 14
MARSEILLE 2 – De la Fuente 23 Lazovic 56
We hosted Marseille at the Emirates in the second leg after we comfortably won 2-0 in France. We got off to a great start with two early goals but Marseille were more attacking and pulled it level after half time. However we responded with another two goals from Vlahovic who completed another hat-trick from the spot with ten minutes left.
Having won 1-0 in Barcelona A Haaland hat-trick helped Dortmund to a 4-1 win on the night and knock Barca out. PSG had a scare but made it through despite losing 3-1 at Porto
Champions league quarter final draw – Arsenal vs Liverpool
Fighting for the title we would meet Liverpool in Europe. The other ties were Dortmund vs Man United Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig and Bayern vs PSG.
FA CUP 5TH ROUND
IPSWICH 1 – Scarlett 35
ARSENAL 3 – Aubameyang 17 Bale 52 Smith-Rowe 66
Despite having an international break after I still named a weakened team. Aubameyang did start though and gave us the lead before spurs loanee scarlett equalised. Once Bale got the second after half time it was just about game management and Smith-Rowe added a third.
Both Southampton and Spurs recorded impressive 3-0 wins. The Saints away at Newcastle and Tottenham at home to Liverpool. Robertson was sent off early though. Chelsea eased past Luton 5-1.
FA Cup Semi Final draw – Arsenal vs Southampton
Certainly easier on paper than Chelsea or Spurs. An unlikely treble still a possibility.
PREMIER LEAGUE
LIVERPOOL 0
ARSENAL 0
Four days before our Champions League quarter final would begin we played Liverpool in the league. After our defeat to United they were just three points behind. United were a further four points adrift from them but had played an extra game. With all that in mind it turned into a must not lose game for us so natuarally I parked the bus and escaped anfield with a 0-0 and a good point.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER FINAL 1ST LEG.
ARSENAL 1 – Gravenberch 27
LIVERPOOL 0
Back at home I went slightly conservative with my line-up. Pavard was preferred to Tomiyasu at right back and Asensio to my other wingers on the right. Aubameyang started at left wing as I couldn’t leave Vlahovic out. Despite us controlling the ball Liverpool had the better of the game before and after Gravenberch scored the only goal. I’m happy to take a lead to Anfield but would rather it be wider.
Man United scored three goals from their three shots on target to produce a fine win at Dortmund. Halland struck in the 92nd minute to give them hope in the second leg. Leipzig beat Real Madrid 2-1 and Mbappe and Messi were the scorers as Bayern and PSG drew their first leg 1-1
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 6 – Saliba 17 44 Asensio 48 Aubameyang 56 81 Pepe 90 / Aubameyang miss/pen 66
NORWICH 0 – Giannoulis s/o 54
Sandwiched between the two Liverpool games we hosted relegation bound Norwich. Ramsdale Asensio and Aubameyang were the only players to keep their place. I played Taveres and Tomiyasu as attacking wing backs meaning Saliba and Ballard were playing as our only real defenders. Two back post headers from free kicks saw Saliba give us a 2-0 lead before half-time. We ran a bit riot in the second half Aubameyang not allowing Saliba to take a penalty for an unlikely hat-trick and then subsequently missing it. Norwich committed 34 fouls in the game with five players scoring under a 6 rating. They’ll have better days.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER FINAL 2nd LEG.
LIVERPOOL 1 – Matip 77
ARSENAL 0
After Extra Time
Arsenal won 8-7 on penalties
I made a big decision before the game opting to bench 31-goal Aubameyang in favour of a more defensive minded midfield. It worked perfectly as we frustrated them through a combination of controlled possession and defensive solidity. Unfortunately with just 13 minutes left Joel Matip swept home a smartly taken kree kick from Robertson and Liverpool had their parity. Eventually the tie was settled by penalties. After Fabinho missed early on it seemed like we would be comfortable but Asensio powered wide and the penalties came and went before finally it got to the defenders and Andy Robertson missed. I didn’t expect to make the semis in the first year back in the champions league but obviously I was very happy to.
PSG missed a host of chances as Bayern won 3-1 in Paris to send them through to the semis. United completed the job over Dortmund in style winning 4-2 at Old Trafford and Real Madrid reversed their 2-1 deficit from the first leg against Leipzig by winning 4-0 in Spain. Eden Hazard scored a hat-trick.
Champions League Semi-Final draw – Arsenal vs Manchetser United
Another English team and home again for the first leg. Real Madrid host Bayern in the first leg of the other semi.
FA CUP SEMI FINAL
ARSENAL 1 – Vlahovic 18
SOUTHAMPTON 3 – Boye 41 46 Adams 86
A disappointing end to our unlikely treble bid as Southampton eased to victory as Wembley. We started well with Vlahovic giving us the lead but as soon as the Saints equalised I could see what was coming. Southampton would play Chelsea in the final who beat Spurs 3-2.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 5 – Saka 3, 28 Aubameyang 52, 90 Smith-Rowe 72
WOLVES 1 – Gibbs-White 64
We responded well to the fa cup semi final defeat with a thumping win over Wolves at the Emirates.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 3 – Aubameyang 18 84 Bale 70
BRENTFORD 0
I opted for a strong side against Brentford despite the Man United semi final on the Tuesday. I don’t know what Brentford put in their water but the scoreline was extremely flattering for us. They had double our amount of shots at goal at a similar XG. We needed Ramsdale to have an 8.7 man of the match display to win. With possibly one eye on United we were a bit off our game. Pass accuaracy of 87% much lower than usual. Only 54% possession also on the smaller side. Martinelli and Odegaard picked up knocks and would miss the first leg of the champions league semi final
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI FINAL 1ST LEG.
ARSENAL 2 – Aubameyang 1 Saka 85
MAN UNITED 1 – Sancho 19 / McTomminay s/o 90
I didn’t expect to make a champions league semi final in my first season in the competition but now we were here I of course wanted to win. We got off to a perfect start with Saka pulling the ball back for Aubameyang after just 30 seconds. The game was a lot of huff and puff but not really clear chances. Sakas goal five minutes from time giving us a narrow lead heading into the second leg. The winner will likely meet Real Madrid in the final. They won 4-0 over Bayern who played the last 30 minutes with 9 men having already lost Kimmich to a red card in the first half before seeing Sabitzer also get sent off.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 4 – Vlahovic 15 71 89 Pepe 32
LEICESTER 1 – Iheanacho 45
I made 9 changes to the team for our fourth home game in a row. Vlahovic scored his FIFTH hat-trick of the season in a very comfortable win. A good day for us saw Man United lose at Man City and Liverpool go goalless at Bournemouth. A fine way to end two busy months.
Premier League Table
Much more comfortable than last season. Spurs are 8th and Chelsea 10th. Norwich and West Brom are set to be relegated while Brentford and Fulham are level on points in 17th and 18th with three games left. Fulham with the slightly easier remaining games. Burnely have been promoted from the Championship. Nottingham Forrest have a 2 point lead over QPR with two games left. Sheffield United Crystal Palace and Blackburn are the other teams in the play offs.
1. Arsenal P34 P83 GD+58
2. Liverpool P35 P78 GD+44
3. Man City P35 P78 GD+41
4. Man Utd P35 P72 GD+47
5. Newcastle P34 P68 GD+22
Premier League Top scorers
Aubameyang 30 Lukaku 30 Calvert-Lewin 25 Vlahovic, Greenwood 21
Premier League Top Assists
De Bruyne 20 Saint Maximin 13 Odegaard, Salah 12 Pulisic 11
Premier League Av Rating
De Bruyne 7.72 Robertson 7.65 Vlahovic 7.60 Calvert Lewin 7.55 Lukaku 7.54
Premier League Motm
Calvert-Lewin 11 De Bruyne 10 Aubameyang 8 Lukaku 7 Vlahovic 6
Champions League Top scorers
Greenwood 11 Haaland 10 Salah, Mbappe 9 T. Martinez (psg) 7 - (Vlahovic 5)
Champions League Top Assists
Mbappe 8 Neymar 7 B.Fernandes Marin (ferencvaros) Shaw 7 – (Odegaard 4 )
Champions League Av Rating
Rashford 8.35 Haaland 8.03 Mbappe 7.85 Robertson B. Fernandes 7.83 B Diaz 7.73 - (Odegaard 7.50)
REGENS
A right back was our best talent while a couple of others we ok.
I ended up signing 18 youth players but as usual most were from abroad so it will be a while until they are in an Arsenal shirt. There’s some promise there though.
EUROPE
PSG and Bayern have already won their leagues. Ream Madrid are 4 points clear of Atletico with five games to go. Juventuus are all but champions.
Completely under my radar Brentford have made the Europa League semi finals. They lead Atletico Madrid 2-1 after the first leg. Gladbach and Benfica drew their first leg of the other semi 2-2 in Germany.
The Conference League final looks set to be Lazio vs Chelsea after both teams won comfortably in their first legs.
May Fixtures
Champions League Semi Final 2nd Leg - Man United (A)
PL - Leeds (A)
PL - Southampton (A)
PL - Newcastle (H)
PL - Chelsea (A)
0 -
Arsenal Season 2 – January/February
Finding good form.
TRANSFERS
The winter Transfer window was busy with clubs having more time to analyse their teams and see what was needed during the domestic hiatus due to the world cup. I wasn’t really planning on buying anybody but two exits changed that and forced me into the market.
IN
Benjamin Pavard (35m)
Lukas Hradecky (1m)
OUT
Bernt Leno (8m) - Krasnodar
Lucas Torreira (15m) - Roma
Hector Bellerin (8.5m) – Shakhtar
With all three contracts due to run out at the end of the season I decided to offer them to clubs and see if anybody would take them. I could probably have got a little more but I was happy with the output.
I had a couple of choices as replacement for Bellerin. The obvious one was Livramento who I know is highly tipped but 60million was too much for me to part ways with for now. I then agreed a deal with Vrsaljko for 6.5million but ultimately went with the more expensive Pavard. Hradeckys contract was due to expire at the end of the season so I got him for very cheap. He is a good back up for ramsdale and certainly better than Runnarson although he’s been playing well in the youth team. I have some excellent young goalkeepers coming through so it’s just a stop gap until they’re ready in a few years time.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Brighton 1 – Lallana 35
Arsenal 2 – Aubameyang 81 Martinelli 88
New Years day saw us travel to Brighton. We weren’t at our best and needed a late Martinelli winner to get all three points.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Bournemouth 1 – Potter 75
Arsenal 2 – Pepe 40 Aubameyang 53(pen)
Three days later it was a similar venue, story and result. Bournemouth played slightly better although we should have scored more.
FA CUP 3RD ROUND
Hull 0
Arsenal 1 – Saka 51
Rotating my team I couldn’t decide who should start up front between Balogun and Vlahovic so went with both. We played a 4-2-2-2 wide with Gravenberch and the improving Guendouzi holding midfielders. Both first choice centre backs started. The strikers had an off day but Saka and Nelson on the wings were excellent. We had 70% possession and again should have scored more.
No real surprises from the 3rd round. Everton went out on penalties to Middlesbrough.
5th round draw – Stoke vs Arsenal
Trips to stoke aren’t always pleasant bot not a bad draw. Man City drew Chelsea at home. Southend the last non league team standing host Ipswich.
CARABAO CUP QUARTER FINAL
Forest Green 0
Arsenal 3 – Saka 23 S-Rowe 32 Vlahovic 57
Over two months after we beat Ipswich 4-1 at the Emirates in the fourth round we finally made the short trip to Forest Green for the Quarters. I played 4-2-2-2 again with a makeshift back four including Norton-Cuffy at right back having had Bellerin leave. The game itself was a simple one despite the fact that we hit post and bar four times. Vlahovic went off injured and would miss a few weeks.
Leicester hammered Huddersfield 6-0 and we would meet them at Wembley (?) in the semis. Man City vs West Ham the other game.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Arsenal 0
West Ham 0 – Soucek s/o 82
West Ham ended our 33 consecutive win streak at home buy committing 33 fouls in a goalless draw. Areola with a man of the match display. We only managed five shots on target but should still have won.
CARABAO CUP SEMI FINAL
Arsenal 2 – Ballard 84 Aubameyang 120
Leicester 3 – Iheanacho 35 Vardy 95(pen) Vestergaard 118
After extra time
No two legs this season as we headed into a carabao cup semi final against Leicester at Wembley. I played a strong side with Leno still at the club but due to leave before the final I started Ramsdale in goal. Tomiyasu, Saka Odegaard and Aubameyang also started. The game was even with both sides having over 2.60xg and when Ballard equalised to take the match into extra time I was confident we had the subs to win it. However Vardy scored a penalty and then Vestergaard struck from a set piece and it was game over. Aubameyang pulled one back but we ran out of time. Leicester would meet man city in the final who beat West Ham 1-0.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Arsenal 2 – Odegaard 5 Aubameyang 40
Everton 0
With very little rest from 120 minutes at Wembley we hosted Everton at 3pm on the Saturday. Luckily for us they took no advantage of it and we scored two first half goals before I killed off the game in the second half. They only had one shot on target so it wasn’t difficult.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Arsenal 1 – Aubameyang 60
Man Utd 0
The big match in January saw a top of the table clash as United headed to the Emirates. However not one United player managed more than a 6.8 rating as we easily brushed them aside. Vlahovic came back from injury to make the bench but didn’t come on.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Fulham 2 – Cornet 35 Knockaert 90
Arsenal 3 – Vlahovic 25 Saka 39 Aubameyang 76
With Fulham struggling in the league I went to Craven Cottage and started both Vlahovic and Aubameyang together. Both did well but of course the more attacking approach led to a leakier defence and Fulham managed to get two goals with one coming off the last kick of the game.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Arsenal 4 – Vlahovic 13, 85 Partey 59 Saka 69
Brighton 3 – Connolly 37 41 Bissouma 44
The first game of February saw a 7-goal thriller and Brighton looked set to do the unthinkable under my reign and secure an away win at the emirates. I played the same system as against Fulham so Vlahovic and Aubameyang started together again. We started well but every Brighton attack ended in a goal and at half time we found ourselves 3-1 down despite playing well. In the second half we ramped up the pressure and Brighton eventually caved. Overall we had 29 attempts on goal with 14 on target so the seagulls did well to keep it down to four. Still though not a good game to sit through and endure.
FA CUP 4TH ROUND
Stoke 1 – Campbell 42
Arsenal 2 – Vlahovic 14, 79
Hradecky made his debut as we travelled to Stoke in the Fa Cup before two crunch away league games inside 3 days with Spurs and Man City. Only Vlahovic from my main team started while Foran and Cirjan made the bench but were unused. The game was pretty comfortable with Stoke barely threatening.
Both Manchester clubs were dumped out with United losing at Burnely and City at home to Chelsea.
5th round draw – Arsenal vs Barnsley
A good draw. Liverpool host Leicester in the only other tie of note.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Tottenham 1 – Paredes 68
Arsenal 1 – Aubameyang 90
We headed to Spurs in a good position but with Liverpool starting to gather momentum behind us. Sadly we put in one of our worst performances of the season only for Aubameyang to hit a 94th minute equaliser that was very undeserved.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Man City 0
Arsenal 0
I would probably have taken two draws away at Spurs and City and that’s what we got. It did mean Liverpool closed the gap to just four points but it’s two of our tougher games out of the way although we do still need to travel to Anfield in April. The game itself we actually played well and had 60% of the ball but as it went on both teams were happy with a point.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Arsenal 3 – Vlahovic 17 79 Aubameyang 51
West Brom 0
Gabriel got a groin strain in training just before the game and would be out for a month. Saliba replaced him and did well. It was a good performance but another game where we should have scored more. West Brom another team against us to commit over 30 fouls.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2nd round 1st leg
Marseille 0
Arsenal 2 – Saka 43 Vlahovic 88
I went with quite a defensive formation in the first leg with Partey infront of the back four and Gravenberch and Guendouzi ahead of him with no place for the unfortuante Odegaard. Pavard was preferred to Saliba in central defence. I opted for Aubameyang ahead of the free scoring Vlahovic as the lone striker. We played well in the game and Marseille offered very little going forward. Guendouzi got man of the match. Should have done enough to make the quarters. Aubameyang went off with a hamstring injury though and would be out for a few weeks
There were five other away wins in the first leg of the knockout stages. Both Liverpool and Man United won while Dortmund beat Barcelona 1-0 in Spain.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Aston Villa 1 – Watkins 8
Arsenal 3 – Bale 16 Vlahovic 27 59
The final game of February saw us travel to Villa Park. We were behind early through Watkins but recovered well and eased to the win. Bale scored his first goal of the season in a tough campaign for him so far. Vlahovic adding another two goals making it four braces in the month and 21 goals for the season.
Premier League Table
Three defeats in a row from the top 3 has seen Man United completely fall away after collecting just 15 points from their 11 games. Spurs are 7th and Chelsea 10th after enduring a tough season that has seen 9 league defeats including losses to Brentford and Everton at home.
1. Arsenal P27 P67 GD+39
2. Liverpool P27 P63 GD+48
3. Newcastle P27 P57 GD+20
4. Man Utd P26 P53 GD+33
5. Man City P26 P51 GD+26
Premier League Stats – Min 10 matches
Premier League Top scorers
Aubameyang 24 Lukaku 22 Salah 18 C-Lewin 17 Jimenez 16
Premier League Top Assists
De Bruyne 15 Odegaard 11 B. Fernades Salah 10 S-Maximin 9
Premier League Av Rating
Robertson 7.75 De Bruyne 7.66 Origi 7.57 Vlahovic 7.53 Odegaard 7.51
Premier League Motm
Aubameyang 8 De Bruyne C-Lewin 7 Ronaldo Lukaku 6 Salah 5
Champions League – Min 3 matches
Champions League Top scorers
Salah 8 T. Martinez (psg) 7 Greenwood Lewandowski Mbappe (bayern m) 6 - (Aubameyang 3)
Champions League Top Assists
Mbappe Marin (ferencvaros) 7 Neymar 6 Shaw B.Fernandes 5 – (Asensio 2)
Champions League Av Rating
Rashford 8.35 Mbappe 8.11 B. Fernandes 8.03 Haaland 7.93 :Lewandowski 7.82 (Guendouzi 7.47)
Arsenal stats (1st team)
Appearances
Tomiyasu 34
White 33
Odegaard 32(+1)
Aubameyang 31(+1)
Ramsdale Gabriel 30
Partey 28(+1)
Saka 27 (+6)
Tierney 26 (+1)
Xhaka 24 (+2)
Vlahovic 22(+6)
Guendouzo 15(+5)
Tavares 14(+8)
Gravenberch 13(+9)
Saliba 11(+3)
Pepe 11(+3)
Martinelli 10(+14)
Asensio 7(+14)
S-Rowe 7(+11)
Bale 7(+9)
Nelson 7(+7)
Ballard 6
Balogun 4(+2)
Pavard 3(+2)
N-Cuffy 2(+1)
Hradecky Lopez 1
Goals
Aubameyang 28
Vlahovic 21
Saka 10
Odegaard 8
Balogun Martinelli 3
Xhaka Partey Ballard S-Rowe Nelson 2
Pepe Tavares Asensio Guendouzi Gravenberch Gabriel Bale 1
Assists
Odegaard 13
Tierney Saka 9
Xhaka 6
Asensio Martinelli 5
Pepe Vlahovic 4
Tavares Tomiyasu Gravenberch 3
Partey Guendouzi Aubameyang Nelson Bale 2
Pavard Saliba S-Rowe 1
Other News
By far the biggest deal was Joao Felix joining man City for 121 million. He is yet to score in ten appearances for them. Paredes swapped Paris for London and went to spurs and of course scored against us when we played. Spurs also brought in Damsgaard and sold Eric Dier to Milan.
Psg are running away with Ligue 1 having only dropped points in 3 of their 24 games. A similar story in Germany where Bayern are still unbeaten. Juventus are miles clear in Italy but its tighter in Spain. Real Madrid hold a 1 point lead over Atletico with a game in hand. Barcelona a few points further behind in third.
In the Europa League some decent sides came down from the Champions League but were sent packing as Man City and Juventus both lost their play off games. City losing 2-0 at the Etihad to Celtic. In the next round there will be another battle of Britain as Brentford play the scots. Leeds are up against PSV and Rangers face a tough tie at Valencia.
In the Conference league Chelsea are the last English club standing and play FC Kovenhavn. Theres still a few decent teams left but I would expect them to progress further.
Leicester followed up beating us in the Carabao Cup semi final by beating Man City 3-2 in the final. They came from 0-2 down as two goals from Iheanacho in the 89th and 93rd minute snatched the win from the jaws of defeat.
Finally a quick word on the youth teams as I completely bypassed them last season. The under 23s have really struggled and currently languish bottom of the table I have sent a lot of players on loan so that probably hasn’t helped. They are also out of all the cups. The Under 18s have done better and are 5th although lost comfortably to Man United in the under 19 champions league knockout stages.
March/April Fixtures
Liverpool a big game and important not to lose. I made a pigs ear of scouting regens last March so I'm hoping to do a better job this time.
FA Cup 5th Round - Barnsley (H)
PL - Bournemouth (H)
PL - Man United (A)
Champions league 2nd round 2nd leg - Marseille (H)
PL - Wolves (H)
PL - Liverpool (A)
PL - Norwich (H)
PL - Southampton (A)
PL - Brentford (H)
PL - Leicester (H
0 -
Arsenal Season 2 – November/December
Despite the World Cup it was still a busy couple of months off the field more than on.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP C MATCHDAY 6
RB LEIPZIG 0
ARSENAL 2 – Gravenberch 11 Ballard 63
Due to our large squad I took quite a strong team to Germany for the dead rubber final group game. Pepe and Bale both made their first appearances for nearly three months. I decided to try an experiment and played Martinelli upfront with Aubameyang and Vlahovic resting in London and Balogun out with a knock. He performed ok but it was more the performance of Asensio I was pleased with. I wasn’t expecting too much from the game but we played very well. We had 96% pass accuracy for most it as well as over 60% possession.
Needing only a draw in Portugal to progress Man City succumbed 2-0 to Sporting and were out. Liverpool and Man United topped their group ahead of PSG and Barcelona. Rangers finished third behind Napoli and Ajax. Juventus only needed a draw in Marseille to progress at their expense but despite playing against ten men for the last half hour lost 1-0.
Champions League Last 16 Knockout Draw
Marseille vs Arsenal
A good draw having avoided PSG and Barcelona. In fact the other two English clubs also got good draws. Liverpool play Zenit and Man United are up against Atalanta.
PREMIER LEAGUE
WOLVES 1 – Eduoard 60 Dudu s/o 56
ARSENAL 2 – Aubameyang 21 Saka 62
Our final game before the World Cup saw us take on Wolves. Man United a couple of hours earlier had hammered Brighton 8-0 so we needed to win. We actually played very well and were unlucky not to score more. Wolves with an XG of 0.16 (to our 2.97) still managed to score though.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 2 – Aubameyang 26 59(pen)
ASTON VILLA 0
Our first match post World Cup was a home game with Aston Villa. Not much to say really but a routine win. We played a couple of pre world cup return games against AC Milan and Levurkusen. We beat Milan 3-0 at the san siro with Martinelli scoring twice Aubameyang getting the other goal and then drew 1-1 in Germany, Gravenberch scoring just after half time.
Premier League Table
Just the two games for nearly all teams in November and December.
1. Arsenal P16 P40 GD+27
2. Man Utd P15 P38 GD+31
3. Newcastle P16 P34 GD+15
4. Man City P15 P33 GD+17
5. Everton P17 P30 GD+11
WORLD CUP
Group Stage
The World Cup began with Congo drawing 3-3 with Croatia. I’m not sure why Qatar didn’t start the tournament as the hosts are now meant to. They lost 1-0 to Denmark and would go on to lose the other two by heavier margins. For the Danes the opening day win was the only points they got as the lost to both Congo and Croatia. The Croats topped group A on goal difference.
Group B saw France get knocked out. Having lost 3-2 to Nigeria in their first game they lost the final one as well to Uruguay. Italy and Germany eased through in Group C. Group D saw Brazil finish runners up to Poland after losing to them in the final game. Balogun was among the goals in Group E as USA topped the group from Spain confining Netherlands to an early exit.
Portugal and Argentina went through in Group F. A 90th minute penalty by Ruben Neves gave the Portuguese the win in their head to head. England were the only team to record a 100% record beating Senegal Jamaica and Chile. Ramsdale starting all three games and Saka coming off the bench for two lively cameos. Finally for the group stage Belgium joined France in been knocked out after losing out on goal difference to Australia. A 4-1 defeat to Colombia providing the damage and then finishing off with a goalless draw against Switzerland. The Aussies setting up an Ashes second round clash against England
GROUP A – Croatia 7 Congo 7 Denmark 3 Qatar 0
GROUP B – Nigeria 7 Uruguay 5 France 3 Iran 1
GROUP C – Germany 6 Italy 5 Algeria 4 South Korea 1
GROUP D – Poland 5 Brazil 4 Mexico 3 Iceland 2
GROUP E – USA 7 Spain 6 Netherlands 4 Saudi Arabia 0
GROUP F – Portugal 7 Argentina 6 Cameroon 4 Japan 0
GROUP G – England 9 Senegal 6 Chile 1 Jamaica 1
GROUP H – Colombia 7 Australia 4 Belgium 4 Switzerland 1
SECOND ROUND
Croatia became the first team to qualify after needing extra time to beat Uruguay. Perisic with the extra time goal. Bakambu scored his third brace of the tournament but it wasn’t enough as Nigeria ran out 4-2 winners. Both Italy and Brazil qualified with 1-0 wins over Poland and the shadow Germany. Portugal knocked out Spain after Extra Time with the Spaniards playing for an hour with ten men but a ramos penalty meant extra time was needed and Jota and Neves scored the goals. England beat Australia 2-0 (unlike the ashes) but only had 40% possession. Saka played at left back with Ramsdale starting in goal. Finally Colombia continued their good tournament beating Senegal 3-1.
Croatia 2-1 Uruguay (AET) – Kramaric 29 Perisic 112 / Cavani 80(pen)
DR Congo 2-4 Nigeria – Bakambu 20, 35 / Chukwueze 4, 39 Nwakali 61, 73
Italy 1-0 Poland – Dimarco 63
Brazil 1-0 “Germany” – Neymar 58(pen)
Spain 2-4 Portugal (AET) – F. Torres 32 Ramos 73(pen) M Llorente s/o 63 / Dias 32 Moutinho 64(pen) Jota 101 Nevez 107
Australia 0-2 England – Greenwood 34 Grealish 62
Senegal 1-3 Colombia – Diagne 73 / Uribe 48 Zapata 55 Alzate 77
QUARTER FINALS
Nigeria and Brazil played out a pretty drab game. Only three shots on target settled by a Neymar free kick. Croatia and Italy played a much better match later on the same day with the game being decided by penalties. Lorenzo Pellegrini missed the decisive kick after the first thirteen were scored. England would play in back to back World Cup semi finals after beating Portugal 2-0. Saka off the bench to assist Kane and then Sterling adding a second. Ramsdale and White both started. Finally Argentina beat Colombia 1-0. The goal came from Thiago Almada who I have been tempted to get. Brazil vs Argentina and England vs Croatia make up the semi finals.
Nigeria 0-1 Brazil – Neymar 41
Croatia 1-1 Italy (AET) – Kramaric 83 / Barella 62 - Croatia win 7-6 on penalties
Portugal 0-2 England – Cancelo s/o 78 / Kane 75 Sterling 88
Argentina 1-0 Colombia – Almada 82
SEMI FINALS
A first World Cup Final since 1966 beckoned for England as they battered Croatia. An XG of 3.39 one of the highest of the tournament. Saka started and got the third goal. Harry Kane was left unused on the bench by Southgate. Brazil vs Argentina was always going to be fiery and this one certainly didn’t disappoint. 53 combined fouls with 10 yellows cards and one red. However the football was pretty good. Martinez looked like he had given Argentina the win in the 88th minute only for Casemiro to score just a couple of moments later. Dybala grabbed the winner though in extra time despite the Argentinians playing it with ten-men.
Croatia 0-4 England – Abraham 22 Henderson 45 Saka 47 Rashford 82(pen)
Brazil 3-4 Argentina (AET) – Vinicius 9 Rafinha 82(pen) Casemiro 90 / Gozarlez 39 Martinez 80 88 Dybala 102 – Taglifico s/o 89
THIRD PLAY OFF
Brazil only came for glory and were easily brushed aside by Croatia in the third place play off. Alisson keeping the score down to just 3. Two brazil players scored under a 6 rating
CROATIA 3-0 BRAZIL – Perisic 13 Pasalic 15 Kramaric 70
FINAL
So the final was between England and Argentina. Despite playing well domestically in France Messi hadn’t scored or assisted a single goal and had been dreadful during the knock out stages. He actually rating wise saved his worst performance for the final with just a 6.2. All three of the Arsenal contingent played a part in the final with Saka starting at left back Ramsdale in goal and White coming on as a sub after 64 minutes. England were a hairs breath from lifting the trophy as an even game seemed to be heading for glory until a 92nd minute Gonzalez back post header took the game to extra time and then penalties. Foden Alexander Arnold and Greenwood all missed with Paredes scoring the final kick. So very close to England winning it. Hopefully by the next tournament there will be more Arsenal players. Possibly a new manager too.
ENGLAND 1-1 ARGENTINA (AET) – Kane 44 / Gonzalez 90
ARGENTINA won 3-2 on Penalties
ARSENAL AT THE WORLD CUP.
Not much representation. Inexplicably Serbia and Japan especially left out Vlahovic and Tomiyasu while Asensio was also missing for Spain.
Ramsdale Played 7 Clean Sheets 5 Conceded 3 Assists 0 Save Percentage 85% Av Rating 7.13
Runnarsson Played 3 Clean Sheets 1 Conceded 4 Assists 0 Save Percentage 81% Av Rating 7.13
Saka Played 3(+3) Goals 1 Assists 1 Av Rating 7.36
White Played 1(+1) Goals 0 Assists 0 AV Rating 6.5
Xhaka Played 3 Goals 0 Assists 0 AV Rating 6.63
Torreira Played 0(+3) Goals 0 Assists 0 AV Rating 6.8
Lokonga Played 1 Goals 0 Assists 0 AV Rating 6.5
Ramsdale was voted best Goalkeeper while Perisic won the best player reward. Young American Reyna scooped young player.
The golden boot went to Lauturo Martinez with six goals
No Arsenal players in the dream team dominated by Argentina.
OTHER NEWS
Both West Ham and Chelsea hired new managers. The hammers went with Conte while the blues employed Roberto Mancini. Diego Simeone is the new manger of Man City while Mourinho took over at Atletico. Guardiola is now the Manager of Spain.
Mbappe won World Golden Ball. In the team of the year there was Arsenal reprensentation with Aubameyang making the bench.
My Youth Candidates preview had three A’s in Full backs, Attacking Midfielders and Strikers.
I brought ina new Head of Youth Development called Davide Loddo. He has 20’s in nine categories with 15 discipline and 19 negotiating the only non coaching ones without. I also added some new scouts to try and get a better knowledge as it still stands at only 38%
There’s a bit of Transfer news which I’ll save for next month. As the free transfer Market starts I was only 25 days away from being able to offer Kante a contract but sadly he signed a new one.
Other free transfers available at the moment include Lewandowski, Benzema, Ronaldo, Jorginho, Lanzini, Fred, Barkley plus the usual over 35s brigade. A few ex-Arsenal with Walcott Giroud Ramsey Alexis and Koscielny. The only one that I might get from those mentioned is Jorginho but I am not sure yet.
FA CUP 3rd Round Draw
Hull vs Arsenal
A decent draw. Aston Villa host Liverpool in the only other notable tie.
CARABAO CUP QUARTER FINAL DRAW
Forrest Green vs Arsenal
I did mention it in my sep/oct update but we play League one Forrest Green in the quarters . Man City vs Leeds West Ham vs Burton and Leicester vs Huddersfield are the other ties.
January/February Fixtures
Prem - Brighton (A)
Prem - Bournemouth (A)
FA Cup 3rd Round - Hull (A)
Carabao Cup QF - Forrest Green (A)
Prem - West Ham (H)
Prem - Tottenham (A)
Prem - Everton (H)
Prem - Man Utd (H)
Prem - Fulham (A)
Prem - Brighton (H)
Prem - Man City (A)
Prem - West Brom (H)
Champions League 2nd round 1st Leg - Marseille (A)
Prem - Aston Villa (A)
0 -
Arsenal Season 2 –September/October
A very good two months.
CARABAO CUP 3RD ROUND
ARSENAL 1 – Torreira 42
LIVERPOOL 0
Our Carabao Cup defence started against a Liverpool side we had yet to beat in four previous matches under my management. Two 1-1 draws in the league and two defeats in the FA Cup Final and Community Shield. I opted for a strong team with Gabriel and Vlahovic starting. Liverpool went weaker and were missing Mane, Salah, A-Arnold, Rice, Robertson and a few others but did play Van Dijk and that nuisance Jota. Overall we outplayed them. Double the amount of passes and a perfect 16/16 on tackles won. Torreira the unlikely matchwinner sliding under Kellerer from a sublime Martinelli through ball. Asensio made his debut late on. Our first clean sheet of the season at the seventh attempt.
Elsewhere Man United were the biggest casualties. Harvey Barnes striking an 88th minute winner at Old Trafford. Bournemouth survived the whole of extra time against Norwich with 9 men only to lose on penalties. We would play Ipswich at the Emirates in the 4th Round. Spurs were at home to West Ham.
PREMIER LEAGUE
NEWCASTLE 2 – Wilson 13 31
ARSENAL 0
Newcastle had started the season well with four wins from five and on paper a much better team that they had previously got. It showed too as we followed up a poor defeat at Leicester in our previous away game with an even worse one at St James Park. Possibly with the Champions league starting the players were distracted but we produced very little.
CHAMPIONS LREAGUE GROUP C MATCHDAY 1
ARSENAL 2 – Aubameyang 52 Asensio 82
BENFICA 1 – Ramos 83
After a long wait we were finally back in the Champions League. With two home games to start with it was important to try and win both of them to set down a marker. Benfica came for a 0-0 and we struggled at times but eventually got the goal through Aubameyang. Asensio got his first for the club close to the end. Benfica scored a fifa style kick off goal (not the last of those) but we easily managed it from there and got the job done.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 4 – Odegaard 18 Aubameyang 53 67 88
TOTTENHAM 0
Spurs had endured a dreadful start to the season and visited the Emirates missing Harry Kane. They started Zaha who completely slipped under my radar and only signed for 4 million. Spurs to their credit played quite well but we were just more clinical. Aubameyang netting his third hat-trick of the season midway through September.
CHAMPIONS LREAGUE GROUP C MATCHDAY 2
ARSENAL 2 – Aubameyang 24 Odegaard 48
RB LEIPZIG 0
The same scorers were on target again four days later and we made it a comfortable two wins from two in Group C. A very routine win.
PREMIER LEAGUE
WEST HAM 2 – Yarmolenko 76, 83
ARSENAL 2 – Odegaard 30 Aubameyang 74
The Premier League schedulers did us no favours giving us a 12:30 Saturday kick off after a late Champions League game on the Wednesday (nothing changes there for us Gooners) again it was the same scorers in a game for 76 minutes despite not making many changes we controlled. However another kick off goal got it back to 2-1 and then Yamolenko hammered in his second for 2-2. He even had the audacity to score again in the fifth minute of stoppage time but luckily he had strayed just offside and it was disallowed. Always frustrating to blow a 2-0 lead but we were still playing well. Saka laying off both goals.
CHAMPIONS LREAGUE GROUP C MATCHDAY 3
BESIKTAS 0
ARSENAL 3 – Gabriel 1 Nelson 47 Aubameyang 85(pen)
The first big test of the champions league saw us head to the cauldron of Turkey and Besiktas. However we were excellent from the first minute where Gabriel thumped in a header from a Xhaka corner. Aubameyang had put the ball in the net again just three minutes later but VAR ruled it out. Nelson has slowly been improving and scored just after half time to give us a nice cushion before Aubameyang slotted in a penalty for three wins from three and almost certainly confirming qualification.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 4 – Aubameyang 3, 21 Saka 7 Odegaard 10
FULHAM 2 – Carvalho 62 Olise 83
Our first game of October saw us take on Fulham who had lost six of their eight league games as well as a league cup tie to our next opponents Ipswich. Aubameyang gave us an early lead and from there we tore them apart with a 21-minute four goal blitz. They did pull a couple of goals back in the second half due to our sloppiness but an easy win. Olise another player who slipped under my radar being an 11 million pound signing in the summer.
CARABAO CUP 4th ROUND
ARSENAL 4 – Vlahovic 11 Balogun 15 38 45
IPSWICH 1 – El Mizouni 44
With the luxury of playing Ipswich at home I was able to rest most of the first teamers after a tough run of 8 games in 24 days. Flores, Norton-Cuffy and Azeez all made their debuts. I also had Cirjan, Matthew Smith, John-Jules and Kalantari a 17 year old Iranian regen I got from Southampton on the bench. I opted for a 4-4-2 pairing Vlahovic and Balogun together and it was the latter netting us our fifth (not last) hat-trick of the season in a good win.
Both Spurs and Chelsea joined Man United and Liverpool in the exit lounge. Sours lost 3-1 at home to an inspired West Ham while Chelsea were knocked out at Huddersfield 3-4 on penalties. Forrest Green caused a stir by winning at Southampton. We travel to them for the quarter-finals in January. The other ties are Leicester vs Huddersfield, Man City vs Leeds and West Ham vs Burton
PREMEIR LEAGUE
EVERTON 0
ARSENAL 1 – Aubameyang 32
Having scored four in the first half of both our last two matches we had to grind out a tough 1-0 win at Everton. All of the defence playing well although our attack still created plenty of chances just without the finishing on this occasion.
PREMEIR LEAGUE
ARSENAL 5 – Xhaka 15 Vlahovic 32, 49, 71, 77
SOUTHAMPTON 0
Southampton were having a decent season and had already secured draw to Liverpool and a stalemate at Man City. However we put in our best attacking performance of the season. Four goals and an assist for Vlahovic and a goal and two assists for Xhaka. 31 shots on goal and a 4.63xg. Vlahovic with a perfect 10 score.
PREMEIR LEAGUE
BRENTFORD 1 – Toney 51(pen)
ARSENAL 2 – Tavares 63 Odegaard 85 – Aubameyang miss/pen 6
Having been brilliant against Southampton we were very lethargic against 19th place Brentford. Aubameyang missed an early penalty and we were far too relaxed allowing Brentford more possession than most teams against us have (47%). Toney then opened the scoring and it looked like another poor away loss but Tavares scored a very odd (buggy) goal to get it to 1-1. Having a pop shot from 40 yards only for the possessed goalkeeper to stumble, flinch and dive the wrong way. Nothing strange about Odegaards winner. A 1-2 with Martinelli from a freekick and smashing past the newly signed Nick Pope.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP C MATCHDAY 4
ARSENAL 2 – Guendouzi 45 Nelson 80 - Asensio miss/pen 18
BESIKTAS 0
We made it four wins from four with a very dominant performance with the second string. It could have been a lot more but Ersin in the Besiktas goal was outstanding earning a well deserved man of the match. They failed to have a single attempt on target from their paltry two shots. A point from one of the last two games will be easily enough to top the group.
PREMEIR LEAGUE
ARSENAL 1 – Martinelli 90
LIVERPOOL 0
Liverpool were flying at this stage last season but this campaign it has been a bit of a different story. They travelled to the Emirates in sixth place having drawn six of their eleven games. We added to their indifferent form and inflicted their first defeat of the season with a last gasp winner. Vlahovic had scored just a couple of minutes earlier but it has been ruled out for offside. Both attacks in the game were a bit stale but the subs made a difference and our defence was better, especially Ben White. Tierney returned from injury after a month out.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP C MATCHDAY 5
BENFICA 1 – Fernandes 33
ARSENAL 1 – Vlahovic 44
We travelled to Benfica on an eight game winning streak but that was ended with a rather lifeless display. I played a strong side but neither parts of our game were very impressive. Still a draw put us through top of the group so not too many complaints.
PREMIER LEAGUE
NORWICH 0
ARSENAL 4 – Xhaka 7 Saka 29 Aubameyang 65 Martinelli 74
The final game of the month saw is travel to Norwich who were bottom of the league with just two wins and a draw from their first thirteen league fixtures. Unfortunately for them with my intention to play the kids in the champions league on the Tuesday I could play my strongest team. We were clinical and Norwich were made to just hack at us to get the ball. 29 fouls in total but only one yellow card. Two assists for the outstanding Tierney.
League Table
Liverpool are sixth, three points behind City having played one more game. Spurs and Chelsea have both struggled and are 12 and 13th. West Ham are 15th.
1. Arsenal P14 P34 GD24
2. Everton P16 P33 GD12
3. Man Utd P13 P32 GD21
4. Newcastle P15 P31 GD12
5. Man City P12 P27 GD15
Premier League Top scorers
Aubameyang 14 Salah 11 Lukaku, C-Lewin 10 Ings 9
Premier League Top Assists
De Bruyne 9 Odegaard 7 B.Fernandes Weigl 6 Rafinha 5
Premier League Av Rating
De Bruyne 7.82 Odegaard 7.75 Robertson 7.66 Rodri 7.65 Rashford 7.55
Premier League Motm
De Bruyne Aubameyang C-Lewin 5 , Pulisic 4 Iheanacho 3
Arsenal stats (1st team)
Appearances (Av rating)
18 - Xhaka (7.25) Odegaard (7.62) Tomiyasu (7.18) White (7.17) Gabriel (7.27)
17(+1) - Aubameyang (7.45)
16 - Partey (7.22)
15(+2)- Vlahovic (7.27)
15 - Ramsdale (7.17)
13 (+5) - Saka (7.08)
13 - Tierney - (7.04)
8(+5) - Tavares (7.10)
7 - Leno (6.90)
6 (+3) - Guendouzi (7.04)
6(+2) - Saliba (7.33)
5 (+5) - Nelson (7.04)
5 - Pepe (6.86)
4(+9) - Martinelli (7.09)
4(+7) - Gravenberch (7.16) Smith Rowe (6.78)
3(+8) – Asensio (7.08)
3(+1) - Bellerin (7.23)
2(+2) – Balogun (7.47)
2 – Ballard (7.70)
1(+8) – Torreira (7.09)
1(+1) – Bale (6.65)
1 - N-Cuffy (6.30) Lopez (6.80)
0 (+1) – Azeez (6.50)
Goals
Aubameyang 17
Vlahovic 10
Odegaard 7
Saka 4
Balogun 3
Xhaka Nelson Martinelli 2
Tavares Asensio Partey Guendouzi Torreira S-Rowe Gabriel 1
Assists
Odegaard 9
Saka 6
Xhaka, Martinelli 4
Asensio Vlahovic Tierney 3
Pepe Partey Tomiyasu Gravenberch 2
Tavares Guendozi Torreira Aubameyang Nelson 1
Man of Match
Aubameyang 5
Vlahovic 2
Tierney, Odegaard, Torreira, White, Balogun, Gabriel 1
Europe round up
With one game to go there isn’t a lot to play for. Man City are the only English club in danger of missing out in the knock out stages. They must avoid defeat in Lisbon or they are out. Atletico are the only really major surprise with Zenit taking their place in the last 16.
In the Europa League both Brentford and Leeds have qualified while in the Conference League Chelsea have five wins from five.
European Domestic Round up
In France PSG are running away with it. 8 point lead with a game in hand. Bayern also have an 8 point advantage in Germany. Juventus have a five point lead over Milan in Italy while Ream Madrid have won 14 of their first 15 matches and lead La Liga by 5 points.
November/December Fixtures
Only three games due to the World Cup.
CL MD 6- Leipzig (A)
PL - Wolves (A)
PL - Aston Villa (H)
1 -
Arsenal Season 2 – Pre-Season / August
Having had a successful first season, winning the league (just) and the Carabao Cup and finishing runners up in the Fa Cup to Liverpool I began piecing more of the squad I want for the second season.
That of course began with the staff. The Under 23s and 18s underwent radical changes but the first team mostly stayed the same. I wanted to get rid of Jungheim (assistant manager) and replace him with a ridiculous regen coach named Thijs Faber but the board wouldn’t sanction the £5 million it would take to terminate his contract so he has stayed for now.
Both Youth teams have new managers. I found a new head of youth development but he ended up staying at Lyon so Mertesacker is still surviving for the moment.
The Transfer window was busy. Quite a few of the scouted came in but we made three significant signings. Vlahovic, Gravenberch and Asensio. The first two were very much planned while Asensio was available for such a low price close to deadline day and injuries to Pepe and Bale meant I took the deal.
Both keepers nearly left with Newcastle after them. Ramsdale accepted a bumper new contract to stay while Leno rejected Newcastle to remain mostly sitting on the bench. Holding did make the trip to St James Park though but I was happy with the money. I wanted rid of Maitland-Niles and Nketiah so both left for lower amounts than possibly needed. I decided to keep Guendouzi as I didn’t want Marseille to have him for such a low price. However I will probably let him go at the end of the season.
TRANFERS IN
Dusan Vlahovic (40M)
Ryan Gravenberch (37M)
Marco Asensio (16M)
TRANSFERS OUT
Rob Holding (Newcastle) 40M
Eddie Nketiah (Ajax) 13.25M
Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Borussia Monchengladbach) 15m
Konstantinos Mavropanos (Stuttgart) 2.6M
Jordi Osei-Tutu (Fulham) 1.9M
Henry-Francis, Monlouis, Taylor-Hart and Alebiosu all left for peanuts.
Lokonga, Rekik, Patino and Hutchinson are just some of the young players who have gone out on loan.
SQUAD
Currently I am playing 4-2-3-1 with Aubameyang sometimes playing on the left.
GK – Ramsdale – Leno
DL – Tierney – Tavares
DR – Tomiyasu – Bellerin
DC – White - Saliba
DC – Gabriel – Ballard
CDM – Partey – Torreira – Guendouzi
CM – Xhaka – Gravenberch
CAM – Odegaard – Asensio – S-Rowe
ML – Saka – Bale – Martinelli
MR – Pepe – Nelson
ST – Aubameyang – Vlahovic – Balogun
PRE SEASON
Pre-season saw us travel to the USA far earlier than usual to due the World Cup.
I forgot to take into account players returning from loan so only a couple made appearances during the three game run. Overall we played ok in the games with all members of the 44 man party playing at least 30 minutes of a game. Vlahovic making a belated scoring debut against Colarado in the final game.
After we came back to London for the Emirates Cup. We entertained Rangers, Leipzig and Porto. Two comfortable 2-0 wins were enough to win the trophy.
Our final two games saw us play Salzburg and Celtic. Salzburg was a tricky affair but Celtic were a stroll.
Overall I was happy with what I saw and trying out a more attacking tactic.
Cincinnati – 5-2 – Nketiah 3 Bale Martinelli
Dallas – 1-1 – McEneff
Colorado – 1-0 – Vlahovic
Rangers – 2-0 – Vlahovic Balogun
RB Leipzig – 2-0 – Bale Lokonga
RB Salzburg – 2-1 – Nelson Aubameyang
Celtic – 4-0 – Saka, o.g Pepe Vlahovic.
COMMUNITY SHIELD
LIVERPOOL 2 – Mane 78 Salah 90
ARSENAL 1 – Vlahovic 57
Liverpool started their new signing Declan Rice in midfield (I was tempted to get him). I left Aubameyang on the bench deciding to go with Vlahovic from the start. Despite taking the lead we weren’t at our best and although the Salah goal was the last kick of the game Liverpool deserved the win.
PREMIER LEAGUE
WEST BROM - 1 Grant 28 Rondon s/o 15
ARSENAL – 3 – Aubameyang 5, 71, 81
Chelsea and Liverpool opened the season with a pulsating 3-3 draw at Stamford Bridge. The fixture computer gave us a tricky start but we began at newly promoted West Brom. Ramsdale suffered a thigh injury in training so would miss the first month of the season. We started the game well with Aubameyang giving us an early lead. That was helped by Karlan Grant producing a shocking strikers tackle on Tierney and being sent off ten minutes later. However the baggies equalised and then it took us until the 71st minute to finally get the second goal. Aubameyang completing his hat-trick for a good but a bit insipid opening win.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL – 3 – Vlahovic 20 51 75(pen)
MAN CITY - 1 Dias 63
There was nothing wrong with our bite for the second game at home to Man City. We put in a commanding performance. City were run ragged and committed 23 fouls but only one was deemed a yellow card while we had 2 yellows from just 5 fouls. An XG of over 3 and possession over 60%. A shame not to keep a clean sheet. Dias thumping in a header from a corner.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL – 5 – Aubameyang 4 17(pen) 45 Odegaard 74 Saka 90
LEEDS - 1 - Rodrigo 68
Aubameyang made it 3 hat-tricks in a row in another exhibition of attacking football at the Emirates. An XG of 4.23 and a 94 pass accuracy very pleasing.
PREMIER LEAGUE
LEICESTER CITY - 2 – Xhaka o.g 2 Ihenacho 90
ARSENAL – 1 – Odegaard 20
Four hat-tricks in a row? No. I always seem to lose an early season game and this was no different. We lost Bale to another training injury and he would miss around three months. Xhaka with a terrible own goal after 2 minutes before Ihenacho curled past Leno in the 93rd minute. Both Aubameyang and Vlahovic scoring just 6.2 ratings. I still think we deserved a draw though.
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL – 3 – Smith-Rowe 10 Partey 58 Saka 69 – Aubameyang miss/pen 20
CHELSEA - 2 – Lukaku 85 90(pen)
Before the final game of the month Odegaard asked for a new contract which I offered but when I refused to pay the 10 million signing on fee he got unhappy. All this meant I left him out of the Chelsea game as well as his minions Martinelli, Saliba and Guendouzi who agreed with him. Smith-Rowe paid me back for his first start of the season with the opening goal. We cruised in the game although two late goals for Lukaku nearly put a sting in the tail. Pepe dislocated his shoulder and would be out for around three months. Still no clean sheets this season.
League Table
Liverpool are the only unbeaten team but have two draws at Chelsea (3-3) and Man City (0-0).
1. Arsenal P4 P12 GD8
2. Man Utd P4 P12 GD7
3. Newcastle P4 P12 GD7
4. Aston Villa P4 P12 GD4
5. Liverpool P4 P11 GD11
Global Transfers
The biggest deal of the summer was always going to be Kylian Mbappe. I did have talks with him but having just signed Vlahovic and with his astronomical demands I decided to leave it. He ended up at Bayern.
Domestically all the big clubs spent money. Chelsea signed Nianzou and Zabarnyi. Liverpool got Declan Rice for 59 million and also brought in Bernat. Man City spent nearly 97 million pounds on Dendoncker and Nuno Mendez while their neighbours United signed Weigl, Tete and Barbosa. Spurs only significant signing was Normand. Newcastle had an arsenal reunion with Martinez joining Holding at St James Park and West Ham spent 42 million on Belgium midfielder De Ketelaere
The largest financial deal of the summer was Sergej Milinkovic-Savic going to PSG for 68million. PSG also signed Ndidi, Phillip Max and Renan Lodi for big fees while Dybala, Jesus Corona and Sergi Roberto came in on free transfers..
Bayern were also busy. Having signed Mbappe they brought in Nunes from Sporting. They also got Martial and Akanji. Dortmund kept Haaland.
Things were quieter in Spain with Real Madrid only bringing in Romagnoli. Barcelona also only made one major deal bringing in Mykolenko. Atletico Madrid signed Singo and Kluivert.
In Italy Inter were the biggest spenders signing Alex Sandro, Joaquin Correa and Gundogan.
Draws
WORLD CUP
England drew Chile Jamaica and Senegal in the world cup draw. Argentina and Portugal were paired together as were Holland and Spain and Germany and Italy. Croatia play Congo in the opening game.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE/ EUROPA LEAGUE/CONFERENCE
Arsenal Leipzig Benfica Besiktas
Not the easiest draw but we should qualify. None of the English teams were given easy rides. Man City have Real Madrid, Sporting and Monaco. United drew Barcelona and AC Milan as well as Ferencvaros while Liverpool got PSG Bayer Leverkusen and the team I wanted WSG Tirol.
Brentfords foray into European football sees them play Kyiv Kobenhavn and Trabzonspor. Meanwhile Leeds have Inter, Utrecht and Galatasaray.
Chelsea are the only English representative in the Conference League. They play Rapid, Brondby and MPT. An Israeli team apparently.
CARABAO CUP
Arsenal vs Liverpool
I haven’t been very lucky with draws so far this season. I am yet to beat Liverpool in four matches.
Man United vs Leicester the only other real stand out tie.
September/October fixtures
Nice and busy.
Carabao Cup – Liverpool (H)
Prem – Newcastle (A)
CL MD1 – Benfica (H)
Prem – Tottenham (H)
CL MD2 Leipzig (H)
Prem - West Ham (A)
CL MD3 – Besiktas (A)
Prem – Fulham (H)
Prem - Man U (H)
Prem – Everton (A)
Prem – Southampton (H)
Prem – Brentford (A)
CL MD4 – Besiktas (H)
Prem – Liverpool (H)
CL MD5 – Benfica (A)
Prem - Norwich (A)
0 -
Arsenal Season 1 – MAY / Season Review
This was the table going into our final three matches of the season. Man United also having to play Liverpool was a huge bonus for us.
Premier league table - Played/Points/Goal Difference
1. Arsenal P 35 P 83 GD 48
2. Man Utd P 35 P 81 GD 59
3. Liverpool P 34 P 80 GD 69
PREMIER LEAGUE
EVERTON 1 – Doucore 73
ARSENAL 3 – Aubameyang 8, 22 Odegaard 24
In the only two Wednesday fixtures we travelled to Goodison Park the same night Liverpool journeyed in the other direction to play Crystal Palace. We did our job with a comfortable win. Palace came very close to doing us a huge favour before a 95th minute Salah penalty sealed a 2-1 for the reds.
Premier league table - Played/Points/Goal Difference
1. Arsenal P 36 P 86 GD 50
2. Liverpool P 35 P 83 GD 70
3. Man Utd P 35 P 81 GD 59
PREMIER LEAGUE
BURNLEY 0
ARSENAL 1 – Nketiah 71
Bizzarly despite being a massive title deciding fixture and everything else that history brings United and Liverpool met at 3pm on Saturday in an untelevised game. We were also playing at the same time. With us unlikely to make up a 20 goal difference we needed United to not lose. An even game saw Pogba stab home 5 minutes from time for a 1-0 win. We didn’t have it all our own way ourselves. Having just some off the bench Nketiah grabbed the only goal of the game from our single shot on target.
Before we met Liverpool in the Fa Cup final they played West Ham away. United were also playing at Spurs to complete the game in hands. Surely one would slip up? Not to be. Liverpool surviving for the last half hour with ten men to win 1-0 while Spurs blew a 2-0 lead with greenwood grabbing the winner in the 90th minute. It left the table delicately poised going into the final game.
Premier league table - Played/Points/Goal Difference
1. Arsenal P 37 P 89 GD 50
2. Man Utd P 37 P 87 GD 61
3. Liverpool P 37 P 86 GD 70
FA CUP FINAL
ARSENAL 1 – Aubameyang 38
LIVERPOOL 2 – Mir 2 Salah 48
With concentration fully on the league I wasn’t too bothered about the Fa Cup Final. Ramsdale aside for cup keeper Leno we were at full strength. Liverpool for reasons I still am not aware of left out Van Dijk. It was disappointing to concede at the start of both halves but overall Liverpool played better and deserved to win.
ARSENAL – Leno, Tierney, White Gabriel Tomiyasu Xhaka Partey Bale Saka Odegaard (Nketiah 68) Aubameyang
Subs not used: - Ramsdale, Holding, Lainer, Arthur, Martinelli, Pepe.
LIVERPOOL – Alisson, Robertson (Tsimikas 69), A-Arnold (Mazraoui 59), Konate, Matip, O-Chamberlain, Jones, Jota, Salah (Elliot 64) Mir.
Subs not used: - Kelleher Firminho Koumetio Gallacher
Match Stats – Shots(ot) – 9(6)/20(9) – Possession 56/44 - XG 1.60/1.89 – Fouls 8/14 Yellow Cards 2/1
Woodwork 0/0 - CCC 0/0 – Passes - 727(88%)/468(88%) – Av Rating 6.86/7.06
Man of Match – Andrew Roberston 8.0
PREMIER LEAGUE
ARSENAL 2 – Odegaard 52 Aubameyang 71
ASTON VILLA 0
We secured the title with a nervy win over villa. Both United and Liverpool also won. We started nervously and only had 40% possession In the first half. Unheard of in my reign. We clawed it back to 48 by the end of the game as I let the players know I wasn’t happy. Odegaard scored a great free kick and then Aubameyang sealed it with his 28th league goal of the season. I hope to not leave it as late next season to secure the league but nice to get it done.
Final Table
Premier league table - Played/Points/Goal Difference
1. Arsenal P 38 P 92 GD 53
2. Man Utd P 38 P 90 GD 62
3. Liverpool P 38 P 89 GD 72
4. Man City P 38 P 85 GD 49
5. Brentford P 38 P 69 GD 23
Chelsea finished 7th, Spurs 9th while Crystal Palace, Burnley and Watford were relegated. 12 points ended up separating 18th and 17th.
Bournemouth and Fulham were promoted automatically. West Brom beat Barnsley in the playoff final.
Premier league stats Top 10
Goals – Aubameyang, Ronaldo 28 Salah 27 Greenwood 23 C-Lewin 21 Adams 19 Bale, Wilson 18 Lukaku, Toney 17
Assists – B Fernandes 18 Robertson, Canos 14 Sancho 13 Buendia, Tomiyasu 12 A-Arnold Henrique (Everton) 10 W-Prowse, Fraser 9
AV R – Robertson 7.83, B Fernades 7.75 Ronaldo 7.65 De Bruyne 7.52 Origi 7.49 Salah 7.44 Matip, Van Dijk 7.41 Mane 7.37 K Walker 7.36
MOM – Ronaldo 10 Robertson, B Fernandes 9, De Bruyne 8 C-Lewin 7 Trossard Aubameyang Buendia Salah Tomiyasu 6
Clean Sheets – Alisson 24 Ramsdale, Ederson 18 Meslier 17 De Gea 14 Ferandez 12 Gollini Areola 11 Martinez 10 Darlow 9
Awards
Footballer of the Year – Andrew Roberston
Players Player of the Year – Andrew Robertson
Young Player of the Year – Mason Greenwood
Golden Glove – Alisson
Manager – Kinglara
Team of the Season – Ramsdale Roberston Tomiyasu White Gabriel Bale Xhaka B Fernandes Sancho Aubameyang Ronaldo
Arsenal in the Premier League
Home
P 19 W18 D1 L0 GF51 GA9
Away
P19 W10 D7 L2 GF24 GA13
Overall
P38 W28 D8 L2 GF75 GA22
Performance timeline
WWDWWWDWLDWDWWDWWWWWWWLDWDWWWWWDWWWWWW
Comparison Man United and Liverpool Performance Timelines
Man United
WWDWWWDWLDWDWWDWWWWWWWLDWDWWWWWDWWWWWW
Liverpool
WWWWWWWDWWDWDDWLWDWWWDWWWDLWWWWWDWWLWW
Arsenal premier league stats
Goals – Aubameyang 28 Bale 18 Odegaard 7 Saka Nketiah 5 Pepe 4 Xhaka 2 Martinelli Tavares Holding S-Rowe Gabriel 1
Assists – Tomiyasu 12 Odegaard Bale 7 Xhaka Saka 6 S-Rowe 5 Pepe 4 Partey Tierney 3 White Martinelli 2 Aubameyang 1
Mom – Tomiyasu Aubameyang 6 Bale 5 Odegaard Ramsdale 3 S-Rowe Gabriel 2 Tavares White Holding Nketiah 1
Arsenal Total Season stats – Played /Goals/Asssists/Mom/Av R
Tomiyasu P 42 G 0 A 12 Mom 7 AvR 7.34
White P 42 G 0 A 2 Mom1 AvR 7.11
Gabriel P 40(+1) G1 A1 Mom 2 AvR 7.25
Xhaka P 39 G 2 A 8 Mom 0 AvR 7.12
Odegaard P 38(+6) G7 A 8 Mom 3 AvR 7.03
Ramsdale P 37 CS 18 A 0 Mom 3 AvR 7.14
Bale P 35(+8) G18 A 8 Mom 5 AvR 7.15
Aubameyang P 35(+1) G 32 A 1 Mom 7 AvR 7.31
Tierney P 31(+3) G 0 A 3 Mom 0 AvR 7.07
Partey P 29(+2) G 0 A 3 Mom 0 AvR 7.03
Saka P 27(+7) G 6 A 8 Mom 0 Av R 6.95
Pepe P 23(+15) G 9 A 7 Mom 2 AvR 7.00
Tavares P 19(+5) G 1 A 0 Mom 1 AvR 6.96
S-Rowe P 17 (+21) G 1 A 8 Mom 2 AvR 7.03
Martinelli P 17(+13) G 6 A 2 Mom 1 AvR 6.83
Nketiah P 16(+6) G 9 A 0 Mom 1 AvR 6.97
Lokonga P 15(+11) G 1 A 2 Mom 0 AvR 6.94
Leno P 14 CS 8 A 0 Mom 3 AvR 7.49
Holding P 11(+1) G 1 A 1 Mom 1 AvR 7.43
Arthur P 8(+6) G 0 A 0 Mom 0 Av R 6.93
Lainer P 4 G 0 A 0 Mom 0 Av R 7.30
Umtiti P 3 G 0 A 0 Mom 0 Av R 6.90
Patino P 1(+9) G 0 A 0 Mom 0 Av R 6.72
Hutchinson P 0(+5) G 0 A 0 Mom 0 Av R 6.70
Mari P 6 G 0 A 0 Mom 0 Av R 7.40
Elneny P 5(+3) G 0 A 0 Mom 0 Av R 6.84
Cedric P 4(+2) G 0 A 2 Mom 0 Av R 7.12
M-Niles P 3(+7) G 0 A 0 Mom 1 Av R 7.08
Balogun P 0(+1) G 0 A 0 Mom 0 Av R 6.60
Arsenal All Comps
Played 51 Won 29 Drew 9 Lost 3 Goals For 95 Goals Against 28 Gola Difference +67 Win Percentage 76%
Final Bits
Real Madrid won the Champions League. They beat Man United 3-2. Eden Hazard scoring the late winner in stoppage time.
Napoli were Europa League champions beating Lyon 2-1 while West Ham made it to the final of the conference league but lost to Roma.
Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern and PSG all won their respective leagues.
Chelsea sacked Tuchel.
Final Summary
Very pleased to win the league and also the Carabao Cup. Bigger fish to fry next season as I want a good run back in Europe.
I plan to sign a striker and a central midfielder with one already done (he’s Serbian) but we also have a few loans returning so need to see how the squad is shaped. Plus you never know what curveballs the summer window can bring.
I wasn’t happy with the goal output. I feel we were about 30 goals light. 95 goals in 51 matches is not good enough. I want double figures in goals and assists for all of the attacking players next season.
2
FM24: Arsenal - Taking the next step
in Good Player & Team Guide
Posted
FM24 season 1 arsenal – January/February
Premier League
Bournemouth 1 – Brooks 77 – Adams s/o 28
Arsenal 2 – Havertz 1, 55
January kicked off with a trip to the south coast on New Years Day. Havertz gave us the lead after just 20 seconds and we seemed to be set for an easy afternoon. Tyler Adams got himself sent off and it got even easier but despite an x.g of 3.23 we just couldn’t kill the game. Havertz got his second after half time but brooks pulled one back which set up a nervy last 15 minutes. Should have been a lot more comfortable.
FA Cup 3rd Round
Arsenal 6 – Nketiah 4, 66, 90 Viera 8 Guehi 51(o.g) Jesus 83
Crystal Palace 3 – Edouard 13, 20 Ayew 58
We began our FA Cup journey with a home tie against Crystal Palace. I rested Gabriel and Saliba while starting youngsters Sousa and Azeez. Goals from Nketiah and Viera saw us race into an early 2-0 lead. However Palace kept scoring from their only shots and by the hour mark it was 3-3 Nketiah scored again before Jesus added a fifth and then Nketiah completed his hat-trick to give a flattering scoreline and a fourth round meeting with MK Dons. Leicester beat Tottenham 3-1 to knock them out. Aston Villa needed a replay to see off wigan. The fourth round draw didn’t throw up too many banana skins. Newcastle host League two Barrow.
Premier League
West Ham 5 – Miranchuk 57, 63, 90(+7) Ward-Prowse 87(pen) Cornet 89
Arsenal 4 – Gabriel 51 Odegaard 66, 75 Jesus 90(+4)
We travelled to West Ham who were on the back of a decent run of form and having just won the first leg of their league cup semi final against Brentford. Declan Rice missed the game after suffering a hernia ruling him out for a month. A drab first half came to life spectacularly in the second as the goals flowed. 3-2 up with a few minutes to go Odegaard gave away a silly penalty. Cornet then caught us on the break but Jesus got us level. However with 5 minutes of stoppage time still to go I felt we had the momentum to win it but Miranchuk had the last laugh with a perfect 10 display. Ramsdale with a 5.9 got a stern telling off. Failing to save any of the only five shots west ham managed on target.
FA Cup 4th Round
Arsenal – 4 – Trossard 5 45 Viera 57 90
MK Dons – 0 – Hunter s/o 63
We were licking our wounds for two weeks as an international break came. Sousa Azeez James Sweet and Walters all started as I was given a chance to rest most of the first teamers. A very comfortable win. Man United were knocked out losing 1-0 to reading at Old Trafford. Bournemouth won 4-3 at West Ham while Coventry beat Aston Villa 1-0. We would play Blackpool at the Emirates next.
Premier League
Arsenal 1 – Nketiah 83
Crystal Palace – 0
Having walloped Palace 6-3 in the fa cup we hosted them again in the league just a few weeks later. All eyes though were in Manchester as City took on Liverpool. A tighter affair than the cup clash saw us get a late winner through Nketiah. Still should have scored more though. Liverpool did us a huge favour by winning 3-0 at City and giving us a cushion at the top.
Premier League
Wolves – 3 – Lemina 53 Kalajdzic 60 Cunha 84(pen)
Arsenal 4 – Nketiah 13 White 18, 67 Gabriel 90
Our first game of February saw us travel to Molineux to play Wolves. It was another eventful game as we first squandered a 2-0 lead to be level at 2-2 and then 3-2 up. Finally though Gabriel popped up in the 94th minute to give us the winner. Ramsdale with another poor game. This time conceding 3 from just 5 shots on target.
Premier League
Arsenal 3 – Viera 9 Odegaard 15 Nketiah 83
Newcastle – 1 – Gordon 80
We secured a comfortable win over Newcastle at the Emirates. Viera preferred to Havertz scoring the opener. An xg of 2.75 still suggests a wastefulness In front of goal though.
Champions League second round (1st Leg)
Feyenoord – 3 – Hartman 45 Ivanusec 59 Timer 68
Arsenal 1 – Nketiah 41 – Gabriel s/o 79
We travelled to Feyenoord for the first leg of the second round tie. Although on paper it looked a good draw they had beaten Atletico madrid 3-0 in their last group match so I wasn’t taking them lightly. We had an off night but they outplayed us and deserved the win. I’m still hopeful we can turn it around at The Emirates though.
Premier League
Brighton – 1 – Milner 30 – Veltman s/o 34
Arsenal 3 – Nketiah 58 Havertz 90 Webster o.g 90(+6)
A trip to Europa League playing brighton wasn’t the worst fixture we could’ve got and it improved after Veltman was sent off in the first half shortly after Milner had given them the lead. We were missing Gabriel and Saliba with minor injuries but it didn’t seem to matter as Nketiah got as level. However, try as I might we couldn’t get our attacking territory going. Brighton still having 50% possession. Finally a Havertz header looped over Steel for the winner. A webster own goal added gloss in injury time.
Premier League
Arsenal 4 – Nketiah 25 White 39 Kwior 41 Zinchenko 55
Burnley – 0
Gabriel and Saliba were both still missing as we hosted Burnley at the Emirates. We didn’t miss them too much as we ran away with the first half and managed the game well in the second. Odegaard with three assists.
FA Cup 5th Round
Arsenal 5 – Kwior 9 Viera 15 Cedric 25 Partey 45(+4) Havertz 53
Blackpool – 2 – Ekpiteta 45(+1) Rhodes 83
The final game of February saw our kind fa up draw continue as we played Blackpool. Walters was given a start at right back but was the only youngster to feature. Blackpool were 9th in League 1 but to their credit gave us a decent game but we controlled it throughout to set up a quarter final with Coventry. Newcastle needed penalties to beat Blackburn but made it through to the quarters. They will travel to Anfield. Meanwhile Fulham host Leicester and Chelsea play Man City,
Premier League Table
1. Arsenal P27 P66 GD38
2. Man City P27 P60 GD25
3. Liverpool P27 P55 GD25
4. Man Utd P27 P55 GD23
5. Aston Villa P27 P33 GD25
Chelsea are six points behind Villa in 6th. Sheffield United and Luton look set to be relegated while Crystal Palace and Burnley are currently separated by one point. They play each other on the final day of the season. In the race for promotion Leeds and Leicester look likely to go up. Norwich in 3rd five points adrift.
Arsenal season stats so far
Arsenal stats (1st team)
Appearances (40 played)
Ramsdale 34 Gabriel 33 Saliba 30 Odegaard 29(+1) Rice 28(+1) Nketiah 26 (+6)
Saka 26 (+1) Martinelli 21 (+9) Tomiyasu 21(+5) White 20(+9) Zinchenko 19(+8)
Partey 18(+8) Kwior 16(+3) Havertz 16(+19) Jorginho 15(+14)
Nelson, Jesus 15(+11) Trossard 14(+14) Viera 14(+11) Cedric 13(+2) Raya 6 Azeez 4
Sousa 3 (+1) Walters 3 Foran 1(+1)Sweet 1 C-Duberry 0(+2)
Goals
Nketiah 18 Saka 10 Odegaard 9 Havertz 8
Viera, Martinelli Gabriel Trossard 5
Kwior, Partey White 4
Nelson Rice Jesus 3
Zinchenko Cedric Tomiyasu 2
Sousa Saliba Jorginho 1
Assists
Odegaard 13 Martinelli 9 Saka 8 Nelson 7
Jorginho Rice 6 Nketiah 5 Tomiyasu 4
Viera Trossard 3
Kwior Havertz Zinchenko Partey Azeez Jesus 2
Cedric White 1
Man of Match
Nketiah 6 Saka 4 Tomiyasu Martinelli 3
Zinchenko Partey Odegaard Nelson 2
Havertz Viera Cedric Jorgino Ramsdale Rice Gabriel 1
Transfer Window
The window was busier than usual. Man City signed Nicholas Gonzarlez and Juan Foyth for a combined fee of 128million. Needing even more forwards Liverpool bought in David Neres for 39m. Spurs bought Brahim Diaz from Real Madrid for 25m while possibly the best bit of business came from Aston Villa who loaned in Tammy Abraham although they lost Leon Bailey to PSG. Newcastle signed Thiago Silva and Valentin Barco while the oddest transfer was Scott Mctominay moving to Chelsea on loan.
Champions League
There were mixed fortunes for English teams in the first legs of the champions league second round. While we lost at Feyenoord, Man United also lost losing 1-0 at Old Trafford with a goal by a certain Jude Bellingham. Meanwhile Man City conceded a late penalty to live the tie nicely balanced having beaten Leipzig 2-1 at the Etihad. Elsewhere PSG, Dortmund and Napoli hold 2 goal advantages while Benfica vs V=Barcelona and Porto vs Atheltico Madrid both ended up in 3-3 draws. Only one away winner from the first leg ties.
In the Europa League Newcastle progressed from the play off round beating swiss size Lugano 7-0 on aggregate. Brighton were knocked out though by Seville on penalties. Liverpool and West Ham join them in the last 16 draw where they will play Fc Lens and Seville. Newcastle will play Villarreal.
Aston Villa are the premier leagues sole survivors in the conference league. They weren’t handed the easiest of last 16 ties though facing Fenerbache. Ajax vs Besiktas the pick of the other matches.
Other news
Speaking of Villa they won the carabao Cup beating Brentford in the final. Diaby with the goal in a tight game.
In the domestic leagues Real Madrid Barcelona and Villarreal are separated by 3 points in La Liga, Things are less tight in Italy with Inter holding a 3 point lead over Roma in what looks like a two-horse race. PSG are 6 ahead in France while Dortmund lead bayern by 4 points in Germany. The two play each other at the end of March.
The Under 21s are currently 6th in their league but just 8 points separate the top 10. They are through in both cup competitions though. The Under 18s are 3rd but 10 points adrift of Norwich with 4 games to go. They made it to the fa youth cup 5th round but lost 2-1 at Sunderland. They are however through to the Uefa youth league knock out stages and will play man united in the 2nd round.
March/April Fixtures
Premier League
Nottingham Forrest (A) Luton (H) Brentford (A) Aston Villa (H) Man United (H) Everton (A) Chelsea (H) Tottenham (A)
Champions League
2nd Round - Feyenoord (H)
FA Cup
QF - Coventry (H)