[FM14] Our Year - Bringing Out the Big Gunners

After my experimentation with an FM13 story (inconsistent updates still occasionally coming), I decided to do one that I could get into as much as anyone interested. I tried about a month with Arsenal, the team I support, on FM14 and realised that - just like in fm13 - they have a great squad, plenty of money, but they're almost always bad. The defense is leaky, Szczesny underperforms every game and very few chances are taken well. So, why not share my frustration with everyone? Standard career mode, no restrictions, updates on loans, transfers, matches and interesting events every 4 games played. So, stay tuned for the first update coming tomorrow!

OK RIGHT, the post below from Lenzar was referring to a fixture that I recently discovered did not happen in this career mode. Whether or not I confused two saves or what, I have no idea. Anyway, everything should be sorted out now and if anything looks out of place, please point it out to me as I want to make sure that all the information you guys (and maybe girls, but I doubt it ) get completely accurate information. Thanks

Was PAOK a friendly?

Yes it was and I'll be sure to label friendlies in future. Also, I apologise for the long reply. Over the last few weeks, I came back to school, got a ton of homework so had little spare time, and on top of that I recently moved house and had no wifi for a while. Anyway, I'm back and I'll be updating again, yay

OK GUYS... I do feel really guilty for the HUGE inconsistencies, but it's only because I simply don't enjoy this fm game, I think I rushed into it and made some awful decisions in terms of signings, so I am going to start again with Arsenal but what I have in mind should be very exciting and kept me playing. Thank you to all who read and hopefully enjoyed this, but I hope you understand that it becomes tedious when I don't want to play. Anyway, I'm going to start straight away and I'll sim the friendlies, get up to the first game of the season, give a summary of pre-season and transfer doings and be back to you hopefully today, maybe tomorrow.

Pre-season went fairly well, we won 3 of our 4 friendlies but suffered a narrow 1-2 defeat against De Graafschap. A good start, but now the test begins. The season begins in just a few days, with an away game against Hull that should get some momentum on our side and begin our Premier League journey to victory.

Aside from the odd youth player loaned here and there, the only loans worth mentioning are that of Miyaichi and Gnabry to Hoffenheim, Sanogo to Bordeaux and newly-signed Maximilian Meyer back to Schalke for the season. See, my main transfer target was the highly acclaimed and strongly linked Schalke beast Draxler, but despite our matching of his £38.5m release clause, he was unwilling to join. At least for now. I'll try again in the Summer, as I desperately want him on this Arsenal side. However, my next two transfer targets were Inter wonderkid Mateo Kovacic and Schalke's other prospect Maximilian Meyer. I signed both of them! Meyer for £13.5m plus an added £3.5m over two years, and Kovacic for a straight up £20m as well as £2m after 50 league appearances. Both me and my coaches see great potential in the pair, although Meyer isn't quite ready to be in the starting XI, which is why loaning him back for the season to get some game time was fitting.

I also extended the contracts of Szczesny until 2016, Gnabry until 2018 and Toral until (I think) 2017. All others with expiring contracts are either not in my plans or need to prove they can still perform - such as Sagna. I also signed Paul Power as a scout at the recommendation of my staff. That's all for now, I'll be back with the first 3 (yes, only 3 to allow for faster updates and less tedious gameplay) matches this evening.

Hull 0 - 1 Arsenal

Cazorla 12.

This was a very worrying start. Despite the win - and a beautiful free kick buried from a difficult angle - it was an average performance. No-one played badly, but no-one played well, not even Cazorla. Kovacic wasn't able to play due to a 3 week injury, but at least it isn't too long. Although it does worry me, as this is the second injury he's had since coming to the club less than two months ago. It better just be a phase. Still, we got the win. That's all we needed.

Champions Cup Playoffs 1st Leg: Paulo Ferreira 1 - 0 Arsenal

Andrė Leāo 68.

Once again, we didn't play badly but not a single player played well. We had numerous chances, in fact we were the dominant team throughout most of the game, but our finishing was awful. This is not a good result and I let the team know that.

Arsenal 1 - 3 Stoke

Ramsey 75. - Crouch 23. Mertesacker OG 50. Pieters 53.

I was fuming after this game. All three of their goals came from corners that bounced around the box and somehow ended up in the back of our net. This sounds weird, but again, no-one played particularly badly, it's just that - once again - no-one played well! The team seems to have a problem with motivation, one I've never previously had with Arsenal. Looks like a bad start to the season. Then again, look at our start irl and then look where we are now. We need to turn this around, and I know we can do it.

Champions Cup Playoffs 2nd Leg: Arsenal 5 - 1 Paulo Ferreira

Koscielny 2. 45+2. Giroud 10. Wilshere 73. 90.

This is exactly the kind of performance I want! I put a lot of emphasis on attacking set pieces and all 5 of these goals were in some way a result of them. Two minutes in, a corner from Wilshere found Mertesacker who headed it across to Koscielny for an easy finish. Just 8 minutes later, it happened again! Only this time, he headed it to his Walcott on his left who headed it forward to Giroud who headed it in, a great piece of teamwork! On the stroke of half time, a Cazorla free kick deflected off of the wall, into Wilshere, out to Walcott to Giroud who took a shot and Koscielny scored on the rebound. The last two goals of the game were both absolutely stunning free kicks from Wilshere, who took over (clearly rightfully) when Podolski came on for Cazorla. The first was a fairly tight angle from about 26 yards that was blasted in, the second was from just outside the right-hand side of the box - a ridiculous angle! Wilshere set up 4 of the 5 goals and really deserved man of the match, but Koscielny just stole it from him. Unfortunately, a light Mertesacker foul resulted in the loss of a clean sheet, but other than that, superb victory!

The groups have been drawn for the Champions Cup and ours is undoubtedly the most tightly contested. We are in group F, featuring Arsenal, Atlético Madrid, Zenit and Napoli, all four teams will find every match difficult and it'll make for a great challenge and some great football. For those interested, here are the other groups:

Group A

FC Bayern

CSKA Moscow

Ajax

Celtic

Group B

Real Madrid

Shakhtar

Dortmund

København

Group C

Chelsea

Juventus

Galatasaray

Real Sociedad

Group D

FC Porto

PSG

Man City

Steaua - good luck

Group E

Man United

Marseille

Olympiakos

Anderlecht

Group G

SL Benfica

Schalke

Basel

Viktoria Plzen

Group H

Barcelona

Olympique Lyon

Leverkuse

BATE

Another drawn fixture is our Capital One Cup 3rd Round game against Cardiff. Honestly, despite the lack of trophies for Arsenal over the majority of the decade, I still have no specific desire to win the Capital One Cup. Although, it's a good competition to give some rotation players a game and it's arguably the most likely contest for us to win. The game will be played at Cardiff City Stadium, and Steven Caulker will be a huge danger for us, especially from set pieces. Another interesting game is the Manchester Derby being played at the Etihad, which will definitely be an interesting game.

Sunderland 0 - 2 Arsenal

Giroud 44. Kameni OG 78.

A nice win to hopefully turn around our poor start to the season, and the team in general played at a capable level. Koscielny particularly shined, getting a decent 8.3 rating and the MoM award for today. As the first half was coming to a disappointing close, Cazorla's corner delivery at the far post was headed away by the defense and Giroud ran in to tap in a header. Our dominance from corners was showing every time we had one, and on the 78th minute Koscielny's header from one bounced off the crossbar, off the keepers back and in, which counted as an own goal. Not a bad performance, not a great one

Arsenal 6 - 2 Aston Villa

Cazorla 6. 14. Giroud 16. Mertesacker 19. Walcott 54. 78. - Bacuna 26. Agbonlahor 79.

Wow! This game got way out of hand and was an all-round fantastic display from almost every single one of my players. Firstly, I just want to say that one major factor was that not 1, not 2, but 5 of our first team players had come back from major or minor injuries in time for this game, 4 of which made an impact. Those 5 were Walcott, Özil, Kovacic, Rosicky and Bendtner. After just 20 minutes, we were 4-0 up. I certainly wasn't expecting that against one of the most threatening teams on the counter in the BPL. After just 6 minutes, Gibbs ran down the left hand side of the pitch, passed in to Kovacic who set up Cazorla to turn and smash the ball into the far post. Just 8 minutes later, almost the exact same goal except without Kovacic and it was on his left this time. We secured the victory a further 2 minutes later when a free kick taken by Özil fell to Koscielny's feet who nodded it to his left for Giroud to bury in the top right. Crazily, just another 3 minutes later Mertesacker, another Özil free kick landed at Mertesacker's feet. He tried a left footed volley which was saved, but he netted it on the rebound. Unfortunately, 7 minutes later Agbonlahor skinned our defense on the counter and picked out Bacuna in open space for the finish. Not long into the second half, Özil passed to Giroud who picked out a perfectly timed run from Walcott. Theo then had the first shot saved but scored his first of the season on the rebound. In the dying stages of the game, Walcott passed to Ramsey and began a run, as Ramsey passed to Rosicky who gave it back to Walcott to get his second. Walcott's movement throughout the entire game was fantastic, and I hope he continues this indefinitely. Literally directly from the kick-off following that 6th goal... Well, you know that FIFA kick-off glitch where you pass back to the midfield, start running and then do an over-the-top through ball to the running man? That is literally what happened. Agbonlahor passed to Okore and then controlled his 40-ish yard pass only to literally walk round Szczesny (who was attempting to kick the ball away) and net it. Luckily, it proved only consolation and we got a deserved and emphatic win. Cazorla and Walcott both got a 9.4 rating, but Santi did just edge Theo for the MoM award. The team's spirit is high and I'm hoping we can use this to get 3 points out of the next game: Zenit in the first Champions Cup group stage game of the season.

Also, for those of you interested, here is a round-up of the only noteworthy transfers:

Lucas Leiva from Liverpool to Man City - £23m

Kovacic from Inter to Arsenal - £20m

Meyer from Schalke to Arsenal - £17m (including clauses and additional fees)

Filipe from Atlético Madrid to PSG - £14m

Vela from Sociedad to Barcelona - £12.5m

Matic from Benfica to Liverpool - £11.75m

Santon from Newcastle to Bayern - £10m

Pepe from Real Madrid to Chelsea - £9m

Tello from Barcelona to Monaco - £8.5m

Coentrão from Real Madrid to Tottenham - £7m (damn, I was looking at that for January)

Next update should be out tomorrow, though I've been getting better and worse with swollen glands recently so if that gets any worse, then you know why an update isn't out. There's like a 95% chance though, so cya tomorrow

Training, Transfers and Thoughts Report #1

This is going to be a side update that'll come out occasionally where I discuss training, future plans, youth players, potential transfers and just about anything on my mind to do with the squad. I invite any of you who take an interest or have an opinion on something I say to reply, but please try to make your comments concise or they'll block up the forum. This way, I can get direct feedback on your opinions of my running of and ideas for the future of the team. Let's get started.

Training

I've been thinking a lot about the squad depth of the AM© role, particularly in future. Kovacic's stats - especially his 17 dribbling for a 20 year old - are fitting for an advanced playmaker role in the heart of the midfield. Unfortunately, we have a wide variety of players who already excel at this position, will continue to develop and will likely be at the club for a long time. The players I'm thinking of are Özil, Wilshere, Kovacic and Meyer. Whilst all four have slightly different playing styles, they all have a 4.5* potential for the club, and Wilshere may even break 5* if he continues this run of form. Between Özil's importance and passing ability, Wilshere's prescence and determination, Meyer's explosiveness and Kovacic's raw attacking talent, I just don't know what I'll do in 2 or 3 years time when they are all part of (or in Meyer's case, likely becoming part of) the first team. This is where I need your help. I could continue to develop Kovacic as a deep-lying playmaker or even an advanced playmaker at M© rather than AM©, but there's no chance in getting him to comfortably play out wide. Whereas Meyer may be able to be trained and converted to an AM(L) or even AM® role, his explosiveness would be just as effective on the wings and he's only 17 so there's plenty of time. I'll explain later why the right side may be a better choice. When it comes to Özil and Wilshere, they're both already crucial players for the team and I expect Wilshere to become arguably the best player we have until Meyer reaches his full potential. This is why I think both of the possibilities mentioned above are good ideas. However, I need your opinions on what I should do or even if I should cash in on the high value of any of the players in the next couple of years to strengthen another position.

Transfers

January will be huge. There are 3 possibilites I have in mind, and we're not even through September yet. As much of a Draxler fan as I am, his release clause is £9m more than the player I believe he will become. This man is one of the few players I admire more than Draxler, and the only problem is that - unless we are in the top 3 by January - he is unlikely to want to join. That man is Marco Reus. World class winger, one of the most explosively and constantly threatening players in the world, I could sign him for less than £30m. I'm hoping that a combination of my recent ambitious signings, my confidence and the form we have to continue will convince him that this move is the right thing. The second option is Draxler. It seems that players aren't willing to join when I offer contracts, but are when my assistant manager offers them. Whilst this is confusing and often leads to very ludicrous wage amounts, it could lead to us signing Draxler should the Reus deal fall through. I would still want Draxler, as Cazorla and Podolski are getting old and will need replacing eventually. This is the reason why Meyer may be better off on the right side, as having three explosive left wingers would cause too much competition. The third option, and either the best or the worst depending on your view, is to spend the £35m (or thereabouts) on many young, future talents such as Icardi, Shaqiri or Rodwell. Let me explain my choices before disagreeing. Icardi is a fairly tall, strong, well-rounded player with capable finishing and brilliant heading at the age of 21. I see him as the successor to Giroud, but slightly better. Shaqiri is someone I tried to sign on loan on deadline day, but couldn't pay the monthly fee (500k) for after my signings. He would fit into the team straight away and his technical abilities are great for a 21 year old. With the potential to be the next Robben, Shaqiri would be one big-money move I would love. As you can tell, I'm a fan of my wingers, but Rodwell is an exception. In the midst of all this explosive potential and technical ability, we need someone who can stop attacks before they start, plucking the ball from playmakers and giving it to those attacking midfielders. My scouts brought my attention to Rodwell, who has a 4* potential for us and is the closest thing I can find to a Xabi-Alonso like player that naturally plays M© rather than DM. Tall, strong, a very consistent player, like Flamini in real life but with more of a physical presence. One final option is a bid for the huge Southampton English prospect pairing of James Ward-Prowse and Luke Shaw. Based on initial enquiries, £35m may not bring them both to Arsenal, but if it did then it would certainly be just as good as the other deals I have in mind.

That's all for this update, let me know how you feel about this and if I should continue. Your opinions on any of the topics I touched on would be greatly appreciated. To sum up, here are some questions I would like your answers to and opinions on if you want to reply:

Should I train Kovacic as an advanced playmaker at AM© or M©?

Should I convert Meyer to an AM®, AM(L) or keep him as an AM©?

Should I sell any of Wilshere, Özil, Meyer or Kovacic in the next two years to strengthen other areas of the squad and prevent too much competion?

Assuming contract talks went well; Reus, Draxler, Icardi & Rodwell, Shaqiri or Shaw & Ward-Prowse in January? Or even someone else?

Thank you for reading this, I apologise if it was too extensive, have a good day and I'll have the next update out on Friday evening

A 5 match update this time to make up for how late they've been

Unfortunately, we lost Flamini for a week and Ramsey for the better part of 2 months. Okay, it's a loss to squad depth but neither was on good form and the amount of players that have recently returned from injury means that we're not in a difficult position as long as there are no more injuries.

Champions Cup Group: Arsenal 4 - 1 Zenit

Cazorla 7. 60. Koscielny 27. Arteta 52. - Kerzhakov 21.

Now the momentum is starting to build. Key players such as Walcott and Ozil are back, morale is sky high and the last few results have more than made up for the losses suffered at the beginning of the season. 7 minutes in, a corner bounced all around the box until Arteta set up Cazorla for the first time shot just outside of the box which found it's way into the net. 14 minutes later, Kerzhakov broke free from out of no-where and netted an easy finish. That was one of three one-on-ones throughout the match, one resulting in a last ditch Mertesacker tackle and the other a fantastic save. At that point, I thought it was going to be a tough match, but just 6 minutes later Ozil's corner delivery was met by Koscielny at the near post, and he made it look damn easy. On the 52nd minute, Arteta won a penalty which was saved but fell straight back to him for an easy rebound to make up for the save. The foul that the penalty was given for was also Witsel's second yellow of the game, and he was off there and then, giving our midfield more space to work with. Finishing the game off was a beautiful display of first touch passing between Arteta, Cazorla and Ozil which ended with a left-footed rocket from Cazorla. Damn, Santi is on fire recently and has been the shooting star amongst the shining ones. Needless to say, he picked up MoM with a 9.2 rating. Also, Atletico beat Marseille 2-0 for those wondering. I'm ecstatic and as long as this form continues, we may just get a head start in the race for the Premier League title. Well, our next game will put our form to the test as we come up against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. This is gonna be a big one.

Chelsea 1 - 2 Arsenal

Mata 8. - Cazorla 18. Arteta 90(pen).

In a game that ended in an extremely nerve-racking moment, Chelsea had slightly more possession and many more chances, but their finishing was very poor. 8 minutes in, Oscar and Mata passed between each other in what was a confusing and fantastic piece of chemistry between the two of them and was buried by Mata. Just 10 minutes later, Cazorla scored another free kick. But not just any free kick; remember that free kick that Wilshere scored against Paulo Ferreira from the right hand sight of the box? It was just like that, only with his right foot instead of his left. Both sides had chances and our fullbacks were constantly threatened by Hazard and Oscar, but they stood strong and on the 90th minute, we were awarded a controversial penalty - controversial due to the argument of whether or not it was in the box. Still, Arteta made sure we didn't waste the chance and smashed it past Cech to secure victory. A good performance from team, and I think it's easy to tell that less than a month of pre-season set piece training goes a long way.

Capital One Cup 3rd Round: Cardiff 3 - 3 Arsenal (4 - 5 on penalties)

Larsson 7. Mason 68. 98. - Cazorla 22. 95. Oxlade-Chamberlain 25.

A very close game, but we did put the slightly better performance in during the 120 minutes and got our reward after winning the penalty shootout. Just 7 minutes in, a cross from Larsson was headed away by Vermaelen, bounced off the back of Flamini's left foot and fell to Larsson who netted it. I was angry at the time, and it was a frustrating game, but I suppose it's my fault for picking Flamini over Arteta. 22 minutes in, a great piece of first touch passing on the counter from Walcott to Wilshere to Ozil to Giroud and then over the top for Cazorla to volley in for his 7th goal in all competitions this season. We extended that to 3-1 when Ozil picked out Oxlade-Chamberlain's run into the box and he slotted it in easily. We managed to hold the lead until the 68th minute when an equally good bit of passing play from Cardiff caught us by surprise and Theophile-Catherine crossed it in for Mason who tapped it in from just a couple of yards. Even after watching several replays, I'm convinced it was offside, but I suppose it doesn't matter that much. Within the last 5 minutes, Jenkinson skinned two players out of nowhere but his shot was narrowly wide and game went to extra time. It didn't take long for Cazorla to score his 8th goal of the season - and I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear it was a free kick. They basically gifted us a goal by giving Santi the chance from just outside the box, and I was sure that would be it. But no! 3 minutes later, Larsson's long-range free kick found Mason who beat Szczesny to the ball and equalised for Cardiff for the second time. Penalties were pretty straight forward, with Szczesny saving Whittingham's penalty and all 5 of ours being scored to secure a 4th round spot. Two other interesting results were Man Utd's 1-0 victory over Man City due to a Kolarov own goal and Tottenham's extremely lucky extra time win against Stoke after going down 21 minutes in, equalising through a Soldado penalty in injury time at the end of the game and then getting winning goal on the 100th. Though, honestly, I can't say ours wasn't any closer. Unfortunately, Szczesny picked up a 2-3 week injury but Viviano should work as a solid replacement for the time.

We've been drawn against QPR in the Capital One Cup 4th round, which should prove to be easier than the Cardiff game, although we've been drawn as the away team once again.

Arsenal 1 - 0 West Ham

Giroud 10.

Despite the result, our performance was poor in this game - especially considering the form we're on. We had 62% possession and carved them open time and time again, but only 4 of our 17 shots were on target. I was actually quite worried about Petric, who had 3 goals already and was West Ham's only hope with Carroll out injured. Ten minutes into the game, a clash between Petric and Mertesacker during a West Ham counter sent the ball flying all the way to the feet of Giroud who was only just onside and able to finish for his 4th goal of the season. Walcott picked up another injury and will be out for 6-7 weeks. Frustrating, as Ramsey's still out for about a month and Walcott is an important part of the squad. What I found interesting is how Heskey - that's right,

Emile Heskey - came on as a late sub. He didn't score, of course, but it turns out he moved from the Newcastle Jets for £80k... I mean, I know Carroll's out but HESKEY?

As we arrive at the month of October, the monthly and weekly awards were all announced. Cazorla fell just short of Baines for BPL player of the month, Eriksen won young player of the month, Cazorla's insane tight-angled free kick against Chelsea was awarded goal of the month and I managed to win the award for BPL manager of the month! A very successful first month as manager. Samuel Umtiti won the Ligue 1 player of the month, a player with an initial recommendation of 4.5* and his value is just £4.1m. Perhaps another transfer target?

Champions Cup Group: Napoli 3 - 1 Arsenal

Armero 17. 33. Albiol 30. - Oxlade-Chamberlain 19.

In a disappointing game that we really would've loved a win in, Pablo Armero single-handedly destroyed us. The possession was fairly balanced with occasional 5 minute periods of Napoli dominance, and 17 minutes in Armero received a cross from Inler, controlled it and slotted it in. We responded immediately as Ozil picked out Giroud who was forced to have a right-footed longshot; Reina saved but Oxlade-Chamberlain was able to score on the rebound. I felt as though things might go our way, but I was very wrong. Half an hour into the game, Zuniga's corner delivery was headed to the far post by Albiol and our free kick 3 minutes later turned into a Napoli counter than Armero was easily able to finish. The stats show that Napoli had many more chances, but despite that we actually didn't play badly. No-one had a particularly bad rating, but we very much lacked creativity. This loss sent us to third place on goal difference behind Napoli, with Zeni below us after two losses and Atletico flying high on the full 6 points. On the bright side, it's still early and I'm confident we'll pick up at least 10 points in total, most likely sending us through to the round of 16. Oh, and Sagna picked up a one match ban after two yellow cards. But Jenkinson's been fairly solid, so I'm not too worried.

Kovacic is out for about a month, and with Ramsey also out I'm beginning to worry about our squad depth. The next game is against Man Utd, which I'll play tomorrow. Moyes said he was impressed with and admired the way I got the lads playing (patient possession play) which was a boost, but with the league title on the line, this is going to be a huge 1st vs 2nd game. A real 6 pointer so early on in the season.

Arsenal 4 - 0 Man Utd

Arteta 8(pen). Mertesacker 27. 35. 55(pen).

Maybe it was the home advantage, maybe it was the 4 or 5 crucial injuries United have (especially with De Gea, Nani and Kagawa being out), maybe it was having several players out of position, but we absolutely decimated Manchester United and we now sit at the top of the table, 2 points ahead of United, 7 games into the league. An international break is coming up next, so hopefully the lads will continue this form for their countries. With very high ratings all round - a 9.2 for Ozil and a MoM deserving 9.8 for Mertesacker - two corner goals and two penalties, this game was a prime example of how set pieces are our best friend. Just eight minutes in, a corner resulted in Evra fouling Arteta and he gave us the lead and a whole lot of confidence. The corner trend continued as Ozil whipped in the ball on the 27th minute and Mertesacker rose above 6 or 7 others to head the ball inside of the near post. And, to secure the victory, he did the exact same thing from the other corner flag. To absolutely humiliate Man Utd (if we hadn't already), Arteta was once again fouled after receiving a cross and being shoved over by Vidic. I was surprised to see Mertesacker taking the penalty, and then I realised it was a chance for a hat-trick against Man Utd and felt elated when Lindegaard went the wrong way. I was surprised by the stats, which showed that we had slightly less possession and on 2 shots on target more than United, who only had one major chance all game which Viviano dealt with well. Referee Lee Mason was accused of biased, claiming 2 fouls against us and 27 against United, but the analysis was that they were just undisciplined. The final positive piece of info is that in this game, their goals conceded in the league almost doubled, having previously conceded 5 in 6 games. Take that! A phenomenal victory, but I'm sure it won't be that easy at Old Trafford. Top of the table! For now, anyway...

Would you guys like if I would include the TOTW that includes Arsenal players and all weekly and monthly awards or leave them out? Because I think it might add some variety.

October 8th 2013 TOTW:

4-3-1-2

GK Emiliano Viviano - Arsenal

LB Antonio Luna - Aston Villa

LCB Vincent Kompany - Manchester City

RCB Per Mertesacker - Arsenal

RB Bacary Sagna - Arsenal

LCM David Silva - Manchester City

CM Ahmed Elmohamady - Hull City

RCM Mesut Ozil - Arsenal

CF Sergio Aguero - Manchester City

LS Alvaro Negredo - Manchester City

RS Peter Crouch - Stoke City

DAYUM, a very nice TOTW with four Arsenal players and three Man City players including the World-Class likes of Aguero, Silva, Kompany and Ozil. I'd love to have this team on FIFA tbh

During the international break, Szczesny returned to full training but probably won't return for our next game, as I don't want to risk re-injuring him and Viviano's form credits a starting place. Rosicky also picked up a knock, virtually killing the squad depth we once had, but only for a week filled with international fixtures. In terms of performances:

Joel Campbell (who I have some things to say about in the next Training, Transfers and Thoughts Report) picked up an 8.0 and two goals against America

Giroud scored one of the two goals for France against Georgia and got a 7.3 rating for that

Sagna had a phenomenal defensive game for France and was able to get an 8.7 rating

Several players had a fairly good score, including Jack Wilshere who scored and received a 7.2 rating for England in a match that guaranteed their qualification for the World Cup

All others performed at an average or thereabouts level - although Yennaris' 6.1 does not impress me

Steve Clarke has been sacked and West Brom is expected to be taken over by either Martin O'Neill, Tony Pulis or Paul Ince; meanwhile the 'sack race' has 4-6 odds of the sacking of Martin Jol and 5-2 odds for Brendan Rodgers and Steve Bruce.

Everton 1 - 2 Arsenal

Mirallas 90. - Podolski 44. Cazorla 86.

A very even game that looked even on paper, this win gave us a 4 point lead at the top of the table after United drew their last game 2-2 against Chelsea. Everton had a chance to go second, but we would always stay first, this game just gave us some room for error - although that would still be unacceptable. With very few chances for us throughout the game, we made sure to make chances count. Everton had slightly more possession and more chances, but their finishing was poor compared to ours. Just before half time, a corner led to several blocked shots until Podolski powered one into the top corner. I realised that leaving Cazorla out of the squad was a mistake, and brought him on at half time. But I didn't want to take Podolski off so I decided to see how he managed at the striker role, and he was fairly competent but didn't work with our playing philosophies due to his lack of height compared to Giroud and Bendtner. Nevertheless, he picked up MoM with an 8.1. After several brilliant saves from Viviano that kept us in the game, Podolski picked up an assist for Cazorla to get his 9th goal of the season in all competitions. Unfortunately, Everton were great on the attack and their great movement led to a 90th minute counter-attack and Osman switched play to Mirallas who made sure not to have his shot saved this time. Luckily for us, it was just a consolation goal and we remain at the top of the table, 4 points ahead of United. Oxlade-Chamberlain also picked up an injury, which is worrying because Walcott's still out for a couple of weeks and that leaves us thin on the right wing. Gnabry's loaned out and I'm going to have to play Cazorla there. Then again, he's been brilliant all season playing on the left rather than his favoured central position, so he should continue his form there.

October 22nd TOTW:

GK John Ruddy - Norwich

LB Luke Shaw - Southampton

LCB Brede Hangeland - Fulham

RCB Fabricio Coloccini - Newcastle

RB Matthew Lowton - Aston Villa

LM Eden Hazard - Chelsea

LCM Mesut Ozil - Arsenal

RCM Graham Dorrans - West Brom

RM Padlo Hernandez - Swansea

LS Samuel Eto'o - Chelsea

RS Wilfried Bony

As it turns out, Oxlade-Chamberlain only occurred a minor injury and is available for the Atletico Madrid game, but it's unlikely he'll start due to his lack of fitness.

Champions Cup Group: Atletico Madrid 3 - 4 Arsenal

Gabi 7. Mertesacker OG 42. Villa(pen) 65. - Giroud 8. 46. Podolski 38. Cazorla 59.

One of the most passionate and emotional games so far, I'll get straight into it. Gabi scored a very accurate free kick just 7 minutes in, but we replied straight from kickoff when Ozil picked out Giroud who got us straight back in the game. As half time approached, Podolski ran down the left wing and blasted it into the far corner. Just when I thought we'd being going into half time 2-1 up, a Diego Costa header bounced off of Szczesny, off the post, off Mertesacker's leg and into the net, very unlucky and it went down as a Mertesacker own goal. As soon as we got back onto the pitch, Podolski crossed the ball in for Cazorla who's shot was saved, but Giroud ran in and buried it. Towards the hour mark, a throw in led to a beautifully accurate bit of passing play between Ozil, Arteta and Flamini who set up a great chance for Cazorla to make it 4-2. I felt pretty confident, but Jenkinson - who was forced to play because of fitness issues concerning Sagna - gave away a penalty which Villa finished to give his side some hope. The last 25 minutes of the game were mostly our close chances but the game ended 4-3 and we are now at the top of the group table. Next up, Southampton!

Additional: For those interested, Napoli beat Zenit 2-1 and Martin O'Neill, as expected, took over at West Brom.

Southampton 1 - 1 Arsenal

Lovren 84. - Oxlade-Chamberlain 29.

SO UNLUCKY!! We had several great chances that were only just cleared or saved, and their only chance of the game - from a corner - resulted in an 84th minute goal from Lovren. I knew it would be a close game, and at least we came away with a point. We're finally coming towards the end of the away games tunnel and then we should really show what we're made of. Next up is a cup game against QPR, and I'll be resting a few key players for that to preserve fitness for the more important games. Anyway, 29 minutes in Cazorla ran down the left wing and crossed to Oxlade-Chamberlain at the far post who slotted it in for the lead. We did well defending and it was only until the dying minutes of the game that Lovren equalised with a header from a corner. Not much else to say about this game, we had the better chances despite having less shots altogether, and Southampton were largely held to half-chances throughout the game. Thanks to Man City drawing 0-0 with Norwich, Everton beating Man Utd 2-1 and Cardiff beating Chelsea 2-0, we are two points ahead of Cardiff - who we have next in the league - at the top of the table.

Capital One Cup 4th Round: QPR 0 - 1 Arsenal

Kranjcar OG 102.

In a game of many chances on both sides (although QPR only in extra time), we were somehow unable to win by more than a single goal. Ramsey returned from injury in this game and had a shot at an open net blocked, Podolski played up front and failed to score in a one on one situation, generally disappointing on the attack. Finally, a corner resulted in an own goal after Mertesacker's header cannoned off the crossbar, off the defender and into the net. They had chance after chance out of no-where during extra time, and Viviano's ability to reject an equaliser time after time again earned him an 8.6 rating, a MoM award and an official place in the starting XI despite how eager I am for Szczesny to develop as a keeper. Next up, another very important game against (somehow) second place Cardiff.

BPL Player of the Month award (October 2013):

1st place: Per Mertesacker - Arsenal

2nd place: Vincent Kompany - Manchester City

3rd place: Pablo Hernandez - Swansea

BPL Young Player of the Month award (October 2013):

1st place: Erik Lamela - Tottenham

2nd place: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - Arsenal

3rd place: Steven Caulker - Cardiff

BPL Manager of the Month award (October 2013):

1st place: Malky Mackay - Cardiff

2nd place: Jack Clark - Arsenal

3rd place: Manuel Pellegrini - Man City

We've been drawn against Chelsea for the Capital One Cup Quarter Final, a match which'll prove to be important should for our morale, our form, bragging rights, and as a backup piece of silverware should we begin to lose form in the league. Luckily, we have confidence due to our form and the last result we had against Chelsea.

Arsenal 4 - 2 Cardiff

Arteta 9(pen). Wilshere 11. Giroud 31. Podolski 70. - Mason 29. 40.

We come away with a win in an action-packed game full of stressful and joyful moments, a very important result! Before I even get into the game report, I would like to thank Emile Heskey for scoring the only goal at Old Trafford in a 1-0 win for West Ham. No, really. Heskey scored. Against United. Away. I can feel a sack coming (that's what she said). Nine minutes in, Taylor fouled Oxlade-Chamberlain in the box and Arteta buried it to give us the lead, which was quickly extended when Wilshere slotted a right-footed power shot into the near post. On the 23rd minute, we had a chance to go 3-0 up when Taylor once again fouled Chamberlain on the but Arteta went the same way and Marshall knew he would. Six minutes later, a corner resulted in a rebound goal for Mason (who was a danger all game). Luckily for us, a terrible bit of miscommunication between Marshall and his defense led to Giroud tapping in a goal from the six-yard box. A few minutes before half time, a scramble in the box led to Mason getting a freak goal to put Cardiff back in the game with a chance. The second half was fairly boring other than a phenomenal run out of nowhere by Podolski that led to the 6th and final goal of the game. 10 games in and 5 points clear!

I apologise but there won't be an update today. With auditions for a performing arts concert in just two days, I spent my recording time rehearsing. I hope you're all as happy as I am about how we're doing and our next league game is against Crystal Palace at the Emirates, so hopefully we can extend that lead further. Have a good day tomorrow, and I'll cya then

Champions League Group: Arsenal 2 - 0 Atletico Madrid

Ozil 12. Podolski 78.

Nothing more to say than that this was a great way of continuing our form, and it was a reward for Ozil. I had started to notice, but Ozil was our key man for the game, and it showed that he had 9 assists in 13 games. That's what I expect from him, and he certainly isn't disappointing. Not long into the game, Ozil was looking for a pass from a couple of yards outside of the box but instead decided to catch everyone in and around the stadium by hammering home a fantastic shot into the top corner. His first official goal for Arsenal, and what a surprise it was! Clearly the defense had underestimated him, as they expected a pass and gave him way too much space to prepare the shot. On the stroke of halftime, Cazorla had a goal disallowed for a very close - but I'll agree correct - offside. As the game was starting to come to a close, Cazorla crossed in the ball so accurately and Podolski was able to put it away for a 2-0 win. We're now at the top of the group table by 3 points with 2 games left. Feeling very excited about the rest of the season, especially January. For those interested, Zenit beat Napoli at home 2-1 to send them level with everyone else on 6 points.

Arsenal 2 - 2 Crystal Palace

Podolski 15(pen). Giroud 64. - Williams 50. Kebe 90+2.

Domination all game and two thoroughly ridiculous and undeserved equalisers. It's like EA aids in and SI game, but whatever. I really don't wanna talk about this game, it was incredibly frustrating to watch what I thought was the 'end-of-game' highlight turn into a clearance headed to Kebe in stupid amounts of space scoring past 2 defenders and a goalkeeper in front of him. A corner led to Chamakh fouling Mertesacker and Podolski finished the penalty very well. Williams then found himself in space and scored one of Palace's only 3 shots on target all game. 14 minutes later, Podolski crossed the ball into Giroud who slotted it in for the lead. We proceeded to get near chance after near chance wasted until Kebe scored the aforementioned goal. Well... We're still at the top of the table by 3 points and it isn't a loss. Look at the positives. Still, very annoying.

The Arsenal board have given me a new contract! Our vision is to finish up there with the top teams, play attacking and possession football, sign young players and develop players using our youth facilities. The contract is for 100k per week until 2016, so it's safe to say I'll be part of the Arsenal setup for a while. I'm honored to have signed this

Arsenal 3 - 1 West Brom

Koscielny 11. Ramsey 74. Podolski 85. - Ya Konan 79.

Aside from the four goals, the game was very quiet with only one other highlight. I don't have much time to write this so I'll get straight to it: Just 11 minutes in, Ozil's corner found Koscielny at the near post for Ozil's 10th assist of the season and a lead on West Brom. After an unlucky shot that hit the post from Walcott, the game went straight to half time. It stayed this way until Gibbs found Ramsey with a pinpoint accurate cross that he smashed on the half volley. I wasn't expecting Ya Konan to suddenly break through the defense with his pace and unleash a monster of a power shot to give West Brom some hope. Luckily, Ozil found Podolski who chipped the keeper from around 23 yards out to end the game in a cheeky fashion. That's 9 games unbeaten since that Napoli defeat and we are looking unbeatable, still 3 points ahead of Cardiff in second (who are having a miracle season)!

Champions Cup Group Stage: Zenit 1 - 2 Arsenal

Kerzhakov 90+2. - Zhevnov OG 79. Podolski 89(pen).

Despite this very important result that guarantees a spot in the round of 16, the team performed nowhere near as well as we needed to, and I made sure to let the team know about that. Nevertheless, the group stage is over and I'm very happy with that After almost 80 minutes of absolutely nothing, a corner bounced off of the keeper's head and into the net, effectively killing Zenit's chances of qualifying from the group stage. It was a freak goal and we were lucky for it to happen, but the lead was extended 10 minutes later from a standard penalty given away by Witsel was netted by Podolski. On the very last second of the game, a cross in from Criscito reached Kerzhakov at the far post to score on the volley and reduce the deficit, but that was all. What an important result! Gibbs will be out for around a week and a half, but Monreal is a brilliant replacement and that won't mean too much for us right now.

Newcastle 0 - 1 Arsenal

Ozil 42.

Considering my atrocious luck with Newcastle across all fm games, I'm very glad we picked up a win and are now 5 points ahead of Chelsea who snuck above Cardiff to get into second place. With an extremely boring game throughout almost the entire first half, a counter-attack led to Wilshere pulling off the best pass of the season as he lifted the ball stupidly high into the air and forward, landing at the feet of Ozil who scored his second goal of the season. Other than that, a very boring game full of defending against a side that, really, we got lucky against. So far, Newcastle have lost 3 games, won 1 and drawn 9 leaving them all the way down in 14th place.

I just realised, I haven't been updating the top 5 and bottom 5 in the table. I'll start doing this from now on every 5 games, so here it is 13 games in (p means points):

1st. Arsenal 32p

2nd. Chelsea 27p

3rd. Everton 26p

4th. Cardiff 26p (same GD, less goals scored)

5th. Man City 23p

------------------

16th. Southampton 11p

17th. West Ham 10p

18th. Fulham 9p

19th. Crystal Palace 6p

20th. Hull 5p

AWARD TIME! We're now in December, very close to the January transfer window and I have some huge plans for that. Should the Reus or Draxler deals fall through, I have a lot of young targets in my sight, but for now I have to focus on the North London Derby at White Hart Lane... Before that, though, here are the awards and awards news:

The four main contenders for the Ballon D'or this year at this moment in time are Zlatan Ibrahimovic of PSG, Andres Iniesta of Barcelona, Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid and Mesut Ozil of Arsenal.

BPL Player of the Month Award (November 2013):

1st. Phil Jagielka - Everton

2nd. Romelu Lukaku - Everton (on loan from Chelsea)

3rd. Fabio Coentrao - Tottenham

BPL Young Player of the Month Award (November 2013):

1st. Andreas Cornelius - Cardiff

2nd. Romelu Lukaku - Everton (on loan from Chelsea)

3rd. Jack Wilshere - Arsenal

BPL Manager of the Month Award (November 2013):

1st. Jose Mourinho - Chelsea

2nd. Jack Clark - Arsenal

3rd. Gus Poyet - Sunderland

Tottenham 0 - 0 Arsenal

Considering how threatening players such as Lamela and Townsend are in fm as well as the form Coentrao, Soldado and Lloris are on right now, I'm happy with this result. It's a point in an away game against one of the tougher opponents in the league, it's a clean sheet, and it keeps the unbeaten streak going rather than suddenly denting our morale and swinging momentum against us. I definitely want to get a win when they come to the Emirates, but at White Hart Lane I'm alright with this. As is usually the case in situations like this, our defense played well but we were disappointing going forward, especially finishing. I'm starting to think that signing a top class striker is more urgent than Draxler or Reus, although I have wanted one of them for so long.. I have decisions to make, but these decisions do not need to be made now. Next, we come up against Fulham and the infamously overpowered Berbatov. Almost as overpowered as CPU Giroud. This game was extrememly boring, with about 2 chances either side that resulted in poor finishing and good goalkeeping. Really, nothing happened. Next game!

Arsenal 2 - 3 Fulham

Giroud 27. 54. - Amorebieta 32. Berbatov 38. Boateng 61.

SERIOUSLY, **** BERBATOV. JUST **** HIM. I could not possibly be madder right now. I am actually excited for the day Berbatov retires, then the plague of Berbatov will disappear from the world. I'm going to have to call a team meeting if we lost the Napoli game (which I'll include as a bonus) because we're barely scraping by and just saying "seemed motivated" with a green bar DOES NOT MAKE IT BETTER! We had more possession, more chances, more shots on target, AND BERBATOV UNITED WON! Fulham were in the relegation zone coming into this game, they played like utter ****, scored one counter and two rebound corner goals and beat us. The entire team performed poorly other than Giroud, who scored two easy, relaxed goals to once give us the lead and then equalise after ****ing Berbatov gave them the lead. A 12 game unbeaten run and a 2 point lead at the top of the table is pretty good, but THIS was NOT the match to end our run. Next up is the final game of the Champions Cup group stage at the Emirates against Napoli, who just sacked their manager (two days prior). Hopefully we can pick up a win and show everyone that this result was just a lapse in concentration, a bump in our form and an undeserved, unlucky result.

Ramsey will be out for around a month, which could hit our squad depth hard but Kovacic is a good replacement for Wilshere in the supporting AP role at CM.

OH. MY. GOD. Literally an hour before the match, Napoli announce that ARSENE WENGER is their new manager. He's still in the football business and his first match is against his old team. What a moment for both teams... Luckily for us, Higuain is injured but their youngster Zapata did well against us last time.

Arsenal 2 - 1 Napoli

Mertesacker 53. Cannavaro OG 90+1. - Zapata 26.

Could've been better, but Napoli are a difficult team and this is a much better result than losing to Fulham. Many chances throughout the entire game for both sides, including a saved penalty 67 minutes in which summed up how both keepers were key today. I talked about Zapata before the game and how he's a very promising youngster who puts in great performances in the Champions Cup, he showed that today by picking up a goal from a corner 26 minutes in. At that point, I'll admit I was worried. We HAVE to pick up our form. I know we haven't been on terrible form, but if we're going to mount a serious title challenge then two things need to happen: 1. We need to go back to two months ago and the form we were on then and 2. We have to pick up a star in January. We equalised from a corner not long into the second half, and as the game was considered over, Ozil whipped the ball into the box and I have no idea what happened even after watching replays, but Cannavaro, Wilshere and Britos all collided in the six yard box and it went down as a Cannavaro own goal. A lucky result that sends us through to the round of 16 as the top team of our group. Again, for those interested, Zenit beat Atletico Madrid meaning that both of them fail to qualify.

A few of you may have seen an update here, but as it turned out my computer decided it was going to overheat before I had the chance to save. Great. Well, I'm sorry but there won't be an update today because of that I'll be careful to make sure it doesn't happen again :/

I realise I haven't updated in 6 days, and honestly I don't have an excuse besides my recent enjoyment of FIFA and Madden. I will be continuing this, but not just yet. Fm can be very frustrating sometimes and I have to be in the mood for it. I'd rather enjoy playing and posting updates than grinding through three matches a day without having any fun. I'm sorry for the lack of updates both over the last 6 days and over the next few, but this thread is about me sharing my fun experiences with all of you. If I'm not having fun, it defeats the objective.

I'm back! I took a bit of a break, as I really wasn't enjoying playing fm, particularly with Arsenal. As much as I love them in real life, they're a frustrating and sometimes boring team to play with in fm and it made this a bit of a chore, but I'm in the mood again and here we go:

Manchester City 0 - 1 Arsenal

Gibbs 90+4.

A very lucky result, and also one that I consider to be the hardest result in the first few seasons of fm regardless of which BPL team you are. The Etihad is the most dangerous place to travel to, and we managed to pick up 3 points in typical dramatic style to remain the league leaders. Viviano and the defense were all brilliant, and he rightfully won MoM for his brilliant goalkeeping display. At the very last second of the game, Ozil found a run made by Gibbs who buried it past Hart, giving us the three points. Despite just 33% possession, we had 7 shots on target from 8 shots compared to City's 8 shots on target from 20, so we had a fair share of chances but Hart played well up until the very last second of the game. A fantastic result, and another step towards January and my plans. Wilshere and Podolski both picked up minor injuries, but luckily were fine by the time the match was over.

December 17th 2014 TOTW:

GK Emiliano Viviano - Arsenal

LB Leighton Baines - Everton

LCB Thomas Vermaelen - Arsenal

RCB Pepe - Chelsea

RB Callum Chambers - Southampton

LM Oussama Assaidi - Stoke

LCM Yaya Toure - Man City

RCM Gary Medel - Cardiff

RM Sebastian Larsson - Cardiff

LS Joe Mason - Cardiff

RS Christian Benteke - Aston Villa

Capital One Cup Quarter Final: Arsenal 3 - 1 Chelsea

Mertesacker 10. 49. Walcott 41. - Willian 51.

Another great result against a rival team, even if it is only in the CoC. Solid performances throughout the entire team gave us a solid win and great ratings across the board, including a 9.0 for Mesut Ozil and a 9.3 for MoM Per Mertesacker. Per has scored so many set piece goals so far this season and his defending has been very consistent. We actually had just 40% possession, but - just like last game - we created chances on the counter and from set pieces which gave us a win. Just 10 minutes in, Ozil whipped in a corner and Mertesacker finished with a powerful header to give us the lead. Not much else happened until the last few minutes of the first half when Flamini stole the ball from Ramires, found Walcott with a through ball and Theo used his pace to outrun Terry and Cahill and then embarrass Cech with a chip from the edge of the box to make it 2-0. Not long into the second half, another Ozil delivery found the Big Bad Mertesacker for - you guessed it - a headed goal to give us a 3-0 lead. 3-0!! Unfortunately, Willian denied the clean sheet just 2 minutes later when Hazard crossed the play perfectly to Willian in the box with a first time volley that Viviano had no chance of saving. We're through to the semi-final and perhaps this year will be the year we finally win silverware, even if we are overtaken in the league!

We've been drawn against Manchester United at Old Trafford, and Tottenham against Brighton at White Hart Lane. Potential for a huge North London derby final if we overcome the giants that are United. We did it with Chelsea twice this season, we did it with City, I'm sure we can do it with United if we play the way we have been!

Another important draw has seen us drawn against Schalke in the Champions Cup round of 16. Hopefully this means we can progress to the Quarter Finals and maybe even further. This gives me further motivation to pick up Draxler rather than anyone else, as it would weaken our opponents and give us a good chance of winning. Schalke are still a good team, but Draxler is undoubtedly one of their key players. For those interested, the other draws are:

BATE vs FC Bayern

Celtic vs Barcelona

Marseille vs Real Madrid

Shakhtar vs Man Utd

Napoli vs Chelsea

Juventus vs Man City

PSG vs SL Benfica

Norwich 0 - 3 Arsenal

Oxlade-Chamberlain 33. 78. Giroud 66.

An expected result, but still very positive nonetheless. I was debating whether to play Oxlade-Chamberlain or Walcott in this game, and I'm glad I chose the Ox. One of the last fixtures leading into January, and it's important we keep this up so that we can hopefully attract Draxler (or Shaqiri, Icardi, whoever I eventually go for) to the club. With the form we're on, we look absolutely unstoppable and next up is Liverpool... We better get a better result than in real life . 31 minutes in, an Ozil corner bounced around the box until Oxlade-Chamberlain powered it into the bottom corner from out of nowhere, catching Ruddy completely by surprise. With just under half an hour to go, Oxlade-Chamberlain ran from the halfway line down the right wing and crossed the ball in to Giroud for an easy headed finish, doubling the lead. The game was basically over, as our entire team was performing well and Norwich were being shutdown, but Ox wasn't finished with his annihilation of Norwich just yet. 78 minutes into the game, he was given space and used it to run into the box and finish to the far post, securing not only an Arsenal win but also his place in the first team for the next few games. Another thing worth noting was the presence of Marseille manager Elie Baup at the game. Supposedly, he was watching Sagna, who he's interesting in signing. I'd be open to selling him due to his age, but only for around £8m so that we could bring in a solid replacement - perhaps Montoya? We'll have to see what January has in store.

December 24th 2014 TOTW:

GK Boaz Myhill - West Brom

LB Razvan Rat - West Ham

LCB Curtis Davies - Hull

RCB Michael Dawson - Tottenham

RB Bacary Sagna - Arsenal

LM Eden Hazard - Chelsea

LCM Michael Bradley - Man Utd

RCM Mesut Ozil - Arsenal

RM Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - Arsenal

LS Samuel Eto'o - Chelsea

RS Olivier Giroud - Arsenal

The next update might be a big one, with home games against Liverpool and Swansea and then an away game against Stoke on the final day of December followed by the long-awaited JANUARY!! So expected a lot of transfer talk, hopefully a signing or two, but I also have to finish up a Science test tomorrow so it may be difficult to fit it all in. I'm almost certain there will be an update because I am pumped about January and cannot wait to release another update. Anyway, I'll see ya all tomorrow

Arsenal 1 - 0 Liverpool

Giroud 29.

We were lucky to get away with a win today, as neither side worked hard enough to get a goal. Both us and Liverpool seemed to cancel each other out, and I just couldn't get any chances. We failed to keep possession quite frequently, but they were unable to make any chances out of it. On the stroke of half an hour, Ozil's corner delivery was headed away straight to Giroud with a first time bullet that hit the post on the way in. We pick up 3 points and a clean sheet, Giroud picks up his 12th in all competitions and another couple of amazing stats are Mertesacker's 7 goals and 4 assists as well as Ozil getting 18 assists so far. With stats like that, I'm not surprised that we're doing so well! Liverpool had 5 key players out - including Suarez and Sturridge - but still gave us a challenge and only a narrow win. Next up, Swansea. And with just a one day break, fitness is definitely going to be a problem.

On the same day as this game, Manuel Pellegrini and Alan Pardew have both been sacked following losses for both sides, with Villas-Boas and Hughes being the touted replacements for the jobs.

Arsenal 3 - 0 Swansea

Walcott 2. Podolski 52. 63(pen).

Another result that solidifies our incredible run of form, and a fantastic performance from the entire team. We completely destroyed Swansea, and guess what: we only had 35% possession. Perhaps an all-time low for me as a manager when it comes to possession, and we still won 3-0. I find it extremely encouraging when we can score so many goals with such little possession, which just shows how many goals my side is able to create out of nothing. Just two minutes into the game, a counter-attack led to Giroud holding up play and picking out Walcott with a through ball for an easy finish. That's how the game stayed until early on in the first half, when a terrible touch from Dyer was cleared by Jenkinson to Giroud who headed it down to Wilshere and another through ball let Podolski smash the ball into the near post. It took him just 11 minutes to get his second of the game from a penalty given away by Chico. Another great result, and just one more game before JANUARY!!!

Out of many players with expiring contracts - first team, reserves and youth - I only gave Sagna a contract extension. I felt he deserved it after his solid defensive performances, and also this contract extension drives away interest from Marseille or forces them to pay should they still want him. Quite a few players are set to leave, those worth mentioning are Rosicky, Bendtner and Fabianski. Fab and Bendt haven't made any sort of impact this season, and I'll be happy to get them off the wage budget. As for Rosicky, I personally quite like him as a player and he seems to motivate the team when he comes on as a sub in real life, but in fm he isn't going to be needed when Meyer returns from loan. He deserves game time elsewhere, so I'll let him go at the end of the season. I also resigned all of my staff other than Head of Youth Development Liam Brady. He says he wants to move on, and that is arguably the most important staff position for a team that relies heavily on it's youth intake to raise superstars. I know there are better options, but he was a very good one and finding a realistic replacement may be difficult. I also offered Victor Valdes a contract so that we had a solid keeper while Szczesny develops, but he was asking for ridiculous wage - which is expected, being a Barcelona player.

December 31st 2014 TOTW:

GK David Marshall - Cardiff

LB Leighton Baines - Everton

LCB Ben Turner - Cardiff

RCB Sylvain Distin - Everton

RB Rafael - Man Utd

LM Lukas Podolski - Arsenal

LCM Juan Mata - Chelsea

RCM Gylfi Sigurdsson - Tottenham

RM Kevin Mirallas - Everton

LS Loic Remy - Newcastle

RS Romelu Lukaku - Everton

Stoke 1 - 3 Arsenal

Viviano OG 78. - Huth OG 21. Vermaelen 34. Ozil 45.

Two own goals in one game, and an important fixture against Arsenal's bogey team. This game could be considered a grudge match, and we manage to get a win against one of the few teams to beat us in the league. We are the league champions leading into January and let's hope we can keep it that way! 21 minutes in, Oxlade-Chamberlain's cross found Podolski who headed the ball into the net off of a Huth deflection. It counted as an own goal, but perhaps should've been one for Poldi. 13 minutes later, a classic corner goal from an Ozil delivery gives Vermaelen a goal and Ozil his 20th (I think) assist of the season! We weren't finished with the first half, and on the stroke of half time a counter led to a Podolski shot saved and Ozil ran in on the rebound. I actually didn't realise how important he's been, and it makes sense that he's been getting so many assists because that's just the way he works. Assist machine! Unfortunately, we weren't able to keep a clean sheet when a dangerous interception led to a very confusing bit of passing play as Gibbs attempts to clear the ball, it bounces off Mertesacker and Viviano's attempt to save the ball destined for his own net just leads to him getting the blame. A freak goal that probably would've really annoyed me if we weren't already 3-0 up. A solid performance, with a few players having a bad game but many having a good one. January time!

Andre Villas-Boas has taken over Manchester City, with Malaga manager Bernd Schuster the expected replacement. It'll be interesting to see if City can turn their season around and move from 8th into the top 4. I just realised something very disappointing: unlike fm13, you do not get a replica of your original transfer budget. Maybe it's because of the club I'm playing, maybe it's the new financial fair play rules, I don't know. Anyway, we won't be able to sign Draxler or Shaqiri or anyone for the moment being without selling players first. We'll have to see what happens, but I doubt it. Hopefully, Draxler won't sign a new contract by next Summer so that I can still sign him for our side like I have wanted to for so long.

WORLD AWARDS TIME!

2013 World Golden Ball:

1st. Lionel Messi - Barcelona

2nd. Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid

3rd. Andres Iniesta - Barcelona (NO OZIL!?)

2013 World Player of the Year (is that not the same thing then?)

1st. Lionel Messi - Barcelona

2nd. Andres Iniesta - Barcelona

3rd. Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid

We had two players in the 2013 TOTY, and one of them may come as a surprise to some, and not to others:

GK Iker Casillas - Real Madrid

LB Leighton Baines - Everton

LCB Per Mertesacker - Arsenal

RCB Mats Hummels - Dortmund

RB Philipp Lahm - Bayern Munich

LCM Luka Modric - Real Madrid

RCM Andres Iniesta - Barcelona

LAM Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid

CAM Mesut Ozil - Arsenal

RAM Arjen Robben - Bayern Munich

ST Lionel Messi - Barcelona

European Golden Boy 2013

Neymar - Barcelona

French Player of the Year 2013

1st. Karim Benzema - Real Madrid

2nd. Raphael Varane - Real Madrid

3rd. Olivier Giroud - Arsenal

Those are the only awards I'll include each year, the major awards and others involving Arsenal players. With hundreds of awards given for all sorts of things each year, I can't share all of them with you, just those. On top of that, there are the usual monthly awards:

BPL Player of the Month (December 2013)

1st. Leighton Baines - Everton

2nd. Sylvain Distin - Everton

3rd. Olivier Giroud - Arsenal

BPL Young Player of the Month (December 2013)

1st. Romelu Lukaku - Everton

2nd. Andreas Cornelius - Cardiff

3rd. Erik Lamela - Tottenham

BPL Manager of the Month (December 2013)

1st. Roberto Martinez of Everton

2nd. Jose Mourinho of Chelsea

3rd. Jack Clark of Arsenal

One year passes and another begins. Mandzukic has been offered by Bayern munich for just 7.75m; it's unfortunate that I wasn't given even a small transfer kitty to work with because he would've been a great backup. I'll do a transfer update of all the noteworthy transfers at the end of this update, there is some interesing speculation with foreign giants like Juventus expected to spend big. I have made a bid to sign Eduardo Vargas on a free, as he could already slot into the team as a backup and has the potential to be a first team striker (that is if we don't sign a world class one by then). Harry Redknapp has taken over as Newcastle manager as expected, and now QPR are in search of a manager.

Scunthorpe 1 - 4 Arsenal

Godden 78. - Oxlade-Chamberlain 2. 24. 29. Dawson OG 45+2.

An easy result, as expected, but more importantly a hat-trick for the rising star that is Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Just two minutes into the game, Flamini pulled off a phenomenal through ball that travelled through the air for about 40 yards before Alex touch a single touch and then blasted it into the far post. The next goal came when Giroud headed the ball down for Rosicky who passed the ball through the space to Ox making the same run but finishing at the near-post this time. It's very positive to see a player so young have the quick decision making to not go the same way, maximizing the chance of scoring. Just 5 minutes later, Rosicky linked up with Alex again and fed him a ball into the box that he controlled, took past the keeper and buried for his hat-trick within less than an hour. A superstar in the making, as predicted by me, the media, the players, everyone! We weren't done yet though, as a corner bounced around the box, leading to Koscielny blasting the ball off target, but a deflection of Dawson sent it in and the game was basically over. We held our clean sheet up until 78 minutes in when, unfortunately, Parrett pulled off a similar pass to Flamini's with a 40-ish yard pass to Gooden who adjusted the angle of the shot and made it easy to pull one back. Aside from the lost clean sheet, success all round and an incredible game for Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The League table, as it seems like an update is necessary:

1st. Arsenal 48p

2nd. Everton 45p

3rd. Chelsea 44p

4th. Cardiff 38p

5th. Man Utd 34p

------------------------

16th. Aston Villa 17p

17th. Norwich 16p

18th. Fulham 16p

19th. Hull 15p

20th. Crystal Palace 10p

The FA Cup draw has been tough to us, similar to the Capital One Cup. Chelsea still have to play Liverpool for a spot in the 4th round, and whichever one wins will be facing us. Will we have an easy cup to win this year? Well, at least it means that if we win, it was well deserved.

Well, Chelsea just dominated Liverpool 5-1 and they will be our FA cup opponents. The classic Arsenal-Chelsea rivalry that has created many interesting games across several competitions already this season will be repeated once again in the FA Cup 4th round.

Tottenham have appointed Michael Laudrup as their new manager, and Martin Jol of Fulham is expected to be the next Swansea boss. It's weird and quite funny how these BPL managers have been replacing each other left, right and centre, hopefully it stops at some point because that could get confusing and/or annoying eventually.

January 7th 2014 TOTW:

GK Boaz Myhill - West Brom

LB Fabio Coentrao - Tottenham

LCB Sylvain Distin - Everton

RCB Thomas Vermaelen - Arsenal

RB Rafael - Man utd

LM David Silva - Man City

LCM *transferred player, not spoiling just yet*

RCM Craig Gardner - Sunderland

RM Emanuele Giaccherini - Sunderland

LS Edin Dzeko - Man City

RS Iago Aspas - Liverpool

The signing of Vargas has been finalised, and he will join at the beginning of next season after agreeing a 4-year, 55k per week contract at a compensation cost of £1.1m. A bargain cost for a potential starting XI striker.

Capital One Cup Semi Final 1st Leg: Man Utd 2 - 1 Arsenal

Young 41. Evra 60. - Giroud 37.

Considering we were playing at Old Trafford and we did pick up an away goal, this isn't the worst result. We were due a loss I suppose, and it was Manchester United. While a win was demanded, I can easily take the positives out of this and at least it prevents any complacency in the team. Morale is still high and it makes the second leg even more interesting. 37 minutes into the game, Sagna found Giroud with a great long ball that Giroud buried into the bottom corner. Whilst we would expect to be 1-0 up at half time, Young equalised just 4 minutes later when Januzaj gave him the ball and young blasted a 22 yarder past Viviano; there was no chance of a save there. An hour into the game, a ball in from Valencia was cleared away to Evra but he beat two defenders and slotted it into the far post to give United the lead and a win in the first leg. No-one played that badly, but they played well and we were restricted to mostly difficult chances on the attack that we were always unlikely to convert. But that's an away goal, possibly a decider when United come to the Emirates.

To make up for the lack of updates, I did a double today! 6 matches with everything inbetween and we're starting to look towards the end of the season. Now it's crunch time, lads. I did want to post 10 matches in one, but this update alone has taken me almost 4 hours because of how much activity has been between. I am sincerely sorry for lack of updates but I had no idea how long each other could take and I now want to stress - there will not be daily updates. There never were anyway, and the idea of daily updates that I had was easier said than done. Expect at least 4 updates per week at no set times, and sometimes 2 updates in one. Anyway...

Arsenal 2 - 0 Hull

Podolski 69(pen). Giroud 78.

We didn't play too well today, but at least we didn't make any mistakes. Though I usually wouldn't be happy with our performance today, I'll let them off since they were recovering from our first loss in a while. A clean sheet, two goals and a bounce back from a loss to a rival. 69 minutes in, Huddlestone concedes a penalty for a foul in the air against Giroud, which Podolski buried straight up the middle. Many agreed that the penalty was harsh, and a tough decision that the referee gave in our favour (luckily). Our second goal came when Podolski crossed the ball from the left wing perfectly to Giroud on the edge of the 6 yard box who tapped a header in easily. A good 3 points to keep us at the top, hopefully now we can go on a run!

January 14th 2014 TOTW:

GK Wojciech Szczesny - Arsenal

LB Massadio Haidara - Newcastle

LCB Steven Taylor - Newcastle

RCB Phil Jagielka - Everton

RB Jack Hunt - Crystal Palace

LM Lukas Podolski - Arsenal

LCM Yaya Toure - Man City

RCM Ramires - Chelsea

RM Joe Cole - West Ham

LS Olivier Giroud - Arsenal

RS Papiss Cisse - Newcastle

Roberto Di Matteo has taken over as Swansea manager, and many players have been offered by their agents - namely Mario Gomez and Jonathon dos Santos. I took an interest in Gomez as a short term first team striker while I look for a future star, but after considering a £40m price tag, I decided it wasn't a good decision. dos Santos, on the other hand, has just a £1.4m price tag and could develop into a 3.5* midfielder. Perhaps first team quality, but if he doesn't quite cut it then I could make an easy profit on him. If I have an extra couple of million in the Summer, I'll take another look at him. Speaking of transfers, I just want to mention to lack of "Training, Transfers and Thoughts". It isn't something that I'll post regularly, in fact it'll be quite rare so don't expect it every week or so.

Arsenal 2 - 0 Sunderland

Cazorla 21. Giroud 33.

Similarly to last game, we didn't play as well as we should've against Sunderland, but then again they are in 9th place and have been playing some beautiful first touch passing all season. Poyet has transformed this team into one that I personally feel had some potentially last year irl and I try not to underestimate in fm. After Gus came out saying "I don't need Jack to tell me that I'm better than him. Everyone will see that tomorrow", I feel quite smug to have beaten the Black Cat's ass (not literally, I ain't into bestiality). 22 shots and 10 on target compared to their 19 and 1 on target, but Kameni made some good saves and we were able to convert. 21 minutes in, a counterattack led to Wilshere having a powerful shot from the edge of the box, parried by Kameni but finished by Cazorla from an awkward angle on the rebound. It only took us 12 minutes to get our second as Cazorla fed Giroud a cross, his header slammed against the bar and he toe poked in the rebound to give Arsenal another 2-0 win. Top of the table, 3 points ahead of Everton in second (who are having the best defensive season I have ever seen in an fm game - there seems to be an Everton player in every TOTW defense recently) and we have to avoid complacency when to face Villa and West Ham both away from home and hope that Everton drop some points to give us a comfortable lead.

Capital One Cup Semi Final 2nd Leg: Arsenal 2(3) - (3)1 Man United, 5-3 on penalties

Cazorla 16. Mertesacker 45+1. - Nani 90.

A 90th minute saviour from Nani for United prevented a 3-2 win that sent us through to the final of the COC. I was pretty mad at the time, but after a successful 5-3 penalty shootout, I feel like the boys redeemed themselves. Just 16 minutes in, Walcott found Cazorla in the box to give us the only goal we needed as long as could keep a clean sheet. Mertesacker gave us extra confidence right before half time by heading in a classic Ozil corner to give us the lead. The classic German link on corners that has given us so many goals this season does it again and we manage to defend very well up until the very last minute of the game when an extremely explosive counter led to Nani receiving the ball in space, running from the halfway line and burying the goal to send the game to penalties. The stats and the ratings tell very different stories, with 57% possession, 20 shots and 6 on target mean nothing compared to all-round good ratings across the Arsenal squad. A potential North London derby final at Wembley is on the cards if Tottenham can extend their 1-0 lead against Brighton, which would make for a very entertaining game. Update: After a 2-1 win over Brighton in the second leg, that derby is confirmed and will be played on Sunday 2nd March. Wembley, here we come!

Witsel is another player I'm interested in, but £23.5m could be a little too steep. Not because of his ability - that's probably a fair price for him - but I don't need much improvement there. Still, that's a tempting price tag for a player that's so well rounded and threatening in many situations on the pitch.

FA Cup 4th Round: Arsenal 2 - 0 Chelsea

Mertesacker 18. Giroud 36.

The last few games have all been similar: Less possession, even shots, clinical finishing and 2 goals per game. I would say that I want to see improvement, but if it's picking up points or allowing us to progress in cup games, then I'm happy. To be where we are in the league and to still have a potential quadruple on our hands is - whilst not something that was completely out of reach in the first place - a fantastic achievement. I was aiming for the top 3, maybe 4 at the start of the season but to be just 16 games from the first Premier League title in almost a decade is amazing. Anyway, I'm getting too far ahead of myself. 18 minutes in, Wilshere - who was filling in for the fatigued Ozil - whipped in an Ozil-like corner to Mertesacker for a classic header into the bottom corner. Exact another 18 minutes later, Podolski beat a defender and passed into Giroud who struck the ball with a ton of power into the bottom corner to give us a 2-0 lead. Another cup win against a rival, which keeps momentum and form both on a high. We're gonna need it for the next 3 league games. Two away games and then a home game against Chelsea. So many games against Chelsea this season, and so many punches in the face to Mourinho. It seems that whenever Chelsea begin to pick up momentum, we knock them down. The unstoppable force versus the difficult-to-move object.

We've been drawn at home against QPR in the 5th round, a fixture that should be easy for us but I can't help but consider how they are a team that verges on BPL material and shouldn't be underestimated.

Aston Villa 0 - 1 Arsenal

Arteta 22(pen).

A close game, perhaps even lucky, with few players playing to the standard I know they can. Luckily, no-one got complacent or played badly and we were able to get a victory away from home against a team with Agbonlahor and Benteke on it. That's always an achievement. 22 minutes in, Westwood tripped Kovacic just inside the box and Arteta rocketed the resulting into the penalty into the top left corner. Due to our lack of creative ability, we may have been lucky to get more than a point out of this largely defensive game.

The transfer deadline has passed and January proved to be a boring month, with just two transfers for us: Bendtner to Fulham for £500k (I'm just happy to have him gone) and an agreement for Vargas to join on contract expiry for a compensation cost of £1.1m. There are a few other transfers I feel are worth mentioning; Honda to Liverpool from CSKA Moscow for free, Diego De Girolamo to Ajax from Sheffield United for £2.7m and Doria & Correa to Real Madrid from Botafogo & San Lorenzo for a combined £12.95m. Two fantastic signings for Real Madrid, although they signed another youngster - Giuliano - who doesn't look like he is up to their standard. The reason I mentioned De Girolamo is because I think he could be another good signing. Ajax have always had a good taste in youth, and their academy is responsible for some of the world's top talent - such as Suarez and Ibrahimovic. If I can seal a deal for Girolamo for £5m or under, I think I may just do that. Though he only has 3.5* potential, anyone promising enough to attract Ajax's attention attract's my attention, regardless of whether or not a bid is ever made. Oh yeah, and AWARDS TIME!

BPL Player of the Month (January 2014)

1st. Gaston Ramirez - Southampton

2nd. Phil Jagielka - Everton

3rd. Leighton Baines - Everton

BPL Young Player of the Month (January 2014)

1st. Erik Lamela - Tottenham

2nd. Luke Shaw - Southampton

3rd. Romelu Lukaku - Everton

BPL Manager of the Month (January 2014)

1st. Roberto Martinez of Everton

2nd. Jack Clark of Arsenal (apparently it was "extremely close")

3rd. Jose Mourinho - Chelsea

West Ham 1 - 1 Arsenal

Downing 23. - Cazorla 90+3.

A lucky point for us after a bad performance from the squad that was possibly due to complacency. Few players seemed to care or have any sense of sharpness on the attack, and the defending has been much better this season - although we weren't challenged very often, in the teams defense. 23 minutes into the game, Jarvis ran more than half the pitch and crossed the ball into the box where Downing connected well with a powerful half-volley. They seemed like getting the win up until the very last play of the game when the ball bounces between a few defenders, Flamini gives the ball to Cazorla and he smashes it in with fantastic accuracy for the equaliser. It isn't a loss, but it isn't a win. West Ham can be good when Jarvis and Carroll play well, but even away from home we should be getting a win. Flamini picked up a light injury and will be out for two weeks, but it shouldn't impact us too much luckily. After dropping two points, we're just one ahead of Everton but 6 ahead of 3rd place Chelsea. 4th place is United with 43 points compared to Chelsea's 51, so it seems like the title race is starting to narrow down as we approach the last 15 games. There's still plenty of time for the likes of United, City, Tottenham, Liverpool and even Cardiff to get back up into the top 3, but it looks like it'll come down to us, Everton and Chelsea. Speaking of Chelsea, that's our next game - after a full week of resting. This is a very important fixture and could eliminate Chelsea from the race, at least for the next few games.

With news that Arteta is out for the rest of the season with a slipped disc, I regret not registering Diaby from the reserves now that he's returned from his pre-season injury. I don't have any deep-lying midfielders for the next 2 or 3 games, and may have to play a more attacking role. The idea of having Ramsey and Wilshere side by side is exciting, but also worrying. The two of them could be very threatening on the attack, but also leave a gap inbetween them and the defense that possession plays could take advantage of. Of course, Flamini or Arteta couldn't fill this gap themselves, but at least they made it harder for teams to keep the ball with little pressure. We'll see what happens, it could have a big impact or mean nothing.

BOOM! Another TOTW to start this update:

February 4th 2014 TOTW:

GK Simon Moore - Cardiff

LB Ryan Bertrand - Chelsea

LCB Kenneth Omeruo - Swansea

RCB Thomas Vermaelen - Arsenal

RB Cesar Azpilicueta - Chelsea

LM Gylfi Sigurdsson - Tottenham

LCM Steven Naismith - Norwich

RCM Steven Davis - Southampton

RM Oscar - Chelsea

LS Marouane Chamakh - Crystal Palace

RS Rickie Lambert - Southampton

Arsenal 1 - 0 Chelsea

Giroud 85.

In a boring game full of half-chances and awful misses, I was over the moon when Giroud scored the winner. This was our fourth match and fourth win against the ever-cocky Mourinho, and this time he was sure that his side would prove I was out of my depth. Well, once again, we end their unbeaten run and put Mourinho in his place. With good defensive work shutting Chelsea out of the game, we waited until the 85th minute to show Chelsea just what we're made of. On that minute, Cazorla ran along the left wing and chipped the ball to Giroud on the edge of the box. He controlled it on his right foot and slotted it into the bottom corner on his left before sprinting over to the fans in mass celebration. A big middle finger to Mourinho, who I am just as shocked as that we have beaten his side 4 times out of four. Personally, I think Chelsea have the best squad depth in the BPL and one of the best starting XI's as well. Sooner or later, we will lose but at least we keep this rivalry going our way for now. Next up is possibly a tougher match against Man Utd at Old Trafford. Two big league games in a row! At least it gets them out of the way and leaves some of the weaker teams for us to gain some crucial points against. Unfortunately, Gibbs picked up a broken ankle and will likely be out for the rest of the season, meaning that Monreal may have a tough job keeping his fitness up. Hopefully he'll be able to handle it.

Man Utd 2 - 2 Arsenal

Bradley 3. Smalling 47. - Cazorla 44. Giroud 84.

Neither team deserved a win here; few chances created on either side, average defending, lack of creativity, this game had draw written all over it. Just three minutes in, surprise United beast Michael Bradley received a rebound header from a corner that found it's way in from outside of the box due to a slight deflection off Viviano. Cazorla equalised just before half time with a rebound goal from Giroud's saved volley in the box, and we went into HT feeling much better. I was content with a draw, so I felt quite frustrated when Smalling gave United the lead just 2 minutes into the second half with a fantastic strike at the near post after receiving the ball from a corner headed away. Then - just like last game - Giroud rescues the game in the last 10 minutes after playing a one-two with Sagna and scoring on the rebound after having his first shot saved. Another game with at least a point taken against a rival team, which is always good.

FA Cup 5th Round: Arsenal 2 - 0 QPR

Oxlade-Chamberlain 1. Podolski 83.

Another average performance against an easy opponent that progresses us in the FA cup. I would say I need better performances, but we're getting good results so I can't complain too much. Within the first minute of the game, Kovacic feeds the ball to Oxlade-Chamberlain who rocketed the shot into the top corner on his left foot. We weren't able to create many major chances throughout the rest of the game, but neither were QPR and we were in control throughout the whole game, restricting them to just 2 highlights. As the game was coming to a close, Rosicky found Podolski in the box who finished a similar goal to Oxlade's but on the other side of the net and gave us a comfortable 2-0 victory.

Flamini is back from injury, which is great because I mentioned how important that DLP is for our formation and his return should give us a much more solid playing style. The draw for the FA cup quarter final has given us either my home team Leicester or Southampton. While it's likely that the Saints will pick up a victory there, I'm praying for an upset so that we have a much better chance of going through to the Semi's. We'll just have to see. Update: After a 3-2 victory over Leicester, it will be Southampton that we'll be facing at St. Mary's stadium so that'll be a nice change from the recent rivals we've been playing. The next update, which will likely be tomorrow but might be later on tonight (depending on if I feel like playing) is a huge one as it consists of an away game against Schalke, followed by two MASSIVE BPL games: Everton at the Emirates and Cardiff at Cardiff City Stadium. The long awaited 1st versus 2nd and then a game against the biggest overachievers of the season who - despite dropping from 2nd to 6th - are still a threat and have been very impressive. Fun little fact for you that could be a huge factor: Everton and Cardiff have currently conceded the drawn least amount of goals this season at 16 in 26 games. Though a stat that goes in our favour is how we've scored the second most amount of goals on the league at 52, just 2 goals behind Chelsea's 54. This means that we're averaging 2 goals scored per game and our next two BPL opponents are averaging 0.6 goals conceded per game. Truly the unstoppable force meets two immovable objects. I hope you're all just as excited as me to see what happens on the next update.

UPDATE: I misread, actually Cardiff have conceded 30. It's Tottenham that are drawn with Everton for least goals conceded, my bad.

Champions Cup Round of 16 1st Leg: Schalke 0 - 1 Arsenal

Cazorla 82.

We came up against Draxler, we came up against Farfan and came up against the drawn 2nd top goalscorer from the group stage: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. With 6 goals from 6 games, Huntelaar was beaten only by Gomis to the top goalscorer charts during the group stage but he didn't add to that tally due to two great defenses coming up against each other. With the brick wall combo of Mertesacker and Koscielny coming up against the equally solid (this season) Matip and Howedes, both legs had few goals written all over them. Neither team were able to create any chances, and both were restricted to long shots all game, with almost no clear-cut chances throughout the whole 90 minutes. It was only in the last 10 minutes of the game that Viviano's goal kick first hit the ground in their half, bounced over the head of Westermann, who was clearly unaware of the run made by Cazorla. After latching onto the ball, he ran the rest of the pitch and smashed the ball past Unnerstall and into the far post. Westermann will be kicking himself after that, as he clearly didn't even make an attempt to get to the ball that he maybe could have gotten to. Instead, Viviano is given an assist on top of his fantastic goalkeeping performances this year. In fact, his overall ability has gone up by half a star to 3*! I feel bad for Szczesny, but he'll get his chance next year. An away goal and a clean sheet is exactly what I was looking for; things are looking good as long as we avoid complacency in the next leg.

Diaby came to me and said that he wants to achieve greater things, so I transfer listed him by request. With Flamini coming into the squad and doing his job well when Arteta is unavailable, I have no need for Diaby and having someone with low morale in the squad is not a good idea. Anyway, he's hardly good enough for Arsenal in fm, I'd be surprised if he went anywhere better.

Arsenal 3 - 1 Everton

Giroud 9. 20. Ramsey 37. - Lukaku 41.

BOOM! Arguably the toughest challenge for our offense this season was annihilated by the monstrous Giroud who continues his form. Ramsey also picked up a goal, which can only be good for him. I was very worried coming into this game due to how solid their defense has been, conceding 16 goals in 26 games so far in the league. Luckily for us, Baines was suspended for the game and that almost certainly had an impact on Everton's morale and performance. A good game for most of the team and a great game for the Girozil combo. Just 9 minutes into the game, Ozil picked out Giroud in the box who looked to pass but instead smashed a shot into the top corner from out of nowhere - on his right foot! We doubled the lead when Howard's goal kick was volleyed by Wilshere perfectly to Giroud who made sure to finish the chance before the defense could react. As half time was approaching, a corner fell to Sagna, who passed to Ozil, in to Walcott in the box and finally to Ramsey with a fantastic first time shot into the top corner. Howard and co. must have been shocked, and terrible marking of Lukaku led to a goal that proved only consolation for Everton. The second half had just as much action, but Howard tightened himself up and Viviano was often saved by off-target shots. We manage to extend our lead to 4 points going into the Cardiff game, which will prove to either be very difficult or pretty easy. Walcott is out for just 3 or 4 days with a gashed arm after a collision with Distin, so I'll probably have to play the Ox against Cardiff, but he has proved to be a solid backup so far this season. Following a loss against Aston Villa, Cardiff have currently drawn 3 and lost 2 out of their last 5 games. Hopefully their morale will be shot to hell, leaving us to score aplenty.

February 25th 2014 TOTW:

GK Carlos Kameni - Sunderland

LB Jonathon Parr - Crystal Palace

LCB Mamadou Sakho - Liverpool

RCB Thomas Vermaelen - Arsenal

RB Jack Hunt - Crystal Palace

LM David Silva - Man City

LCM Kevin Nolan - West Ham

RCM Mesut Ozil - Arsenal

RM Nathan Dyer - Swansea

LS Olivier Giroud - Arsenal

RS Demba Ba - Chelsea

Cardiff 2 - 5 Arsenal

Cornelius 23. Caulker 33. - Podolski 6. Mertesacker 26. Oxlade-Chamberlain 58. 68. Cazorla 73.

An absolutely goalfest that left me so nervous throughout the entire first half and I am overjoyed at this result. I was worried going into this, and then I saw their stars and form which definitely eased my nerves. No wins in the last 5 games, conceding a whole lot of goals in the last few months and definitely going downhill since being in 2nd early on in the season. Here we go with a huge report... Just 6 minutes into the game, Cazorla's free kick from the halfway line bounced around the box and eventually fell to Podolski who passed the ball into the net with ease. 17 minutes later, Bo-Kyung crossed the ball into Cornelius - who was completely unmarked - for a volley that left our back 5 dazed. Mertesacker wasn't content with a draw, and scored a rebound volley from a corner just 3 minutes later to once again give us the lead. 7 minutes later, Caulker gave us a taste of our own medicine when a Mutch corner found him in the 6 yard box for an easy header. We went into halftime 2-2, and clearly the halftime talk inspired everyone to show the league what we're made of again. As the hour mark was approaching, Cazorla found Oxlade-Chamberlain with a cross-play ball for a volley into an open net to give us the lead for the third time. We never looked like losing it in the second half; 10 minutes later Rosicky's unexpectedly short free kick to Oxlade-Chamberlain paid off as he smashed the ball into the top corner from out of nowhere - similar to Giroud's first goal against Everton. 73 minutes into the game, Rosicky picked up another assist after feeding the ball through to Cazorla who rounded off the game with a somewhat trademark Santi goal of burying the ball low into the far post on his left foot. 3 points that could prove to give us a 7 point lead if Everton defeat Chelsea at Goodison park in just under a week's time. Ideally, a draw would be good there. It prevents Chelsea from picking up momentum but also gives us a 6 point lead at the top. We'll have to see. For now, we have a Capital One Cup North London derby Final to worry about. A chance for silverware for the first time in almost a decade. And there are few more worrying opponents in fm than Tottenham. With us scoring a huge 60 goals in 28 games and Tottenham conceding just 18 in 27, this is a test for both sides. Another case of unstoppable force against immovable object, it seems. I'll include it in this update due to how huge it is, as I'm itching to not only get some silverware but also beat our biggest rivals to do it.

Unfortunately, Flamini is out for another 6-8 weeks. That leaves no defensive midfielders for the rest of the season. It does mean that Ramsey and Kovacic will get more game time (which they deserve), but could bite us in the ass against some teams. Oh yeah, it's also AWARDS TIME!

BPL Player of the Month (February 2014)

1st. Sylvain Distin - Everton

2nd. Olivier Giroud - Arsenal

3rd. Oscar - Chelsea

BPL Young Player of the Month (February 2014)

1st. Andreas Cornelius - Cardiff

2nd. Ross Barkley - Everton

3rd. Erik Lamela - Tottenham

BPL Manager of the Month (February 2014)

1st. Jose Mourinho of Chelsea

2nd. Mauricio Pochettino of Southampton

3rd. Jack Clark of Arsenal

Capital One Cup Final: Tottenham 0 -1 Arsenal

Mertesacker 61.

YEEES!! YES YES YES!! Excuse my huge celebrations for such a small competition win, but it's Arsenal's first piece of silverware in almost a decade, which breaks the curse! And how else would we win but through an Ozil corner whipped in to Mertesacker for the header! I don't think anyone deserved to score the winning goal more than him - perhaps Cazorla, but his average performance didn't warrant it. On the negative side, we probably just inched a win. With just 2 more shots on target than Spurs and 43% possession, perhaps this game should've gone down to extra time. It was down to some fantastic defending that we won because our midfield and Giroud were all lacking in creativity and I was getting more and more frustrated at our inability to create chances. When Mertesacker scored, I went insane and I'm SO happy to finally bring some silverware to Arsenal. I can't get complacent, as our FA cup, Champions Cup and League hopes are still alive. Wow... a potential quadruple... that would be insane and, as much as I love Arsenal, couldn't happen in real life. I doubt I'll make it any further than the quarter final in the Champions Cup, and Chelsea are 5 points behind us following a win against Everton so anything could happen. As the season begins to come to a conclusion, things start to heat up, I'll see you all tomorrow.

Brilliant Story - Make sure you do some stats etc at the end of the season

Thank you, and I will. I'll spend a whole day's update doing a whole squad report with goals, assists & average ratings, my personal player of the season, young player etc. as well as a quick glimpse at the highest ratings, most goals & most assists in the BPL this season. Anything else you'd like to see? Or anyone that reads this series, any suggestions on how I could improve this series would be appreciated

Another update started with a TOTW!

March 4th 2014 TOTW:

GK Maarten Stekelenburg - Fulham

LB Jonathan Parr - Crystal Palace

LCB Wes Brown - Sunderland

RCB Per Mertesacker - Arsenal

RB Branislav Ivanovic - Chelsea

LM Santi Cazorla - Arsenal

LCM Ramires - Chelsea

RCM Tomas Rosicky - Arsenal

RM Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - Arsenal

LS Christian Benteke - Aston Villa

RS Lukas Podolski - Arsenal

FA Cup 6th Round: Southampton 4 -2 Arsenal

Lambert 12. 76. Lallana 68. Ramirez 90. - Ramsey 36. Oxlade-Chamberlain 64.

Our FA cup run comes to an end at the hands of Southampton. A club that is only getting better with time due to their fantastic youth facilities and extremely exciting youth prospects, I did have a little doubt that we could go all the way going into the match. Pochettino praised me before the game, which felt good, but I was aware of the Saints' ability to tear teams apart on a good day. I have a save as them that I play occasionally and they are unstoppable when they're on form. We went into half time at 1-1, and they came out into the second half ready to knock us out. I'll be honest, I didn't expect to lose but nor did I expect an easy win so this was only a bit surprising. Hey, at least we can focus on the league now. 12 minutes in, Ramires fed Lambert who fed Osvaldo and his saved shot was buried by Lambert on the rebound. I've never seen our defense fall apart faster than this goal, and it summed up our entire game. They absolutely deserved it. Ramsey gave us some hope in the 36th minute with a rebound half-volley from a corner, but the second half was possibly the worst we've had all season. I thought we'd be able to pull off a win when Cazorla found Oxlade-Chamberlain with an amazing cross for an easy header and the lead. Things looked good until four minutes later, Shaw's cross found Osvaldo who headed the ball down to Lallana's feet for an easy finish. As the possibility of extra-time (or a replay, I've never been sure tbh) was looming, Osvaldo's rebound was once again buried by Lambert to give Southampton the lead. They had clearly won and definitely deserved to if I'm honest, but Ramirez rubbed salt in the wounds with an astonishing 20 yard shot into the far corner from out of nowhere. It was one of the most powerful and accurate efforts I've seen all season, and when I saw that, I realised how much they wanted this FA cup. Go ahead, you deserve it with performances like that. Yes, it's frustrating but at least fitness will be better for the last couple of months of the season - arguably the most important. Now, I'm very excited about the next game and the day after. The second leg of the Champions Cup round of 16 against Schalke, and our away goal should give us a comfortable advantage here. The day after that - March 12th - is the YOUTH INTAKE . Possibly my favourite part of the game if I'm honest. WOO!

Champions Cup Round of 16 2nd Leg: Arsenal 2(3) - (1)1 Schalke

Mertesacker 16. Hildebrand OG 35. - Huntelaar 72.

Honestly, we could've and should've had a better result. The only shot on target of the entire game went in, and that's made me wonder if Szczesny is even Arsenal quality. He's great in real life, but I tried him in the last two games and he's been very poor. Perhaps it was poor judgement to not play Viviano because of his form, but I'm starting to think that I might want to sell Szczesny. I'll give him next season and if he's this poor then he's out. Anyway, we're through on a 3-1 aggregate score and that has met our minimum requirements for the Champions Cup so I don't feel so stressed about it. Now it gets really tough, with teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich waiting - they should be, anyway. 16 minutes in, the team decided to play hot potato with the ball from a corner. Ozil whipped it in, Kovacic headed it to Giroud, to Vermaelen and finally to Mertesacker at the far corner for a confusing and hilarious goal. I felt quite confident after that, and I knew we'd won when Monreal's cross accidentally hit the upright, onto the ground and in off of the body of Hildebrand - who had dived in an attempt to prevent the misguided cross from going in. Towards the end of the game, Clemens found Huntelaar for a finish past the disappointing Szczesny. It was a tough shot to save, but not that tough and he should've done better there. Cazorla picked up an injury for two weeks, but Podolski has proved to be a great backup this season and he should be just as good. In three days, we have a shot at revenge against Southampton - and this time, it's at the Emirates. A tough game, probably the toughest until we hit a tough 2 games back-to-back with Tottenham and Man City, both at the Emirates. Also, I was wrong about the youth intake, it's actually the 13th. Still, it's here! Here is the entire intake, from lowest to highest potential:

0.5*

Gavin Wright D©

1*

Steve Beckett D(L)

Mickey Joseph-Johnson S©

1.5*

Jordan Opoku D®

Tanguy Noel GK

Mohamed Emeka S©

2*

Pat O'Malley M©

Kenny McGowan S©

Tommy Harvey SW

Derek Ballard GK

Nicky Fairhurst M©

Jim Wilson D©

Brennan O'Grady S©

2.5*

Alan S©

Chukwudi Godwin M©

3*

none

3.5*

Lawson Palmer AM©

4*

none

4.5*

none

5*

none

A generally disappointing youth intake, but with our youth and training facilities being worked on as well as recruitment and junior coaching improvement my next priority, I'm hoping this is just a one off. However, Palmer looks like he could be an ok player and just short of Cazorla's ability, meaning we could make a nice £10m-ish profit on him if all else fails. Alan and Godwin are others to watch, but are likely going to play well for lower BPL teams at peak. However, I will now spend about an hour searching through every youth intake in the world that has already happened and find the best of the best. My scouts have already found some good youth for me, but not every country has been scouted so I will have to manually search for some.

Arsenal 5 - 2 Southampton

Walcott 11. 90. Lambert OG 21. Podolski 65. 87(pen). - Faurlin 63. Cork 76.

Payback after the FA cup humiliation! They did deserve a win back then, but today we showed them it was just an off day. Just before the match, I was told that Oxlade-Chamberlain had progressed as a player and was now almost up to the same standard as Walcott. Coupled with his form, I was thinking about giving him a game instead, but I felt like Walcott deserved a run in the team after his recent lack of games. He certainly showed why he is one of the best explosive wingers in the prem today. Just 11 minutes in, Giroud attempted to find Walcott and a bad touch from Shaw as he went for the interception gave Walcott a golden chance that he couldn't miss. Just 10 minutes later, Rosicky found Lambert in the box with a perfect header into his own net. Seriously. I don't know if he was trying to head it over or maybe Vermaelen forced the ball that way, but it looked like Lambert meant to do that. Perfect jump, perfect header. Faurlin gave Southampton some hope when Ramirez picked out his run and he buried it, but just 2 minutes later Podolski had a chance to score a penalty after Fonte handled the ball to prevent Giroud from heading Rosicky's free kick into the net. He selected his spot, ran up and it was saved, but he managed to put it in on the rebound. Unlucky for Boruc. On the 76th minute, Cork gave them yet another glimmer of hope after firing a precise rebound volley from the corner straight into the net. With just 3 minutes of standard time left to go, Fonte gave away yet another penalty for an awfully timed sliding tackle on Walcott in the box and Podolski didn't miss this time. Everything looked settled at 4-2, but after being taken down and denied a brace, Walcott was eager and Rosicky picked out his run into the box for an easy finish. A great result, and the last part of this update will be me talking about some of the better youth intake players I found after scouting literally about 200 "hot prospects" across England, Germany and France.

Another piece of interesting news is how AC Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri was sacked and the three managers expected to take over are all unemployed. A bit risky, Berlusconi..

March 18th 2014 TOTW

GK David De Gea - Man Utd

LB David Limbersky - West Brom

LCB James Tomkins - West Ham

RB Branislav Ivanovic - Chelsea

LM Eden Hazard - Chelsea

LCM Frank Lampard - Chelsea

RCM Jonny Howson - Norwich

RM Theo Walcott - Arsenal

LS Dimitar Berbatov - Fulham

RS Samuel Eto'o - Chelsea

Alberto Malesani has been appointed as the new AC Milan manager... who? Well, I don't judge a manager based their reputation, I judge them by what they can do. We'll find that out soon.

After looking through all the regens, I found 6 that have 4.5* potential so far, just in England, France and Germany. Most of them are fullbacks oddly, and there is one RB from Dortmund that I really want as a long-term replacement to Sagna called Peter Heimann, so he's another target for the summer. I think I'll probably be done with the first season by the end of the week, if not then definitely the end of next week. I'll see you all tomorrow, bye now

I decided to to another report because I don't really have much else to do right now tbh, half term, not in the mood for FIFA and I really want to get to the summer. LET'S GO!

Crystal Palace 3 - 4 Arsenal

Williams 4. 19. Puncheon 45+1. - Podolski 21. Oxlade-Chamberlain 58. Ramsey 83. Walcott 85.

One of the most emotional games I've ever played on any fm simply because of how pissed off I was and then how stupidly happy I was when Walcott scored the winner. We never should've conceded even one goal and our defensive performance was awful today, but our midfield certainly made up for it. Lack of fitness for Giroud and Monreal may have made this game harder, as Podolski was up front, the Ox was on the left and Vermaelen was playing LB today but we managed to come away with a win and the Comeback King achievement! Just 4 minutes in, I was raging so hard when Ince's through ball was so inaccurate that Mertesacker was 15 yards closer to it than Williams was, but Per was unaware of the sprinting Palace man and his slow walking pace allowed Williams to score a ridiculous, freak goal. I guess it's good determination from him, but it was uncharacteristically **** defending. He doubled their lead with a fantastic run from 35 yards out, taking advantage of the brief lapse in marking by punishing us. I felt a little better when Podolski got one back 2 minutes later from a fantastic Ramsey through ball, but I still didn't think we would come away with the win. This opinion was solidified when Puncheon beat Vermaelen on the wing, cut inside and scored a goal similar to Williams's second. Clearly, lack of a natural LB was the main reason for conceding 2 of those goals. At half time, the lads got a complete bollocking and certainly showed their desire for the title as a result. This 3 goal comeback perfectly summed up our spirit and I think it sent a message to everyone that, with only 8 games to go, this title is ours. No-one is stopping that. After a good tackle on Podolski in the box on the 58th minute, Oxlade-Chamberlain was there straight away, did a fake shot (or it looked like it) to get round one defender and buried it at the near post. From then on, everyone knew what had to be done. Unfortunately, the fans were beginning to doubt - as was I - until the last 7 minutes of the game. With very little time to go, Ramsey received the ball from a ridiculous angle just outside the box and fired home what was the most shocking goal I've probably ever seen - even now, I have no idea how it went it! Perfect accuracy, insane power and if it was on target then it was baffling the goalkeeper - which it did. Ramsey usually plays to an average degree, but does have these clutch moments that show just how dangerous he can be from out of nowhere. He's a ticking goal bomb. After our terrible first half, I would've been content with a draw but Ramsey got his second assist of the day with a good through ball to Walcott for the equaliser just 2 minutes later. I almost screamed in joy, seriously! To come back from 3-1 down due to atrocious defending and for Ramsey to get 2 assists and an incredible goal.. due to Williams's brace, he managed to beat Ramsey to the MoM award, but I honestly think he should've had it hands down. Ramirez's brace in the last 15 minutes for a comeback and a Southampton win against Chelsea gives us an 8 points lead with 8 games to go. It's looking good, and as long as we can pick up all 3 points against the lower teams, our results against Spurs and Man City won't matter. However, failure would mean that those two games could be the most crucial of the season. Manchester City manager Andre Villas-Boas was watching the game, as he is reportedly interested in both Koscielny and Wilshere. Whilst I wish to hold onto both, I think I'd be willing to sell the pair for a combined £55m. Sounds like a lot, but they mean a lot to the club.

The Champions Cup Quarter Final draw has not been kind to us, pairing us up with Real Madrid. This is truly the biggest test all season, and I doubt I'll be getting any further. With the league so close to our grasp, I won't care that much if we drop out now. We've done well. The full draw is this:

Arsenal vs Real Madrid

Chelsea vs Juventus

Man Utd vs Bayern Munich

PSG vs Celtic

"Where's Barcelona!?" you might say. Well, Celtic knocked them out. I **** you not. They drew 0-0 at home and then drew 2-2 at the Camp Nou, going through on away goals. This was after going 2-0 down and then having Brown and Samaras rescue the side. A phenomenal result for them, and perhaps they could go all the way after that.

Arsenal 0 - 0 Newcastle

Lack of clinical finishing in this game was our downfall, and in fact we could've gone 1-0 down just 21 minutes into the game through a Ben Arfa penalty, but Viviano - just after being put back into the side (yes I gave Szczesny more chances for some reason) - made the save. We should've won this, no doubt, but we were pretty bad on the attack and the few clear-cut chances we had were stopped well by Krul. Newcastle can be a difficult team to face with Ben Arfa and Cabaye, so a draw despite a penalty conceded by Ozil is okay by me. The league countdown continues, just 7 games left and I'm starting to feel the nerves. I've been made aware that we need 16 points out of the next 7 games to guarantee the league title assuming Chelsea, Everton and City all win their next 7. This means that we can only drop 5 points. We can't have more than one loss... that's some serious pressure, but I think we can handle it.

West Brom 1 - 2 Arsenal

Brunt 31. - Sagna 8. Podolski 61.

In a game that we needed to win, we came up against a surprisingly solid defense and competent attacking force. I'm always worried with away games in fm, but it seems to be much less ridiculous than last year, luckily. Before even 10 minutes had passed, Wilshere picked out Sagna's run and he slotted the ball easily into the near post. We were actually quite poor in the first half, and West Brom got a deserved equaliser through Brunt with a similar goal to ours, Dorrans picking out Brunt - who was just onside - to level the game. I felt pretty frustrated with how lucky they were to still have the ball after three defenders were all unable to keep the ball after tackles leading up to the goal, but they did deserve a goal. Just after the hour mark, Reid played the ball back to Myhill, but miscommunication led to neither chasing the ball and Podolski stole it in the box and put the sitter away to give us the lead again. The rest of the game was pretty boring, with no major chances between Poldi's goal and full time. Another 3 points and another game gone in our title chase. Unfortunately, Podolski picked up an injury and is out for about a month and a half, meaning he'll miss the remainder of the season alongside Gibbs, Flamini and Arteta. Luckily, Cazorla is back and - as long as we avoid any more injuries - we should be at near full strength. Diego Simeone is interested in Sagna and was watching our game, which I may take advantage of following my interest in the wonderkid Leo, who's been on phenominal form. 23 goals and 4 assists in 37 games for a 21 year old is fantastic, and I've had my eye on him for most of the season now.

That's all for today's bonus update, tomorrow we face Real Madrid at the Emirates, Fulham at Craven Cottage and finally Real Madrid again at the Bernabeu. I'll see you then.

I only just realised that I haven't updated the league table in a while! I apologise for this, but I've been rushing through the games very quickly to try and get to the end of the season and it's meant I've become complacent. I'll try to remember to do it every 5 games, although considering there are only 6 games left in the league, there's no point in doing on with 1 game to go so this'll be the last before the end of season review:

1st. Arsenal 78p

2nd. Chelsea 72p

3rd. Everton 68p

4th. Man Utd 63p

5th. Tottenham 56p

-------------------------

16th. Norwich 29p

17th. Fulham 28p

18th. Aston Villa 28p

19th. Crystal Palace 24p

20th. Hull 22p

I apologise sincerely, and I am absolutely distraught at this, but for the last 3 hours I have gotten all the way to the end of the season only for the page to freeze when I attempted to insert an image of the final table. Here's a summary:

Real Madrid beat us 6-1 on aggregate, but didn't make it through to the final which is Chelsea vs PSG.

We won the league after Man City beat Chelsea 4-1, giving us a 3 point lead on Chelsea for the title.

Giroud recovered from a run of goalless games to score 7 in 4 games (I think).

I'll do the end of season review tomorrow, but for now here is the table and the awards:

1st. Arsenal 87p

2nd. Chelsea 84p

3rd. Man Utd 81p

4th. Everton 80p

5th. Tottenham 61p

6th. Liverpool 60p

7th. Man City 53p

8th. Newcastle 50p

9th. Cardiff 50p

10th. Swansea 47p

11th. Southampton 47p

12th. Sunderland 45p

13th. Stoke 43p

14th. Aston Villa 39p

15th. West Brom 36p

16th. West Ham 34p

17th. Crystal Palace 34p

18th. Norwich 34p

19th. Fulham 33p

20th. Hull 29p

BPL Player of the Season 2013/14 - Leighton Baines of Everton

Player's Player of the Season 2013/14 - Juan Mata of Chelsea

BPL Golden Boot 2013/14 - Olivier Giroud of Arsenal with 23 goals.

2nd. Romelu Lukaku of Everton with 23 goals (more playing time).

3rd. Robin van Persie of Man Utd with 20 goals.

BPL Young Player's Player of the Season 2013/14 - Eden Hazard of Chelsea

2nd. Erik Lamela of Tottenham

3rd. Oscar of Chelsea

BPL Goal of the Season 2013/14 - Aaron Ramsey of Arsenal vs Crystal Palace

BPL Golden Glove 2013/14 - Tim Howard of Everton with 19 Clean Sheets.

2nd. Petr Cech of Chelsea with 18 Clean Sheets.

3rd. Hugo Lloris of Tottenham with 18 Clean Sheets (more games).

BPL Manager of the Season 2013/14 - Jack Clark of Arsenal

2nd. Roberto Martinez of Everton

3rd. Jose Mourinho of Chelsea

BPL Team of the Season 2013/14

GK Tim Howard - Everton

LB Leighton Baines - Everton

LCB Per Mertesacker - Arsenal

RCB Sylvain Distin - Everton

RB Glen Johnson - Liverpool

LM Juan Mata - Chelsea

LCM Mesut Ozil - Arsenal

RCM Santi Cazorla - Arsenal

RM Erik Lamela - Tottenham

LS Olivier Giroud - Arsenal

RS Luis Suarez - Liverpool

I didn't realise this, as this is my first complete season on fm14, but players have a huge ability and potential boost at the end of the season. I'll list the major changes here:

Szczesny's PA 4* to 5*

Koscielny & Mertesacker's CA 3.5* to 4*

Kovacic's CA 2.5* to 3*, PA from 4* to 4.5*

Wilshere's CA 4* to 4.5*, PA 4.5* to 5*

Oxlade-Chamberlain's CA 2.5* to 3*, PA 4* to 5*

Ozil's CA 4* to 5*

Cazorla's CA 4* to 4.5*

Giroud's CA 3.5* to 4*

Walcott's CA 3* to 3.5*

Ramsey's CA 3.5* to 4*, PA 4* to 4.5*

Meyer's PA 4.5* to 5*

So generally very impressive boosts and, suddenly, great prospects become world class potential prospects! With a phenomenal season, training and youth facilities to be upgraded and an end of season stats analysis waiting to be written, I feel like this entire season has been fantastic despite having 3 hours of what felt like fairly rushed and hard - as hard as gaming can be - work deleted. I hope you all enjoyed this season as much as I did, and tomorrow it's time to start it all over again with a squad that has suddenly gone from great to incredible. I'll see you all then

End of season report time! This will cover the goals, assist, clean sheets for keepers, MoM awards and average rating of every player that has played 10 games or more in the team. It'll also cover any and all top 3/5 lists such as goals, assists, red cards etc in the BPL. The squad stats are for all competitions, not just the BPL. Finally, I will give out several personal awards to the squad that mean absolutely nothing outside of sentimental value (as in I'm not actually giving them awards). So, let's begin:

Note: appearances from the bench will be noted as a+b where a is the number of starts and b is the number of subs on.

Viviano - 33 apps, 1 assist, 2 MoM, 1 yellow, 6.92 avg, 16 cs

Szczesny - 27 apps, 6.63 avg, 8 cs

Jenkinson - 15 apps, 1 assists, 6.85 avg

Sagna - 45 apps, 1 goal, 4 assists, 2 MoM, 4 yellows, 1 red, 7.14 avg

Monreal - 31+2 apps, 2 yellows, 7.08 avg

Vermaelen - 17+6 apps, 1 goal, 1 assist, 3 MoM, 7.16 avg

Koscielny - 56+1 apps, 4 goals, 5 assists, 4 MoM, 7.28 avg

Mertesacker - 49+2 apps, 12 goals, 4 assists, 9 MoM, 4 yellows, 7.43 avg

Gibbs - 27 apps, 1 goal, 3 assists, 1 MoM, 7.09 avg

Arteta - 24+2 apps, 5 goals, 2 assists, 2 yellows, 6.92 avg

Flamini - 18+4 apps, 5 assists, 7.00 avg

Rosicky - 7+5 apps, 8 assists, 1 MoM, 7.08 avg

Ramsey - 25+3 apps, 5 goals, 2 assists, 1 yellow, 7.08 avg

Cazorla - 46+2 apps, 18 goals, 10 assists, 5 MoM, 7.10 avg

Oxlade-Chamberlain - 33+6 apps, 13 goals, 3 assists, 2 MoM, 7.03 avg

Kovacic - 19+9 apps, 7 assists, 1 yellow, 6.96 avg

Wilshere - 40+1 apps, 3 goals, 9 assists, 1 MoM, 3 yellows, 7.04 avg

Ozil - 46+2 apps, 4 goals, 22 assists, 2 MoM, 7.18 avg

Meyer (stats for Schalke) - 8+16 apps, 4 goals, 3 assists, 1 MoM, 6.77 avg

Walcott - 32+5 apps, 8 goals, 6 assists, 1 MoM, 6.98

Podolski - 18+11 apps, 16 goals, 5 assists, 4 MoM, 2 yellows, 7.18 avg

Giroud - 52+1 apps, 28 goals, 10 assists, 7 MoM, 7.20 avg

BPL 2013/14 Stat Leaders:

Most goals scored - Arsenal, 82

Least goals conceded - Everton, 27

Longest run with no goals conceded - Stoke, 4 games

Longest winless run - Tottenham, 6 games

Longest run of consecutive losses - Sunderland, 2 games

Longest run of consecutive wins - Man Utd, 8 games

Best Average Rating:

1st. Leighton Baines of Everton - 7.68

2nd. Sylvain Distin of Everton - 7.61

3rd. Phil Jagielka of Everton - 7.52

Most Games Won:

1st. David De Gea of Man Utd - 25

= Romelu Lukaku of Everton - 25

= Eden Hazard of Chelsea - 25

= Phil Jagielka of Everton - 25

= Laurent Koscielny of Arsenal - 25

Haven't done most appearances, as tons of players have played all 38 games.

Most Goals Scored:

1st. Olivier Giroud of Arsenal - 23

2nd. Romelu Lukaku of Everton - 23, more games played

3rd. Robin van Persie of Man Utd - 20

4th. Samuel Eto'o of Chelsea - 16

5th. Andreas Cornelius of Cardiff - 15

Most Goals Assisted:

1st. Juan Mata of Chelsea - 15

2nd. Leighton Baines of Everton - 13

3rd. Mesut Ozil of Arsenal - 13, more games played

4th. Eden Hazard of Chelsea - 13, even more games played

5th. Ashley Young of Man Utd - 9

Best Shots on Target Ratio - Ramires of Chelsea, 59%

Most MoM Awards - Olivier Giroud of Arsenal, 6

Most Yellow Cards - Mile Jedinak of Crystal Palace, 13

Most Red Cards - Cheick Tiote of Newcastle, 3

Most Distance Covered - Michu of Swansea, 462.3km

So there we go! A season dominated by defense from what I can tell. I considered buying Baines, but with Gibbs and Monreal both being solid this year, it probably isn't necessary. I hope you guys enjoyed that report, and if there's anything you think I should add or remove, please let me know so I can make this story as entertaining as possible. I'm gonna head straight into the Summer transfer window as I'm itching to see who's available and who isn't. That'll be a separate update, as it doesn't make any sense to attach the end of the first season to the beginning of the second. I'll be sure to let you guys know the results of the World Cup final and where England dropped out. For now, I'll finish with this:

The 2013/14 Season in Review:

BPL Finish: 1st!!!

Champions Cup Finish: Eliminated in the Quarter Finals 6-1 on aggregate by Real Madrid

Champions Cup Winners: PSG

FA Cup Finish: Eliminated in the 6th Round 4-2 by Southampton

FA Cup Winners: Newcastle

Capital One Cup Finish: Winner!

Update: I'll have to try and include this in awards next time, but here is the Champions Cup Dream Team:

GK Petr Cech - Chelsea

LB Marcelo - Real Madrid

LCB Per Mertesacker - Arsenal

RCB Nemanja Vidic - Man Utd

RB Christophe Jallet - PSG

LM Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid

LCM Juan Mata - Chelsea

RCM Mesut Ozil - Arsenal

RM Lucas Moura - PSG

LS Zlatan Ibrahimovic - PSG

RS Edinson Cavani - PSG

With an initial budget of £43m and £178k per week excess budget, I have plenty of money to work with. Let's get this second season started!

My first signing was Will Hughes of Derby, who I signed despite his 4* potential. I've made it a rule to only go after 4.5* players UNLESS they're a bargain. And, after requested transfer, £5m for Hughes is a bargain. I also put in 4 accepted bids for players with an initial 5* potential, all regens except for Balanta who I've wanted for a long time. After seeing so many players improve in ability, I realised that I don't necessarily need a player to strengthen the squad right now, and paying small amounts for players with world-class potential in excess seems like a good idea.

Eric De Francesco is my second signing from Boca Juniors, a left winger with two natural positions: ML and AML. He has some great technical stats for an 18 year old, and for £8.5m it beats Draxler's 4.5* potential for £38.5m. Loic Remy to Newcaste, de Guzman to Villarreal and Livermore to Hull are the only other transfers so far.

Third and fourth signings both complete: 5* potential RB Santiago Brizuela for £1.5m initially and £4.5 over the next 4 years is the third. 5* potential CB Alvarez Balanta - who will go straight into the team as a good backup - for £9.75 in total (partly owned by his agent) is the fourth.

Djourou and Chu-Young are both set to leave to HSV and Saint-Etienne respectively for a combined £2.3m as they're both unneeded. Man City also put in a bid for Xherdan Shaqiri, which kind of annoys me. I had him on my radar last year, but was unable to force through a loan deal on transfer deadline day due to lack of wage. After some excellent performances for Bayern, Man City and Chelsea both gained major interest in him and I'm almost certain he'll join them after a bid more than twice the amount of Bayern's previous £17m record. Still, even Shaqiri only has 4.5* potential.

My fifth signing is another 5* CB Thiago Casasola for £6.5m again from Boca Juniors. Him, Balanta and Brizuela could be a fantastic defense if I can find a 5* potential LB to complete this possibly unbeatable defense.

Hughes has moved on loan to Celtic, De Francesco moved on loan to OGC Nice, Brizuela moved on loan to Bordeaux, Casasola moved on loan to Montpellier and Man City have signed Shaqiri for £37m in the latest transfer news. Also, we've managed to move up in the World Club rankings from 11th to 8th, overtaking Dortmund, Milan and Man City!

Sixth signing! I know it's a lot - the last for now - but the majority of them won't be in the first team for a few years to come. Sergi Roberto was transfer listed for £1.1m despite his value of £3.5m and a 4.5* potential. I understand he isn't Barcelona material, and he may end up being sold on, but I'm shocked we managed to sign him for so little.

I decided that Vermaelen can leave at the end of the season. While I'd prefer to keep him in all honesty, Balanta will be a perfect replacement for him and his contract expectations were ridiculous. I also signed Roberto Samaden as a replacement for Liam Brady. His stats are fantastic, and hopefully that'll improve our chances of producing world class youth.

Vargas has completed his move over to our squad, and I'm sure he'll be at least a decent backup. With a potential of 4*, he may even become a leading BPL striker, which would be a bargain considering he moved here on contract extension.

England have been knocked out of the World Cup during the Semi Finals - on penalties. What a surprise. After beating Italy 3-2 in the Quarter Finals, they were forced to penalties against Belgium and ended up losing. The final of the World Cup, which I will inevitably watch, is Belgium vs Cameroon. I **** you not, Cameroon beat Brazil 1-0 in the Quarter Finals and France 1-0 in the Semi Finals. Although, Samuel Eto'o was injured during that match and will be a huge miss for Cameroon. Therefore, England vs France is the Third Place Playoff.

Frimpong has moved to Lille for £800k after being labelled as unneeded, and a transfer for a 5* potential ST/AMC has been cancelled after work permit problems. Damnit! I really wanted that lad, he already has some very high mental stats despite being just 18 and he looked like he could develop into a world class player.

I can never feel frustrated again and say that fm has created some ridiculous results for my team after witnessing the World Cup final. After Belgium scored just 9 minutes into the game from a penalty, Cameroon scored a fluke goal when Courtois clashed with Nkoulou from a corner, the ball went in and the goal was given to the corner taker Ndjeng. With 5 minutes to go, N'Djeng - no, not the same player - scored a penalty that was given by Pocognoli. Samuel Eto'o was the only player that scored in the Quarter and Semi Finals, but he wasn't needed to beat Belgium in the World Cup Final. England also beat France 2-1, including goals for Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sagna, to be placed 3rd which was another surprise result in the eyes of the media. I know it's a smaller version in terms of stats, but World Cup AWARDS TIME!

2014 World Cup Golden Boot - Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal, 5 goals

Player of the 2014 World Cup - Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal

Young Player of the 2014 World Cup - Lucas Moura of Brazil

Goalkeeper of the 2014 World Cup - Iker Casillas of Spain

2014 World Cup Dream Team:

GK Iker Casillas - Spain

LB Leighton Baines - England

LCB Chris Smalling - Man Utd

RCB Jan Vertonghen - Belgium

RB Sergio Ramos - Spain

LM Eden Hazard - Belgium

LCM Raul Meireles - Portugal

RCM Manuel Fernandes - Portugal

RM Kevin Mirallas - Belgium

LS Cristiano Ronaldo - Portugal

RS Samuel Eto'o - Cameroon

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was selected amongst the subs, which is a phenomenal achievement for a 20 year old.

As much as the senior squad can suddenly develop, several of my youth players from the last intake have also improved. Larson Palmer has gone from a 3.5* potential to a 5* potential, and a few other players have improved slightly - although still aren't first team material. This improvement takes the tally of players with 5* potential from all 3 squads up to 11. With another 7 having a 4.5* potential, that's 18 world class players (3 of which are already 4.5* or higher).

Cazorla is out for just under a month and might miss the start of the season, it's close and if he is available, he will play. Barcelona have signed Verratti for £20m and De Bruyne has been transfer listed with an asking price of just £6.25m. I may have to scrape through with £1 per week left on the wage bill, but I will do everything I can to sign another 5* potential player!! Also, Wenger has moved from Napoli to Bayern in a bit of a shock move!

IT IS DONE! De Bruyne has completed his move to Arsenal for an astonishingly low £6.25m. That is the 12th player with 5* potential to join the club and it almost feels overpowered now. Then again, his potential does keep bouncing from 5* to 4.5* but regardless, it was a great move!

So, that is it for our transfers. 8 players in total signed as well as Vargas joining us on contract expiry. Next up is the Community Shield against Newcastle, which I unfortunately don't have time for today but will definitely play tomorrow. I'm really excited to see how a large number of my players grow over time, and I personally think I've done extremely well during this transfer window. If you have something you want to share with me, suggest to me, etc then go ahead and post a reply, I'm always happy to hear feedback. I'll do a transfer summary at the end of the window, but for now I'll see you all tomorrow

With the sudden and delightfully confusing upgrades taking a total of 11 players to 5* potential on top of several 5* potential signings, I've been thinking very hard about who will and who won't fit into the squad. To give you an idea of what I'm worrying about, here's an example of the squad in 4 years time assuming no more signings are made:

GK Szczesny 5*

LB Gibbs 3.5*

LCB Balanta 5*

RCB Casasola - will still be young, but I predict 3.5*

RB Brizuela 5*

LCM Roberto 4.5*

RCM Wilshere 4.5*

LAM De Bruyne 4*

CAM Ozil 5*

RAM Oxlade-Chamberlain 5*

ST Vargas 4*

Considering several players are playing out of position, that looks impressive. But then you look at how many CAM's are in the subs or reserves:

Hughes 4.5* PA

Meyer 5* PA

Palmer 5* PA

Players with that much potential unable to play!? I was thinking that Hughes could play alongside Roberto and Wilshere could move up, as Ozil would be fairly old by then and beginning to decline. Even then, Meyer and Palmer have no spaces in the squad! Both 5* potential! After being listed for loan again, Meyer has gotten upset but with De Bruyne coming into the squad and a surprise lack of ability increase by Meyer, I decided he's better off somewhere else so he can get some gametime. He may be the first to go if any sales are necessary. We appear to have two golden generations coming through into the first team, and this TT&T isn't going to be in segments like the last. There are certain players I want to talk about and the first one is undoubtedly the most exciting prospect in the team: Eric De Francesco.

Eric De Francesco, my £8.5m signing from Boca Juniors is the first player in my fm13&14 experience that I have seen in one of my own career modes to be labelled "a potential world-class left winger". Considering how Ozil, Meyer, Palmer, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wilshere and every other 5* prospect is labelled "a potential premier league star *position*", to have someone go that extra step and be labelled world-class - coupled with his very high technical stats for a teenager - has got me thinking he's potentially the next Ronaldo. That's a big claim, but I think the evidence suggests it. In about 7 years time, when a few players in that previous lineup will be gone and the problem of having too many players won't exist, having him, Palmer, Hughes, Roberto and probably still Oxlade-Chamberlain be in those 5 midfield spots could be the equivalent of what Real Madrid have now with Ronaldo, Isco, Modric, Alonso and Bale. All that's missing is a LB and a striker. Whilst Vargas will be a good striker for years to come, we need a true worldy if we want to reach that Bayern-Barca-Madrid level. I honestly believe that the future generations I currently have, just one season into the game, could reach that level now that our training & youth facilities, junior coaching and youth recruitment are all at max.

Next up is something that I need your opinion on. With Roberto coming into the team on a 2.5* rating at just 22 years old, interest in both Arteta and Flamini is beginning to rise. I don't need all three, especially with Ramsey, Kovacic and Wilshere securing regular football. Who should I sell? I wanted Arteta to tutor Roberto and I would sell Flamini, but oddly enough Roberto is one of the few CM's that Arteta is unable to tutor. So, what do you think I should do? Sell Arteta? Flamini? Loan out Roberto instead?

Here are this report's questions and any answers would be greatly appreciated:

1. What should I do about the abundance of attacking midfielders that will exist for a few years? Should I sell anyone? If so, who? What else could I do about it?

2. Should I sell Arteta or Flamini, with both beginning to decline and a large amount of CM's currently in the team. Should I loan out Roberto for this season instead?

Thanks for reading, please leave any suggestions you have or solutions to those 2 problems in a reply and I'll see you for another update tomorrow

Community Shield: Newcastle 2 - 1 Arsenal

Coloccini 65. Sagna OG 67. - Podolski 15.

A deserved win for Newcastle, as none of my tactics did more than keep possession for a few minutes. I expected that settling some new players into the squad and getting them to gel would take a few months, and that probably had a big part in this game. An hour in, I brought on De Bruyne and Balanta. Neither of them played badly, but I think Balanta playing his first game contributed to this loss. 15 minutes in, Coloccini passed back to Elliot with too much power, the ball bounced off of his hands and Podolski ran in to bury the ball into an empty net. It was our first shot of the game, and from then on we did turn on a bit more - just not enough. We were being dominated on the wings this game, with Taylor often being left unmarked. Just after an hour, Ben Arfa whipped in a free kick from the wing and Coloccini made up for his earlier mistake with a headed goal that left Szczesny with no chance. It only took them 2 minutes to double that lead after Isla's cross found Townsend in the box for a volley that took a wicked deflection off Sagna. From then on, we seemed demotivated and there was no chance of picking up a win here. I know we're just warming up, but I still expect better on the first day of the season.

Ozil is out for just under a month and, with Cazorla also out, we're going to have to trust the younger players to step up. Wilshere can play very well in that CAM position, De Bruyne is a good backup and this gives Roberto and Kovacic a chance to play just behind them. I sold Wellington Silva to Zaragoza for £200k plus incentives, as there is no way he's anywhere near Arsenal quality.

Cardiff 2 - 3 Arsenal

Rodriguez 65. 88. - Giroud 11. 19. 56.

A fantastic start for Giroud, but not a great one for the defense. Cardiff were the overachievers of last season and they proved that they cannot be underestimated, but I didn't expect to concede 2 - especially not from their new signing from Southampton, Jay Rodriguez! 11 minutes in, De Bruyne's pass found Giroud despite a deflection off of Brayford and it was an easy finish for the Golden Boot winner, showing that he is even better this year and going for the award once again. It only took him 8 minutes to volley in a cross from Podolski for the brace. 2-0 at half time, and he completed his hat-trick with a header from Walcott's cross on the 56nd minute. We were cruising, things were great, but they were getting a few chances and they were bound to score at some point. With 65 minutes to go, Brayford found Rodriguez with a ball that I'm not sure if it was meant to be a clearance or a through ball. Either way, Rodriguez managed to bury it despite a good dive from Szczesny that wasn't able to tip it round the post. Szczesny's overall has gone up, and I can already tell that his presence and positioning is much better than it was previously. He seems to have gained a lot of confidence and he's regularly putting strikers under pressure by making himself big in the box, which is great. As the game was coming to a conclusion, Whittingham's corner found Rodriguez at the near post and Szczesny had no chance of saving the 2 or 3 yard header. We managed to come away with a deserved win, and both of Rodriguez's goals were well scored with very little possible that could've stopped them. It's unfortunate, but it didn't cost us any points today and I'll make sure we work on defending set pieces more often. Unfortunately, Podolski did sustain a sprained ankle after falling pretty hard from a rough - but fair - tackle and is going to be out for around a month. Luckily, the timing means that Cazorla can get straight back into the squad with the Ox, De Bruyne and even Ozil all able to fill in on the left wing if needed.

August 19th 2014 TOTW:

GK Manuel Almunia - Watford

LB Ashley Cole - Chelsea

LCB Wes Morgan - Leicester

RCB Ron Vlaar - Aston Villa

RB Cesar Azpilicueta - Chelsea

LM Raheem Sterling - Leicester (don't worry, he's just on loan)

LCM Yacouba Sylla - Aston Villa

RCM Andy King - Leicester

RM Gabby Agbonlahor - Aston Villa

LS Olivier Giroud - Arsenal

RS Libor Kozak - Aston Villa

Kovacic is also out for just over a month, and Meyer is going out on loan to Norwich for the season. To try and solve the problem of having so many CAM's in the future, I let him go with the AM(L) position as the preferred playing position. I'm hoping he'll adjust to it over time and become the next Cazorla - I mean, his ideal role model is Cazorla so it works out well.

Arsenal 1 - 1 Everton

Koscielny 53. - Pienaar 13.

A game that we deserved to win as we created so many more chances than Everton, but we often gave Howard some easy saves with weak or ambitious shots that were always unlikely to go in. In truth, this was a rather boring game because most of the chances for either side were just half-chances. Regardless, we created way more than they did and perhaps should've come away with a win but a draw against last year's 3rd place side who had undoubtedly the best back 4 of the entire season is a decent result - especially considering how many players are settling into the squad. 13 minutes into the game, Stones placed a cross perfectly to Pienaar who was able to blast a shot past Walcott and Szczesny at the far post. Another shot that I wasn't expecting Szczesny to save, and he did make a couple of good saves throughout the game anyway, so I don't blame him. After that, neither side really acted and it was from a Wilshere corner that Koscielny was able to head home the equaliser at the near post. A boring game and a fairly good result, I'm content with that.

To wrap up today's update, I decided to transfer list Flamini after realising that he definitely isn't going to get much - or any - minutes on the pitch due to Roberto's arrival and it's better for him to leave. I also accepted a £2m offer for Diaby from Heerenveen, and I expect that transfer to go through soon. See you all tomorrow for the next update

I'm gonna start this update by going back to the Meyer issue. His ability keeps going between 2* and 2.5*, and it's the drop to 2* at the end of the season that caused me to loan him out. Immediately, he's gone to 2.5* and it was only during a match report that I noticed two things. Firstly, he's been labelled as the next Sebastian Deisler, who I've never heard of but a quick search told me that he had depression and crucial ligament problems leading to a generally disappointing career. Hopefully, Meyer's career is better. Also, he was the runner-up U18s German Player of the Year 2013/14 which I wish I'd known sooner. I'll make sure to check through the major young players and mention any awards they win in TT&T in future.

Champions Cup Group Stage Draw:

Group A

SL Benfica

Olympiakos

Napoli

Young Boys

Group B

FC Bayern

Marseille

Celtic

Besiktas

Group C

Chelsea

Shakhtar Donetsk

Fiorentina

Malaga

Group D

Barcelona

Zenit

Kobenhavn

Everton

Group E

Man Utd

Juventus

Anderlecht

Panathinaikos

Group F

Real Madrid

FC Porto

BATE

Freiburg

Group G

Arsenal

Atletico Madrid

Ajax

AS Monaco FC (group loves teams beginning with A, I guess)

Group H

PSG

Dortmund

Galatasaray

Austria Wien

Our group is probably the closest, with Atletico having one of the deadliest striker partnerships in this save: Leo and Costa. Leo scored 24 goals in 37 apps (most from the bench) last season and attracted masses of attention, I'm surprised no-one snatched him up yet. I have experience with Ajax and it's a team that only gets better over time, with almost their entire starting XI below 23 years old. Monaco is another team that could push us to our limits. They're a team with an average team but several fantastic players like Rodriguez, Moutinho and - of course - the might Falcao.

We've also been drawn against Nottingham Forest in the Capital One Cup 3rd round draw, a match that is just the first step on the way to defending our COC title.

Arsenal 1 - 0 Southampton

Oxlade-Chamberlain 72.

Our defending was expectantly good, and Balanta had a performance that was very close to MoM, just 0.1 behind Koscielny who won the award. After going from control to attacking, we had many more chances but a large amount of our shots were off target, disappointingly. We also managed to completely shut Southampton out of the game and restrict them to a single clear-cut chance, which was straight from kickoff when Lambert hit the bar after being through on goal. Possession was fairly evil all round, but I think that was because they had most of the possession for the first 20 minutes and the rest of the game was spent using our patient tactic, and we hardly let them have a touch. On the 72nd minute, Cazorla's free kick on the wing was headed out to the Ox, who took a heavy touch past a defender and blasted the ball with a whole lot of power into the back of the net after taking a touch from Boruc. It's a win, a 3 points and a bump up into the top 4. I brought Vargas on for Giroud at half time due to a disappointing performance from the Frenchman, but Lovren brought him down after just 14 minutes of game time for Arsenal. He'll be out for just under 2 weeks, and Cazorla was also a victim of Lovren but will be back in just 5 days, likely ready for our next fixture. AWARDS TIME!

BPL Player of the Month (August 2014)

1st. Rafael - Man Utd

2nd. Gary Medel - Cardiff

3rd. Cesar Azpilicueta - Chelsea

BPL Player of the Month (August 2014)

1st. Raheem Sterling - Leicester

2nd. Luke Shaw - Southampton

3rd. Michael Keane - Wigan

BPL Manager of the Month (August 2014)

1st. Harry Redknapp - Newcastle

2nd. David Moyes - Man Utd

3rd. Paul Lambert - Aston Villa

Despite my mass signings so far this season, I decided to make two final signings, both transfer listed, both bargains, both for different reasons. Firstly, I signed Jason Steele for just under £1m as he's already a 2.5* keeper with a 3.5* potential and is likely to be a good backup keeper for a few years to come. Should Szczesny get injured, we would've had literally no goalkeepers unless we signed one. For less than a million, this is a bargain. The second one is the fourth transfer listed bargain and possibly the biggest of them all: Bojan for £2m. Although he only has 4* potential rather than 4.5* like I thought he would, he's still a good backup or at least someone to make a profit off of. I sold Joel Campbell to Everton for £3m, which is almost as much of a bargain considering his 4* potential but since Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain will dominate that side for years to come, he was never gonna have a spot in the squad.

Transfer Roundup:

Incoming

Shaqiri to Man City from Bayern Munich for £37m

Criscito to Man Utd from Zenit for £27.5m

Cuadrado to Man Utd from Fiorentina & Udinese for £25.5m

Pedro to Tottenham from Barcelona for £25m

Peruzzi to Chelsea from Catania for £18.5m

Asamoah to Man Utd from Juventus for £14m

Outgoing

Benteke to PSG from Aston Villa for £15.5m

Sigurdsson to Real Madrid from Tottenham for £15.5m

Borini to Bayern from Liverpool for £13.75m

Nani to Napoli from Man Utd for £10.75m

Schneiderlin to Dortmund from Southampton for £9.75m

Marin & Essien to Atletico Madrid from Chelsea for a combined £14.25m

Other interesting transfers were Khedira to PSG for £17.75m, Lewandowski signing a contract with Barcelona just after his contract expired and Verratti to Barcelona for £20m. There were a lot of bargain transfers for aging players and quite a few BPL squads reinvented themselves, but I couldn't mention all of them. You'll see as we go through the matches.

Hopefully all that transfer goodness will makeup for the lack of matches, but I stayed up way too late and put myself at risk of the wrath of my dad to get this much for you. I'm gonna pick up my Milan (or Arsenal, I actually can't remember tbh, both the teams I support) phone case tomorrow as well as a couple of other bits so gotta be in bed "early" anyway. I'll see you all tomorrow for another update. Bye for now

I apologise for the lack of updates recently, last week was half term so I had a ton of time to update but now that I'm back at school, got homework going on, just did my mock maths tests and now I've taken a knock on my right ankle and can't walk for probably a couple of days. That last one isn't an excuse, but meh, worth a shot . I've also been really enjoying playing as MU on a save in my spare time, and I wanted to take a break from Arsenal. I won't be updating today, but I'll try to start updating again starting tomorrow. The save is becoming really exciting, don't think I've lost interest, I just have more interest in other saves and FIFA at the moment and - as I previously said - I will only upload if I enjoy it, that's the point. I share these experiences with all of you so that you can enjoy it like I do. I hope you can all forgive me, and I honestly do think about it a lot and feel guilty when I forget to or am unable to update. I should be updating tomorrow, cya then

Ozil has returned from injury, which is great! But Koscielny picked up an injury for just over month during training. This means that Balanta is going to get a chance to prove himself and perhaps play besides Koscielny over Mertesacker once the injury has subsided. Wilshere also picked up an injury during an international game for England against Romania (which they actually lost 2-1). It's only for a week, which doesn't sound like much, but we have a huge game against Manchester City up next and the loss of Wilshere might hit us hard. Injuries and returns are being thrown at us, and Vargas is the final one before the game who has returned and will be on the bench during the City game.

Manchester City 5 - 1 Arsenal

Dzeko 9. Kompany 13. Leiva 53. Balanta OG 57. Silva 69. - Giroud 77.

An absolutely annihilation from Man City, and honestly this is more like the result I expect at the Etihad. Whilst I wanted to get at least a point from this game, the entire team played atrociously and we deserved this humiliating result. Within just 9 minutes, Silva's corner delivery found Dzeko at the far post for an easy header. It only just four minutes for Kompany to double the lead from another corner at the same post, except the ball came in from the other side. At half time, I thought we might be able to salvage a result considering we were only 2-0 down, neither were from open play and we had buckled down defensively after that. However, the second half was even worse and on the 53rd minute, Silva found Leiva at the edge of the box who placed an admittedly great shot into the bottom corner and Szczesny's vision was blocked by a wave of players in the way that the ball sneaked past. Again, 4 minutes later, Silva's cross hit Balanta in the face and went in. He didn't attempt to head it clear or anything, which makes me think something had distracted him or the animation had just glitched out. Whatever happened, it wasn't a great start for Balanta who was filling in for Koscielny. Silva rounded off an amazing game - which included 4 assists (if you count the OG) at this point - when a counter resulted in Aguero giving him the ball and he slotted it in at the near post with incisive accuracy. We managed to pull one back with a Giroud header from Ox's delivery, but it did nothing more than ruin their clean sheet and give Giroud yet another goal on the tally. 8 points in 4 games isn't bad, but it isn't great. We got hammered today, and we must bounce back.

Champions Cup Group Stage: Ajax 1 - 2 Arsenal

Ozbiliz 63. - Giroud 1. 75.

A game that involved a lot of clinical finishing, good defending and luck on our behalf. We had less possession and fewer shots on target, but our counter-attacks were sharp and the time we did have on the ball was used to full effect. We didn't play particularly well on the attack, but Giroud took it upon himself to get us the win. Within 17 seconds, Ramsey lobbed the ball to Giroud who took a midair touch to take the ball round the defender with skill that was much better than his -- dribbling and slotted the ball into the empty net. That goal became the new Arsenal record for the fastest goal scored in a match, and it only makes sense that Giroud would score it considering the form he's on. The rest of the game was pretty boring aside from a couple of weak chances for either side, and just after an hour had passed van Rhijn played Ozbiliz through on goal and - despite a fingertip save from Szczesny - the ball went into the near post corner for the equaliser. Straight from that goal, we did seem a bit more ambitious and were successful in upping the tempo as Cazorla ran passed two defenders and crossed the ball into Giroud for an easy header. Giroud has gone from an efficient striker to playing like you'd expect a legend of the club to play: he scores goals whenever he wants to. If he had been at the club for longer, I might consider giving him a coaching job at shooting, but he isn't really a club legend so I probably won't.

Aston Villa 1 - 2 Arsenal

Bent 76. - Giroud 59. Wilshere 80(pen).

A game of one half and, again, we were clinical on the attack. If you look at the stats for a lot of our games, it looks like we got lucky because we seem to struggle to keep possession during some games, but our finishing is deadly. We had 8 less shots and a little less possession today, but when we had our chances we managed to bury enough of them for the win. Just before the hour mark, Balanta was holding up play and played a RIDICULOUS 50-ish yard ball to Giroud who broke free of the defense and scored an easy one-on-one. It was a phenomenal ball for any player, let alone a defender, and I was so happy about that. In fact, he picked up the player of the match award because of that and some decent defending and I think Wilshere actually deserved it due to his ability to pull off some great stabbing passes today, but I have no objection to the young CB getting it. In the last 15 minutes of the game, some poor marking and lack of pressure resulted in Sylla playing Bent through on goal and he finished it quite well, actually. Not just any normal shot, but a placed, power shot. Just four minutes later, Ramsey gave the ball to Walcott with an accurate chip over a defender waiting to intercept and Walcott's pace resulted in a poor tackle by Nathan Baker and a penalty to win the game. Wilshere, the 22 year-old beast who I'm seriously considering giving the captaincy to next season, stepped up confidently and sent the keeper the wrong way to bury the ball in the top-right corner. Three points away from home, which is much needed as it propels us from 10th to 4th (for now - most fixtures have yet to be played).

After most of the results being played, we drop to 6th with Newcastle and Southampton able to push us down further should either of them win. 5 games in (unless stated otherwise), here's the top 5 and bottom 5:

1st. Chelsea 12p

2nd. Man City 11p

3rd. Leicester 10p - 4 games played

4th. Aston Villa 10p

5th. Man United 10p

-----------------------

16th. Liverpool 3p - 4 games played

17th. Wigan 3p

18th. Stoke 2p

19th. Sunderland 1p

20th. Crystal Palace 1p - 4 games played

That's all for today, I'll see you all tomorrow for three home games, firstly COC game against Nottingham Forest, then a game against Sunderland and finally a game against Atletico Madrid in the second game of the Champions Cup Group Stage. I'll see you all then

Strangely - although perhaps expectantly - many players have had their ability and/or potential lowered. Ozil has gone down from 5* to 4*, Cazorla from 4.5* to 3.5* and loads of potentials going down. These potentials are still impressive, with many 4* or 4.5*, but several players such as Oxlade-Chamberlain and Szczesny have had their 5* potential removed. I guess it's more realistic than having a full 5* team, but it caught me by surprise. However, Oxlade-Chamberlain has already gone up to a 3.5* star player for the club at 21 years old - the equivalent of Cazorla or Walcott. I'm impressed by this and just this one change alone almost makes up for it considering that loads of 4.5* potentials is still great. In fact, there is now only one player at the club with a 5* potential. Not surprisingly, it's Eric De Francesco, who I personally label as the next Ronaldo. I might change that label to a different world-class winger after seeing more of him, but for now it's best to stay safe with the cliche "next Ronaldo".

Capital One Cup 3rd Round: Arsenal 2 - 1 Nottingham Forest

Balanta 70. Bojan 84. - Keogh 4.

I was almost screaming at the screen during this game, as it was one that we absolutely dominated (as expected) but only just managed to clinch a win from in the last 6 minutes. After just 4 minutes, I conceded the unluckiest and most ridiculous goal I've ever conceded. After just 4 minutes, Szczesny came out to the edge of the box before giving the ball away to the opposition with an awful goal kick, but I thought we'd be find because he took a touch that gave Szczesny enough time to get back on the line. But nope, at that very second, Szczesny fell to the floor clinching his chest because him kicking the ball away had given him a bruised rib. RIB. Not an ankle injury from kicking or straining, but a RIB injury. OK THEN. LOGIC. Needless to say, Keogh smashed the ball into an empty net with a shot that was so bad it almost missed, but didn't quite because it wouldn't knowing my luck. It took all the way until the 70th minute to score an equaliser when Cazorla's corner found the feet of Balanta who slotted the ball in at the near post after the keeper was positioned ready to save a header at the far post. Looking at the replay, it's hard to decide whether the keeper's anticipation was poor, I got lucky or Cazorla meant to do that. Regardless, I was happy. On the 79th minute, Nottingham Forest had a penalty appeal ignored after Vermaelen and Keogh clashed in the air and several teammates felt as though Vermaelen had been too aggressive with his header attempt. If he was, then it wasn't shown by the match engine so I can't give my opinion on it. With just 6 minutes to go, Cazorla's cross found Bojan at the far post who headed it in for the winner. I was delighted that he scored on his debut despite it being a cup game, and I may give him more opportunities. Szczesny's out for just under a week, and he'll be on the bench during the Sunderland game with Steele being given an opportunity. This'll be interesting.

The draw for the COC 4th round hasn't been kind, matching us against Manchester City, at the Etihad. That'll be a very difficult fixture, and we'll need to stay strong to make sure we retain the COC.

Arsenal 4 - 1 Sunderland

Giroud 6. 82. Cazorla 25. Oxlade-Chamberlain 70. - Giaccherini 2.

A great result, and a decent debut for Steele. I wasn't feeling very confident after he conceded a goal just 2 minutes into the game, but after that he buckled down and made about 8 saves throughout the entire game. That's decent for a 2* keeper on his Premier League debut. In fact, his rating was 7.0 which is higher than a lot of keeper ratings I've seen in this game who keep clean sheets. After just 2 minutes, Fletcher picked out Giaccherini's well-timed run and he was rapid considering his high fitness early on in the game. Because of pressure, he was forced to shoot prematurely on his left into the near post, but his power surprised Steele as much as it surprised me and, despite a good attempt to dive for it, it managed to find it's way in. Steele could've done better there, but I feel like he couldn't have done much better. It only took 4 minutes for Gibbs to sprint down the left hand side and whip in a perfect cross for Giroud that floated over the Sunderland defense and straight to Giroud for a first touch finish on his left foot. We pressured for the rest of the game and had many chances, and 25 minutes into the game Gibbs fed Cazorla a well-timed ball and he buried it. It was nicely done of Gibbs to notice that Santi was onside because the defender that was meant to be marking him had come forward thinking he was offside, while the rest of the line kept him onside. The game was 2-1 at halftime but I felt like we deserved more, honestly. After 70 minutes, Ramsey fed a great ball through to Oxlade-Chamberlain with just enough chip on it to prevent any sliding interceptions and the Ox could've buried the ball with his eyes closed. We rounded off the game when a fantastic Tiki-Taka style first-touch passing display between Wilshere, Cazorla and Ozil led to a sudden ball to Gibbs with the overlapping run and he finished the game exactly how he started it: with a perfect cross to Giroud for a first-touch left footed finish. A brace for the incredible Giroud, three assists for Gibbs and a great result for the team. Just before the game, Rosicky came out and said that we needed a good result to ensure I was safely in the driving seat of this club, which is ridiculous for two reasons: 1. It's unfair to judge a manager until around 8 games in due to how even the worst teams can be at the top for the first 5 or 6 and 2. Because we've picked up 13 points from 6 games, only dropping 5. It isn't fantastic but it's a fairly good start. Rosicky, you don't have the right to criticise a club that dropped you from the squad - especially since no-one is interested in you as a free agent (which, admittedly, is unfair to him).

Champions League Group Stage: Arsenal 1 - 0 Atletico

Giroud 34.

I was surprised that we were tipped as the overwhelming underdogs for this game, and I was determined to show the pundits that they were wrong. When we travel to Spain, it might be different. However, today we thrashed them and were unlucky to get just one goal today. With 10 shots on target, clearly Courtois replacement Guaita had a great game. 34 minutes into the game, Mertesacker's clearance became a through ball to Giroud who scored undoubtedly the best goal of this entire career so far when he chested it down, let it bounce and smashed it on the half volley over Guaita who had come off his line from 25 yards. It was the kind of goal that only the technique of a legend would be able to score, and that's what Giroud is quickly becoming at the club. Arteta picked up an injury just before half time, but come the end of the game he had healed and is available for the next game. A fantastic goal and a great result for the club!

30th September 2014 TOTW:

GK Tim Krul - Newcastle

LB Keiran Gibbs - Arsenal

LCB Dan Burn - Stoke

RCB Steven Caulker - Cardiff

RB Chris Gunter - Cardiff

LM Piotr Trochowski - Southampton

LCM Andy King - Leicester

RCM Aaron Ramsey - Arsenal

RM Xherdan Shaqiri - Man City

LS Olivier Giroud - Arsenal

RS Sergio Aguero - Man City

BPL Player of the Month (September 2014)

1st. Oscar - Chelsea

2nd. Lucas Leiva - Liverpool

3rd. Zabaleta - Man City

BPL Young Player of the Month (September 2014)

1st. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - Arsenal

2nd. Romelu Lukaku - Chelsea

3rd. Wilfried Zaha - Swansea

BPL Manager of the Month (September 2014)

1st. Jose Mourinho of Chelsea

2nd. Andre Villas-Boas of Man City

3rd. Michael Laudrup of Tottenham

Arsenal 2 - 1 Swansea

Ozil 64. Walcott 72. - Michu 45.

We were fairly lucky to win here, as Swansea had more chances and slightly more possession but a combination of poor finishing and good goalkeeping kept us in the game. Just as half time was approaching, a quick counter led to Dyer sprinting down the wing and crossing the ball into Michu who jumped up extremely high and powered in an accurate, powerful header to the far post that was never going to be saved. We responded in the second half and 64 minutes in, a great bit of passing play between Walcott, Kovacic and Jenkinson led to Bojan feeding the ball through to Ozil for an easy finish from around 8 yards. With a fire now in our bellies, Jenkinson picked out Walcott with an accurate pass and he buried it with great composure into the far post to give us the lead. We had fought hard for it, and for about 20 minutes we were dominant - it still didn't make up for a poor performance throughout most of the game, though. On the very last second of the game, Mertesacker had the ball stolen from his feet by Pozuelo but the Swansea man took the shot way too early despite having time to prepare himself and we managed to pull off a narrow 2-1 win. We're on a roll!

Koscielny has returned from injury and will be available for the home game against Watford, which we probably wouldn't need him for but it's nice to have him back. Update: Koscielny and Gibbs both picked up injuries whilst training during international duty. Second time in a row for Koscielny, brilliant. They'll both be out for around a month. Update 2: Vermaelen also picked up an injury and will be out for 2 months. Our defense is barely able to hold on at the moment; any more injuries and we're screwed.

That's all for this update, I wanted to get a mega update out to you all for missing the last two days, but numerous distractions like food and hygiene (damn things) meant I couldn't. I'll be back tomorrow if it kills me, and I'll try to get a slightly bigger update again tomorrow to compensate. Bye for now

I like your updates Weird to see Chesny went down after goal kick which led Leicester scoring

You're picking up good results away from home

I like your updates Weird to see Chesny went down after goal kick which led Leicester scoring

You're picking up good results away from home

Thanks! Nottingham Forest, not Leicester (sorry, OCD) and yeah, it was hilarious and infuriating at the same time. I agree - despite the Etihad disaster - and that form will need to continue because the next 4 games are away. I was thinking about doing a Monaco and/or Roma story because I don't see any major ones, but I'd have to do an update every 9 league games for each of the 2 or 3 saves and release them all at the same time, which would take much longer. What do any of you think? I'm hugely grateful for the support, we hit 1200 views not long ago and thanks to everyone for that, but would any of you like to see 2 or 3 careers with much larger - but much less often - updates? Just a question for y'all

I've decided that I will do a Monaco career mode, but I'll update the season in 5 large chunks for the transfer window & first 3 league games and then 4 updates of 9 league games (cup games between included). I'll still be doing regular updates for this career, but that's something to watch out for and you'll see that after the transfer window

Sorry for no update recently, but my reasoning behind it is that I used the time to start a Monaco career mode! So, if I ever miss a day, it's probably because of that and there's no need to worry. The Monaco updates will be coming in large chunks: 5 per season, to be precise. So they won't be daily, for sure. Anyway, let's get back into this.

Arsenal 4 - 0 Watford

Oxlade-Chamberlain 6. 18. Wilshere 20. Sagna 75.

After some incredible form for England from Oxlade-Chamberlain and Wilshere - including an Ox hat-trick - I decided to play the two of them over Ozil and Walcott, with great results. I was surprised to see that Watford had Danny Ings in their side, who has been incredible irl this season, but clearly not as good in game (or he just can't handle BPL football). Within 6 minutes, Ox proved that he is one of the best players on the team right now when Sagna crossed the ball in towards Wilshere who flicked it on with a midair backheel (it seemed like) to Oxlade-Chamberlain who volleyed in an easy chance. A great start to the game, and Ox wasn't done yet. 12 minutes later, Podolski found Alex at the far post for exactly the same goal without the middle man. Currently, Ox is rated as 3.5* - the same as Cazorla, Koscielny, Ramsey, etc. In fact, only two players have a 4* rating in the team, Wilshere and Ozil. At the age of 21, I don't know why he only has a 4* potential when he's already proving to be a fantastic player. Two minutes after his brace, Ox dribbled easily past two defenders and crossed the ball into Wilshere who chested it down, cool as you like, in the box and finished it at the near post. An English hat-trick for the lads within 20 minutes, and the game was basically over. Despite having 4 defenders injured (Monreal picked up an international injury and will be out for just over a week) the defense played well, considering I had Sagna on the left and Jenkinson and the right. With 15 minutes left in the game, Oxlade-Chamberlain picked up his second assist of the game with a low corner that fell straight to Sagna for the first time finish at the near post. Whilst Sagna picked up a 9.2, Ox deserved the PoM award with 2 goals, 2 assists and a 9.6 rating. Truly magnificent for the lad.

Champions Cup Group Stage: Monaco 1 - 2 Arsenal

Falcao 64. - Walcott 38. 61.

A close game that could've gone either way, but Walcott ensured we picked up the victory. After some awful fitness issues, I had to completely swap the team around, with only 1 out of 6 midfield & attack players being the same in the form of Sergi Roberto. After a brace for Alex last game, Theo went and picked one up too! Our right wingers dominate for us, and I'm not complaining. After a great tackle from Roberto (I'm specifically working on that) Kovacic picked up the ball and fed Walcott with a great through ball. He was one on one with the keeper, who had come out slightly and made his presence known, but Walcott picked his spot and buried it at the far post. We went in 1-0 up at half time, and just after the hour mark, Ozil found Walcott with a similar through ball and he buried it on his left with a great deal of power. Falcao pulled one back for Monaco 3 minutes later after a great Ricardo Rodriguez cross found his found for a powerful header that went in off Szczesny, but they were unable to get anymore and the game ended 2-1. A good win away from home against some quality players, and our morale is sky high. On top of that, Monreal is set to return and the injury countdown on other defenders is ticking down.

Before our next game against Stoke, I signed Oxlade-Chamberlain and Balanta to new, 5-year contracts. Following a fantastic vein of form, Ox agreed a £90k per week deal with £26m in total. As well as that, Balanta agreed a £50k per week that will see him reach his peak before needing a new one; this contract being worth £13m.

Stoke 0 - 0 Arsenal

A very bore draw, with no notable highlights included. Seriously, that was it. Neither team played well at any stage of the game, and neither deserved more than a point. Sorry to say this, but there's really nothing more to it and nothing more in include in this report. I feel like a win against Stoke would've been great, but a draw against one of my main bogey teams away from home is... acceptable. We currently stand a point behind Chelsea, although they have a game in hand. Man City's +18 goal difference also means they could leapfrog us and push us down to third, but it's early days. Who knows what'll happen?

So that's all for today, tomorrow we have a fairly casual update with a variety of challenges starting with Man City at the Etihad in the COC 4th round, then an away game against the re-promoted Wigan finished off with the home game against Monaco in the CC group stage. Be sure to check out the first update of the Monaco series, and I will mention it on here when I post an update for it. Have a nice night, and I'll cya all tomorrow

I'm gonna start this update off by apologising for the lack of an update on Friday but I didn't have enough time between getting home and my niece getting here to do one, and babysitting my niece came first, obviously. As for yesterday, I have no excuse, I just got really tied up in a Southampton career mode on FIFA where I've built an epic team and completely forgot about doing an update. Anyway, I'm back now and let's get right into the update.

So, I'll start this update with an update (shocking) on the direction of this career. I sat and thought for a while about whether or not I wanted to accept this, and I eventually decided I would. The board offered me a 4 year deal on £115k per week to remain the Arsenal manager and I decided it was best, as I feel that the future of Arsenal is very bright after all the signings I made recently. Leaving now would put Arsenal in a strong position with a manager who has no idea of the background or management style I use, meaning the potential that we have could be wasted. For this reason, and this reason alone - I would be interested in a job elsewhere in Europe otherwise - I decided to accept the offer. At the end of this contract, I might leave for another club if a good enough offer is made or a club I'm interested in is available, at which point I would continue the career in another thread.

Luckily, Monreal has returned from injury and might be at full fitness for the COC game against City at the Etihad. I don't expect a win, as they have a great team and at home they're unstoppable but a draw would be great, as I feel much more confident at the Emirates. Monreal returning would give us a better chance than having Balanta on the left, as then Sagna has to play in the centre.

A HUGE hit to us that will force some major problems this season. Szczesny seems to have picked up a hip injury and will be out for 2 months - even whilst being treated by a specialist. Jason Steele isn't a terrible keeper, but up against the stars of the Premier League, the defense will need to help him out. I have faith that he can become an excellent backup and as good as Szczesny is now, but he is never going to be the starting keeper (from what I can tell about him) and this is a worry. Despite some inconsistent performances from Szczesny, he's recently started to find his form only to pick up an injury. Damn. Update: To make matters worse, I just realised that Steele is cup tied so I actually have to play U18's goalkeeper Derek Ballard - 3 silver stars. Holy crap, this is bad. Our entire team has to compensate for this, or our season is gone in the blink of an eye.

Capital One Cup 4th Round: Man City 2 - 1 Arsenal

Dzeko 70. Ambrose 113. - Oxlade-Chamberlain 26.

A surprisingly close result that I am honestly quite happy with. We went to the Etihad with a debuting teenage goalkeeper that was no-where near the standard of the team and we managed to force City to an extra time goal from a youngster I am extremely interested in. I nearly signed him on a free transfer at the beginning of the season, only for him to choose City over us when it came down to the wire. No-one had a particularly bad game, and I felt like we did as well as we could've today. After 26 minutes, Oxlade-Chamberlain stole the ball from Rodwell at the halfway line, fed it to Vargas who held up play and played it back to Ox for an easy, placed finish. We managed to hold this lead all the way to the 70th minute and I had gone onto contain following numerous chances for Shaqiri and Dzeko, but I couldn't hold them back forever and Silva's corner found Dzeko in the box for a powerful header that Ballard was never saving. I doubt Szczesny would've saved that. Honestly, I doubt Neuer would've. With just 7 minutes left to go until penalties, Shaqiri was looking for a pass when saw Ambrose at the far post and crossed it to him for the winner. Ballard attempted to save the initial cross, which almost went in, but wasn't quite able to and Thierry Ambrose was left with an open net. An unfortunate loss and we aren't able to retain the COC, but we still performed well considering the circumstance. After that game, Ballard became technically the youngest player to ever play for Arsenal at 16 years and 83 days old. Kind of annoying, since I always expected that record to go to a extremely promising youngster rather than someone that was forced to play. Then again, he did have a good game and made plenty of saves. The two goals he did concede were goals he had no chance of doing anything about.

AWARDS TIME!

BPL Player of the Month (October 2014)

1st. Eden Hazard - Chelsea

2nd. Juan Mata - Chelsea

3rd. Willian - Chelsea

BPL Young Player of the Month (October 2014)

1st. Alvarez Balanta - Arsenal (I saw the headline and was sure it was Ox, but BALANTA!? I guess it's harder to tell when defenders play well.)

2nd. Romelu Lukaku - Chelsea

3rd. Raheem Sterling - Liverpool

BPL Manager of the Month (October 2014)

1st. Jose Mourinho - Chelsea

2nd. Andre Villas-Boas - Man City

3rd. Jack Clark - Arsenal

Wigan 1 - 2 Arsenal

McManaman 85. - Giroud 19. 58.

In an action packed game full of chances for both sides, we manage to come away with an expected win away against newly re-promoted Wigan. They had a lot more possession and created chances with it against a completely exhausted defense but their finishing was poor to say the least, whereas we were able to hit them on the counter a lot but often snatched at chances. 19 minutes into the game, Wilshere ran down the left land side of the box and put in an inch perfect low cross for Giroud to finish on his near post, very similar to the goals that Arsenal had been scoring regularly in the first half of the season irl. Despite a catalog of chances for both sides, it was only 1-0 at half time. As the hour mark approached, Cazorla took a pass from Wilshere and fed it over the to of the defense to Giroud with a first time chip pass that Giroud controlled, ran with and slotted into the far post. As reliable as Giroud was last season, he's even more so this season so far and it's been almost entirely his determination and goalscoring prowess that has kept us in some games. Unfortunately, they did get a consolation goal when a failed corner led to a Wigan counter and Holt crossed the ball well to McManaman at the far post who was always going to get the better of Steele there. This result has seen us move up to second on goal difference behind Chelsea, with Man City able to leapfrog both of us should they beat Watford away (which they are huge favourites to win). I'll show the table after the other results have been played, as a fair few teams have yet to play.

BPL Top 5 & Bottom 5 after 10 games:

1st. Man City 24p

2nd. Chelsea 23p

3rd. Arsenal 23p

4th. Aston Villa 18p

5th. Man Utd 17p

----------------------

16th. Swansea 9p

17th. Stoke 8p

18th. Wigan 8p

19th. Sunderland 8p

20th. Crystal Palace 7p

The return of our defense is beginning after news that Koscielny and Gibbs have both returned from injury and will be at full fitness shortly after the Monaco game.

4th November 2014 TOTW:

4-2-2-2 (ish, trying to work with the team)

GK Tim Howard - Everton

LB Domenico Criscito - Man City

LCB Dan Burn - Stoke

RCB Nicolas Nkoulou - Man City

RB Billy Jones - Swansea

LM Juan Arango - Cardiff

LAM Rickie Lambert - Southampton

RAM Landon Donovan - Southampton

LS Olivier Giroud - Arsenal

RS Wilfried Bony - Swansea

Surprisingly, Steele has improved in ability to a 2.5* and Szczesny has decreased, meaning that the two of them are level on ability! Although, Szczesny has much higher potential and is the better keeper, it's just that the star system means players slightly worse than others come in the same group. Nevertheless, it means that Steele can be considered reliable inbetween the sticks.

Champions Cup Group Stage: Arsenal 4 - 5 Monaco

Podolski 9. Oxlade-Chamberlain 34. Giroud 59. 82. - Falcao 14. 77. 84. 90+5. Diouf 87.

An absolutely incredible game for neutrals that ended in a deserved win for AS Falcao - I mean AS Monaco. But seriously, after going 4-2 up with 8 minutes left, a win was guaranteed, right? NOPE. Falcao and Diouf turned on the skill and scored three within 11 minutes left including injury time. It was an awful game for both goalkeepers, but both offenses showed their worth and Monaco did just about deserve to win in the end with 2 more shots on target throughout the game. After just 9 minutes, De Bruyne played Giroud through on goal and he passed back to Podolski for an easy sweaty goal. It only took 5 minutes for Diouf to find Falcao with a great ball and the world class striker took it with a world class volley to equalise. Both sides were then quiet for a long time, until Ramsey picked out Ox's run for an easy, placed finish. We went in 2-1 up and I felt like we had to go for it and get another goal before we felt safe. That's exactly what we did, and just before the hour mark Podolski's shot was saved, bounced around between several defenders and ended up in the back of the net after a tap in from Giroud. With just 30 minutes to go, I certainly didn't expect to see another 5 goals. Even more so, I didn't think we would only score one of them. With 13 minutes to go, Monaco were sharp on the counter and Falcao's one-two with Ocampos resulted in Falcao pulling one back and giving them hope. 5 minutes later, Giroud silenced the away fans when Roberto found De Bruyne in the box who stopped the ball to trick a rushing defender and passed to Giroud for an easy finish on his right foot. I was confident in a win, but Monaco astonished everyone with what they did next. Almost immediately, Falcao responded by completing his hat-trick when a cross from Rajtoral found Falcao who's initial shot was saved but he was able to bury it with his second attempt. Another three minutes later, Kondogbia found Ocampos who had his shot saved only for Diouf to score another rebound goal and equalise for the second time today. I was furious, but I was willing to accept a draw because I did feel like they deserved at least a point. As the game came to a close and what I thought was the highlight of the last 30 seconds was playing, Steele came way to far out of his goal for the goal kick and walked very slowly back onto the line giving Diouf enough time to control the ball, pass it to Falcao and then for him to take two touches before firing the ball perfectly over Steele from 31 yards. It was a magical moment for Monaco, but I couldn't believe it and I do felt like we should've gotten a point - no more - out of that game.

That's been all, I hope you enjoyed today's update and I'll see you tomorrow

Hey everyone, I had planned to release an update today but I just sat down to do the next few matches thinking I could battle through a migraine but I realise I just can't. I feel really bad because I was determined to end the inconsistency today so for this to happen now is really annoying. Over the last couple of weeks, I've been really inconsistent and not put much into FM after becoming addicted to FIFA again so I feel like I owe all of you so much more than this scrappy, one-update-per-whenever style I've adopted. I really want to just buckle down and get through the 3 matches but in the couple of minutes it took me to write this, I already feel awful. I hope you all understand and I'm sorry that I let you down I will see you all tomorrow

Actually, forget that! My mum doesn't seem to think I can push through it but I think otherwise and you guys all deserve it!

Arsenal 5 - 2 Liverpool

Cazorla 3. Giroud 6. Ozil 57. Oxlade-Chamberlain 59. 62. - Suarez 12. Koscielny OG 85.

A great result against an inexplicably 15th placed Liverpool and a great way to bounce back from the 5-4 defeat against AS Falcao. Our performance was very impressive (even Steele had a 7.0 which was the lowest in the team), and there was no way we were containing Suarez for the whole game. Oxlade-Chamberlain continues to show why he is 3.5* and an incredible prospect for the future. Just three minutes in, Wilshere picked out Cazorla on the run who buried the ball first time past Mignolet. Another 3 minutes later, Cazorla picked out Giroud with a perfect cross after we crossed play through some Barca style football (which was all we did today, we looked so confident on the ball it was unreal) and he got up high to double the lead with a header. Suarez then pegged one back 6 minutes later by volleying in a cross from Yarmolenko at the near post. It was 2-1 at half time but I felt confident in a win because the entire team was working hard and passing beautifully. 57 minutes in, a Liverpool throw-in resulted in Shawcross heading the ball to Giroud by accident who headed it down to Ozil who rifled it into the far post on his left foot with a volley. The shot looked odd, like he scissor kicked the air to get height and his technique was great. A mere two minutes later, Cazorla faked a shot from a free kick and instead passed to Wilshere, who picked out Oxlade-Chamberlain who absolutely smashed the ball into the top corner with his first-time shot. I knew that Ox had the skills, but now the power to match? It only took 3 minutes for him to double his goals when Cazorla searched for a pass, lifted the ball with a perfect chip to Ox who chested it down, let it bounce and then did a shot animation I've never seen before - he twisted his body in order to place the ball. He didn't just strike it, he put all of his momentum into the mid-air ball to get the perfect connection and it was placed absolutely immaculately. They were able to get another back when Ibe's cross found Sturridge inside the box but the ball appeared to bounce of Koscielny instead, who was marking him, and into the net for what was later decided an own goal rather than Sturridge's with a deflection. An amazing result that I personally feel is one of the best games my Arsenal side have ever played (I know we're only just over a season into it but still). Ox narrowly beat Cazorla to the MoM award, with the same rating but two goals that just inched him ahead. I have no doubt that he will go higher than 4*.

11th November 2014 TOTW:

GK Hugo Lloris - Tottenham

LB Ben Davies - Swansea

LCB Nicolas Nkoulou - Man City

RCB John Terry - Chelsea

RCB Billy Jones - Swansea

LM Santi Cazorla - Arsenal

LCM Jack Wilshere - Arsenal

RCM Juan Mata - Chelsea (obviously, this career started before the update)

RM Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - Arsenal

LS Chris Wood - Leicester

RS Wilfried Bony - Swansea

That's all, I know it's just one match but what a match it is! The reason I couldn't do more is both the migraine and time constraints, any more time and my brain might explode! I'll see you all again tomorrow, bye for now

I'm gonna start this update off with an interesting managerial appointment. AC Milan fired Alberto Malesani because of their awful 10th place position and replaced him with Ajax and Milan legend Marco van Basten! A very interesting choice for the Rossoneri.

Tottenham 1 - 2 Arsenal

Pedro 19. - Giroud 6. Oxlade-Chamberlain 33.

An impressive game and a deserved three points in the first of two North London Derbies in the BPL. The fans are pleased about getting one over Spurs and I'm pleased that Ox continues his form as the European Golden Ball is upon us and he is considered in the 4 most likely winners. 6 minutes into the game, Ozils corner floated all the way to the far post for Giroud who headed home an impressive header that Lloris couldn't quite tip wide. I was surprised to see that Pedro moved to Spurs from Barca, bit of a downgrade, eh? We totally don't have any attacking midfielders that made surprise moves to lower clubs Anyway, I knew he would be a threat throughout the game and he did equalise on the 19th minute after Dembele played him through, he looked up to pick our a pass but instead dribbled past two defenders with a burst of pace and slotted the ball past Steele. I definitely felt like he could've at least tipped that wide but Pedro did strike from out of nowhere. 33 minutes in, Ox scored what proved to be the winner after Ozil played him through for an easy finish into the top corner. His movement and composure is very impressive and I have no doubt that he'll become a club legend if he continues like this.

25th November 2014 TOTW:

GK Petr Cech - Chelsea

LB Ryan Bertrand - Chelsea

LCB Chris Smalling - Man Utd

RCB Nemanja Vidic - Man Utd

RB Gino Peruzzi - Chelsea

LM Shane Ferguson - Newcastle

LCM Ivan Rakitic - Man Utd

RCM Mesut Ozil - Arsenal

RM Willian - Chelsea

LS Loic Remy - Newcastle

RS Robin van Persie - Man Utd

Champions Cup Group Stage: Arsenal 3 - 0 Ajax

De Bruyne 25. Wilshere 80. Ozil 90+2.

A win that guarantees top of the group with 12 points and 1 game left. We absolutely dominated Ajax and thoroughly deserved the win. It's great that De Bruyne was able to pick up a goal, and everyone on the team performed very well other than Vargas, who I gave a chance over Giroud. 25 minutes in, Walcott sprinted down the right wing and his cross found De Bruyne at the near post for a simple header from just a couple of yards. We could've scored many more goals in the first half, but it ended 1-0 and it took until the last 10 minutes to score again. In the absence of a Cazorla injured just 22 minutes prior, Wilshere stepped up to take the free kick - in a great position for a left footed striker - and buried it easily with a great curve. As the game was coming to a close, the whole team pulled off a fantastic bit of first touch passing in the box, setting up Walcott for a first time cross to Ozil who buried it easily at the far post. A great win against a young Ajax side that simply wasn't able to handle us today.

That's all for today, I know it isn't 3 matches but I decided that from now on, I'll update whatever I can fit in if I can't get all three done for one reason or another. That way, you're all left with something to read regardless of how many matches it contains. I'll see you all tomorrow

I'll start this update with an incredible piece of news. After the confusion about player potentials, I decided to have a look at the world's greatest players to compare with and discovered that not a single player in the game is a 5* player for me. Messi is 4.5* with 5* potential, but everyone else I checked (the likes of Ronaldo, Hazard, Gotze, Bale) are either 4.5* ability or potential. That in mind, the quality of Eric De Francesco is potentially slightly better than Messi currently is. A further 4 players (Balanta, Wilshere, Brizuela and Zelalem) have Ronaldo-like potential. That is extremely exciting. On a separate note, and unsurprisingly, Steele's ability went back down to 2*. 2.5* didn't quite seem right for him to be honest.

Arsenal 2 - 1 Manchester United

Ozil 30. Mertesacker 45+1. - van Persie 67.

An extremely even game that could've gone either way due to the huge number of chances created from both sides. I was worried about van Persie, but he proved to not be very clinical aside from his eventual goal. United were fouling us time and time again too, which ruined many of their potential chances and may have saved us a few times. After half an hour had passed, Giroud held up play despite tackle attempts from 4 defenders in the space of a couple of seconds and played Cazorla through who picked out Ozil's run into the box with a great cross for an easy finish. I was very impressed by Giroud's ability to keep control under such intense pressure and he's turning out to be an all-round amazing player. Mertesacker doubled the lead just before half time with a comical goal that left me laughing at how admittedly lucky we were. A corner bounced around the box and eventually fell to Cazorla's feet who took a shot that bounced off Mertesacker and fell to Giroud who's rushed shot hit BOTH posts before coming out to Mertesacker for the rebound goal into an open net. De Gea had committed himself to Giroud's shot and was left absolutely nowhere when it fell to the BFG. Van Persie did pull one back to make it 16 goals in 18 games for the Dutchman after Rooney picked out Valencia who gave a low cross to Robin for the sweaty goal. After that, both sides had a few chances but the goalkeeping from both De Gea and Steele was great for the last 30 minutes of play and it ended 2-1. A win against one of our biggest rivals that send us back into first place - although Chelsea and Man City could both leapfrog us if they pick up their respective wins.

The FA Cup 3rd round draw has been kind, matching us up with Accrington Stanley whilst the most interesting draw is Everton vs Tottenham. AWARDS TIME!

BPL Player of the Month (November 2014):

1st. Olivier Giroud - Arsenal

2nd. Ryan Bertrand - Chelsea

3rd. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - Arsenal

BPL Young Player of the Month (November 2014):

1st. Raheem Sterling - Liverpool

2nd. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - Arsenal

3rd. Ben Davies - Swansea

BPL Manager of the Month (November 2014):

1st. Jack Clark of Arsenal

2nd. Andre Villas-Boas of Man City

3rd. Jose Mourinho of Chelsea

Also, Meyer came 3rd place in the Sky Bet Championship Player of the Month November 2014, which is great to see. He'll definitely be in the first team plans next year - unless De Bruyne impresses - but as long as he's playing well at Norwich, I'm happy.

2nd November 2014 TOTW

GK Thibaut Courtois - Chelsea

LB Antonio Luna - Aston Villa

LCB Per Mertesacker - Arsenal

RCB Steven Taylor - Newcastle

RB Jack Hunt - Crystal Palace

LM Iago Falque - Aston Villa

LCM Ashley Westwood - Aston Villa

RCM Eugene Seleznyov - West Brom

RM Mauricio Isla - Newcastle

LS Libor Kozak - Aston Villa

RS Samuel Eto'o - Chelsea

Newcastle 2 - 2 Arsenal

Townsend 7. Remy 52. - Balanta 6. Podolski 61.

A deserved point for each side, with neither side able to create many clear-cut chances. I would've liked a win after how shockingly disrespectful Harry Redknapp was to me before the game, but it's an away game against my biggest bogey team, Newcastle. As well as that, it's a goal for young Balanta and a point against a team that has been molded into an incredible side (compared to the current Newcastle team irl) on incredible form that came into the game in 4th place. Just 6 minutes into the game, Ozil's low corner bounced off of a defender's leg and straight to Balanta for an easy finish. Straight from kickoff, Isla ran down the right wing and whipped in an early cross for Remy who's volley was saved but smashed in on the rebound by Townsend. It was 1-1 at halftime and we had dominated, deserving a lead at that point. However, the second half was much more contested and it only took Newcastle 7 minutes into the second half to take the lead when another Isla cross floated through the air to Remy at the far post for an easy header. Steele didn't even attempt to dive, he was never getting to it. We responded quite quickly when Podolski scored the equaliser by cutting inside from a Monreal pass and burying it at the far post. The next 30 minutes was filled with fast passing play, but neither side could create chances very well and the game ended 2-2. I'm quite happy with that, but I expect a win when they come to the Emirates.

Arsenal 3 - 2 West Brom

De Bruyne 13. Arteta 30. Jenkinson 73. - Olsson 61. Dorrans 81.

A surprisingly close result, despite the domination on our part. Fitness in the second half wasn't great, and the defense played much worse than in the first half. 13 minutes in, a long ball was headed away only to fall to Cazorla who played a lovely first-touch passing game with Roberto and Gibbs before passing to De Bruyne who took a left-footed, outside of the foot shot that curled just into the top corner off the bar. It was a phenomenal strike that couldn't have been any closer to missing. Unfortunately, Kevin picked up an injury not long after and had to come off but it isn't serious and he isn't properly injured. We extended the lead 30 minutes into the game when Ox passed in to Arteta who took one touch to control the ball and then noticed the space left in front of him and used it to smash a left-footed strike into the same top corner. 2-0 at half time after having complete control, but 61 minutes in Reveillere's free kick on the wing found Olsson at the far post who headed the ball in accurately. Jenkinson did the same thing 12 minutes later from a corner, and I knew we had the 3 points then. Nevertheless, they got another one back when Dorrans played a one-two with Seleznyov, went through on goal and easily placed his shot past Steele. We held on for a deserved 3 points but Steele's goalkeeping is getting worse and he's showing why he's just a decent backup. Szczesny will be back in less than a month, though, which is great.

That's all for today's update, I will do another BPL table update but there is a wide variety of games played across the league so the table wouldn't show much honesty at this point. Tomorrow, we have a difficult game followed by two easy games in what should be a nice break from all the huge fixtures recently. Away to Atletico Madrid - which doesn't matter too much, because we're guaranteed qualification - away to my local team Leicester and finally Crystal Palace at the Emirates. See you all then

Champions Cup Group Stage: Atletico Madrid 2 - 3 Arsenal

David Villa 29. 60. - Oxlade-Chamberlain 20. 64. Gibbs 37.

In an even game that was more of a contest between Alex and David than a team game (everyone else performed to an average standard) we come away with a victory that we just about deserved. Possession was even, shots were even but it might have been that extra three shots on target that gave us the win. Regardless of what happened today, Atletico were out of the group. Despite being the apparent favourites to win, they were bottom of the table on 4 points and a win for either Ajax, Monaco or a draw would still send one of them through to the R16. Twenty minutes in, Ozil played Oxlade-Chamberlain through with a run that he seems to be making almost every game and he managed to slot it past the goalkeeper at the near post to make it 1-0. Villa equalised in just 9 minutes when a terrible giveaway of possession by Wilshere led to Mikel playing him through on goal and he smashed it in at the near post. Another quick goal came within 8 minutes of that, when Cazorla played an extremely clever set piece by pretending to shoot before playing Gibbs through on goal - completely unmarked due to the amount of defenders expecting a shot - who finished easily. Even I was surprised by this clever set piece. 2-1 at half time but Atletico weren't going down without fighting. After exactly an hour, Wilshere once again lost possession easily to Mikel who passed to Costa who found Villa with a great OTT through pass for an easy - yet impressive - finish from a tight angle. We secured victory after a series of delicate chip passes from the wing into the box resulted in Wilshere having a shot straight at the keeper, only for Ox to bury it on the rebound. Ozil and Gibbs both picked up injuries, but only for just over a week so it isn't anything to worry about. Here's how the group table looks now:

1st. Arsenal 15p

2nd. Monaco 8p

3rd. Ajax 7p

4th. Atletico Madrid 4p

Interestingly, two huge managerial changes have just been made: Inter hired Carlo Regno as their new manager following the sacking of Guus Hiddink and Liverpool have just sacked Brendan Rodgers, with Lazio manager Marcelo Bielsa tipped to be the replacement just ahead of Guus Hiddink and Joachim Low who are other potential choices.

Leicester 2 - 2 Arsenal

Wood 27. 39. - Balanta 52. De Bruyne 64.

In a game that we absolutely dominated, we somehow didn't come away with the 3 or 4-0 win that was deserved. They had just 5 shots all game compared to our 14 (although our finishing was tragic admittedly), and we had 58% possession but some extreme luck on their behalf made us drop two points. 27 minutes in, Sterling's cross flew over the head of Balanta - who was clearly in reach of the ball - and straight to Wood who gave them the lead. 12 minutes later, the exact same goal was scored other than the mistake from Balanta. We were 2-0 down at half time and were able to make a comeback, but not as much as we should've. 7 minutes into the second half, Walcott's corner fell straight to Balanta's foot for an easy volley. De Bruyne equalised for us after Roberto stole the ball from Drinkwater and passed to Bojan who held up play as De Bruyne made a run before playing him through for a 25-ish yard smash that caught the rushing keeper off guard. It was an impressive strike that guaranteed a point and extended our BPL unbeaten run to 12 games this season.

Liverpool have hired Guus Hiddink as their new manager after being fired from his role as Inter. Not a bad club to bounce back to, eh?

THE CHAMPIONS CUP R16 DRAW!!!

Everton vs Benfica

Juventus vs Bayern Munich

Malaga vs PSG

Marseille vs Chelsea

Dortmund vs Barcelona

Freiburg vs Man Utd

Monaco vs Real Madrid

Napoli vs Arsenal

Some very unusual teams that have done very well to get here, such as Freiburg, Malaga and Everton, but are unlikely to go any further. Who knows? Maybe they will, we'll have to see. Our draw is one that I'm fairly happy with. Whilst Napoli are a good team, I'm confident that we have to ability to get the Quarter Finals as long as we hold them to a draw away from home as the fixture at the Emirates is almost a guaranteed win in my eyes.

Arsenal 3 - 1 Crystal Palace

Wilshere 34. Giroud 39. Oxlade-Chamberlain 58. - Chamakh 47.

An easy and expected win for the lads, giving us another easy 3 points. The team performed confidently and created many chances on top of the three goals. 34 minutes in, Oxlade-Chamberlain sprinted down the right wing and crossed the ball into Wilshere who had the skill and audacity to control the ball right in front of the keeper before smashing the ball in with his second touch from just a couple of yards. Just 5 minutes later, Ox's insanely high corner delivery found Giroud in the box who leaped up high to double the lead with a header. Unfortunately for the clean sheet, Williams's attempted ball was cleared away by Mertesacker- Oh wait, no it wasn't, because it seemed to have bounced off the side of his foot when he tried to clear it and instead the ball went backwards to Chamakh who scored with Palace's only shot on target of the whole game. 11 minutes later, Oxlade-Chamberlain rounded off a great performance when Kovacic made a run from the halfway line, beat two defenders and played Giroud through who passed across to Ox (quite surprisingly, it was a great chance for the Frenchman) for an easy goal. After the game, Wilshere's agent had the cheek to ask me to give Wilshere a new contract. I agreed that he deserved a wage upgrade, but he was already on a 4-year deal and his agent was demanding a key player role. Despite Wilshere's ability, I'm afraid he'll have to wait until he becomes a 4.5* player for me to consider him key. No player is bigger than the club.

In the next update, there are two very exciting things happening: the first is a game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. We're 1 point ahead of them but their game in hand means that a win or draw against us would give them a chance to make the top spot theirs again. The second is the JANUARY TRANSFER WINDOW! I transfer listed Vargas after making almost no appearances, and Flamini was also transfer listed a long time ago. After the form we've been on, I'm expecting a few bids for a few players here and there that I might take advantage of as I think I want to spice up the team a little bit. Podolski also might get the chop, as he's aging and most of his goals are in easier games and overall he isn't really needed with both Meyer and De Francesco returning next season as backups on the left. As promised, here is the top and bottom 5 of league table after 17 games (unless otherwise stated):

1st. Arsenal 40p

2nd. Chelsea 39p - 16 games

3rd. Man City 37p - 16 games

4th. Aston Villa 28p

5th. Man Utd 26p - 16 games

--------------------------------

16th. Everton 17p - 16 games (from champs to tramps, eh?) - if anyone gets the reference, well done

17th. Swansea 17p - 16 games

18th. West Brom 15p

19th. Wigan 11p

20th. Crystal Palace 10p

That's all for today, I'll see you all tomorrow

I apologise for the lack of updates as of late - once again. I realise that it is unacceptable and I have decided that there is only one solution: To reduce the amount of games per update from 3 to 2. After creating a stupid amount of new careers because there are so many teams with unique challenges and benefits (combined with my renewed love for FIFA) I have been neglecting this career and would like to sincerely apologise. If I lower the amount of games from 3 to 2, then I will feel much more comfortable playing each day because it isn't as much time. Usually, I either feel like the career is a burden or I simply don't have enough time after homework, but with 2 games I would be able to update much more consistently and therefore get more updates out to you. In the long run, it's better. With that in mind, I'll make up for the last 3 days with a triple update of 6 matches - including many transfer stories. But first, we start with a Liverpool and Man City dominated TOTW.

23rd December 2014 TOTW:

GK Ali Al-Habsi - Wigan

LB Gael Clichy - Liverpool

LCB Nicolas Nkoulou - Man City

RCB Ryan Shawcross - Liverpool

RB Cesar Azpilicueta - Chelsea

LM Peter Whittingham - Cardiff

LCM Keisuke Honda - Liverpool

RCM David Silva - Man City

RM Andriy Yarmolenko - Liverpool

LS Edin Dzeko - Man City

RS Olivier Giroud - Arsenal

Chelsea 1 - 1 Arsenal

Lukaku 86. - Oxlade-Chamberlain 10.

It was purely our goalkeeper - Jason Steele - that let us get anything out of a game that we got COMPLETELY dominated in. Currently, with Mata still at Chelsea on this save, I would say they have the best team in the BPL. We have the best youth by far, but that won't matter for at least another 4 or 5 years. At that point, we might have the best squad but not right now. They had 25 shots, 10 on target, compared to our 3 shots and 1 on target. I was shocked to see a 6.3 rating for Steele in a game that he was incredible in and easily could've been the MoM despite a good performance from Chelsea. In fact, we almost had the cheek to get all 3 points from a game that we played shockingly poorly in until Lukaku's strike in the last 5 minutes of the game. 10 minutes in, Gibbs ran down the left wing and passed into Cazorla who found Ox at the far post with a perfect cross for an easy header. From there, we shut up shop and only tried to work an attack on the counter - which rarely happened at all because Chelsea were aware of our countering abilities. It wasn't until the 86th minute that Chelsea equalised when Willian's cross found Lukaku in the box who finished with a powerful header. We managed a point against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge despite what was easily our worst performance of the season so far, which keeps us just 2 points behind them and still on an unbeaten run. There are many positives to take from this, including another goal for Ox!

I don't know if I mentioned this before - I probably did - but Wenger is now the Bayern Munich manager. Honestly, that's a fantastic move from the Bayern board as I personally think that Wenger is one of the best managers in the world right now, perhaps even the best (although in stiff competition with Mourinho, Klopp, even Martinez who has done great work at Everton). There's no better way for Wenger to spend his last few years as a manager than as the manager of possibly the best club in the world.

"Guess who's back? Back again. Szczesny's back. Tell your friends." would be the title of the newspaper if I was in charge. Szczesny has returned just in time for the second half of the season, but I won't be risking him in the West Ham game. He'll return against Accrington Stanley on the third day of 2015, and hopefully will continue to develop into the world class goalkeeper that my coaching staff continue to believe he can become despite lack of improvement.

Arsenal 1 - 0 West Ham

De Bruyne 43.

A game that we could've easily won by more than just a goal, considering how we restricted West Ham to just 5 shots all game - all off target. We had good possession, created chances and did well, but Giroud was particularly poor today and failed to finish some simple chances. Nevertheless, De Bruyne made sure we got the three points after Sagna's cross found him on the penalty spot for a powerful and accurate finish in the corner just before half time. We had a lot more chances, but our finishing was unusually poor today and that was the only goal in a game that we thoroughly controlled. Another goal for De Bruyne, who has done well with every chance he's had, scoring 3 goals in 5 appearances. That's pretty good for a rotation attacking midfielder. Another result that is both good and bad for us is Man City 2 - 0 Chelsea. A draw would've left Chelsea on top but purely on goal difference, with Man City able to equal us on points as well. That would made it easier for us to beat both and go top. However, a win for City means that Chelsea are a point behind us but City could go top by 2 points if they win their game in hand against Stoke. Although, Chelsea are knocked down for the time being which is fantastic.

Now, for a special 2014 edition of AWARDS TIME! Both the monthly and yearly awards. I'll start with monthly, and build up to the beloved Ballon D'or.

BPL Player of the Month (December 2014):

1st. Xherdan Shaqiri - Man City

2nd. Erik Lamela - Tottenham

3rd. David Silva - Man City

BPL Young Player of the Month (December 2014):

1st. John Stones - Everton

2nd. Liam Moore - Leicester

3rd. Raheem Sterling - Leicester, on loan from Liverpool

BPL Manager of the Month (December 2014):

1st. Andre Villas-Boas of Man City

2nd. Jack Clark of Arsenal

3rd. Michael Laudrup of Tottenham

Yearly Awards

French Player of the Year 2014 - Olivier Giroud of Arsenal

Following a ridiculous performance last season which saw Giroud win the Golden Boot, Olivier has started the second season just as well with 12 goals in 16 appearances and he appears to be on his way to back-to-back boots. He has scored 33 goals in 46 appearances for Arsenal throughout 2014 and his good performance in the World Cup would've also convinced pundits that he deserved it. Raphael Varane of Real Madrid was some way off and took second place, whilst Man Utd's Patrice Evra took third place.

European Golden Boy 2014 - Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain of Arsenal

The young winger has put in an amazing performance over the last year, scoring 21 goals in 36 games for Arsenal with an average rating of 7.24. A particularly amazing performance in the World Cup cemented his place in this award. For Alex to beat the likes of Neymar, Hazard, Oscar, Isco, Gotze and many more talented players is incredible and I believe he deserves it after his sudden breakthrough into the first team.

2014 World Team of the Year:

GK Hugo Lloris - Tottenham

LB Patrice Evra - Man Utd

LCB Raphael Varane - Real Madrid

RCB Vincent Kompany - Man City

RB Philipp Lahm - Bayern Munich

LM Eden Hazard - Chelsea

LCM Andres Iniesta - Barcelona

RCM Wesley Sneijder - Galatasaray

RM Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid

CAM Isco - Real Madrid

ST Olivier Giroud - Arsenal

Subs:

Salvatore Sirigu of PSG

Leonardo Bonucci of Juventus

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain of Arsenal

Lionel Messi of Barcelona (only person in the whole TOTY to have higher than 8.0 average but only on the bench?)

Neymar of Barcelona

Georgio Chiellini of Juventus

Robin van Persie of Man Utd

World Player of the Year 2014 (exactly what is the difference between this and Golden Ball/Ballon D'or?)

1st. Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid

2nd. Lionel Messi - Barcelona

3rd. Eden Hazard - Chelsea

World Golden Ball 2014

1st. Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid, 31 goals in 49 games with an amazing 7.70 average rating.

2nd. Lionel Messi - Barcelona

3rd. Eden Hazard - Chelsea

A French Player of the Year award for Giroud as well as a spot in the TOTY and an amazing European Golden Boy award for the Ox. That's fantastic and truly deserved. Alex and Olivier have been crucial to our success recently, and it's about time that they get their yearly awards. But seriously, what is the difference between the World Player of the Year and the Golden Ball? I can't find anyone explaining online, does anyone actually know? Aha, any answers would be greatly appreciated.

GREAT NEWS!!! After an improvement in finances, Ivan Gazidis has given us an extra £27.5m to spend. Whilst some of that will be put into wages and that will be reduced to around £20m, it's still fantastic and allows me to bring in a big signing. We've strengthened the squad with squad depth, sorted out our youth and now I am free to get one big player in. With Vargas set to leave for Benfica for £2.2m plus future incentives and Flamini hopefully leaving, I should have around £24m to spend on someone big. Many of our players have attracted attention, which I might take advantage of if I can get enough, but most of them are key and will take a huge bid to be pried away.

I couldn't find a huge player (4.5* or higher) available for anything less than £30m, with Reus and Draxler both targets I went back to. Diego Costa is unsettled, but would cost around £40m which I just don't have. I did have a £12.75m offer for the aging but still world-class Ibrahimovic accepted, but he asked for £500,000k per week. Not even Ibra is worth that much. I signed a young Norwegian CB called Martin Brathen from Valerenga on a free for a compensation fee of £12k which is a huge steal because he has 4* potential for the club - better than Koscielny or Mertesacker. I'm targeting a 5* potential striker from Chelsea on loan at Vitesse called Peter Vivak. Whilst the £31m (most of it over the next 4 years) seems ridiculous for a youngster, this guy could potentially be the best striker of all time (if that 5* potential stays; De Francesco's has been flickering between 5 and 4.5) and any amount of money is worth that.

FA Cup 3rd Round: Accrington Stanley 0 - 5 Arsenal

Giroud 19. Mertesacker 35. Podolski 48. De Bruyne 66. Walcott 79.

A fantastic performance, complete dominance. That's all that can be said. As expected, we prevented a potential upset by showing just how big a gap there is between the two clubs. That gap is 5 goals big. 19 minutes in, Podolski passed to De Bruyne who picked out Walcott's run into the box, but Naylor's tackle sends the ball to the feet of Giroud for an easy finish. We doubled our lead 35 minutes in from - surprise, surprise - a corner. Walcott's delivery found Wilshere who's header towards the box was too weak but Mertesacker got his head to it just before the keeper and powered the header into the back of the net. 2-0 at half time and it only took us 3 minutes back out on the pitch to get a third goal when Giroud passed to De Bruyne on the counter who found Podolski making a run and he sprinted into the box before slotting the ball into the far post on his left foot. De Bruyne isn't just a playmaker though, and a truly incredible piece of first-touch passing play between Gibbs, Wilshere, Giroud and Podolski led to Gibbs crossing the ball into De Bruyne who finished with an easy header. We rounded the game off when Arteta switched play to Walcott who skinned his man before smashing the ball with a low, powerful and accurate shot into the bottom corner from just outside the box. It was easily the best goal of the 5 and Walcott deserved the MoM in an amazing performance - which was obviously helped by the stature of Accrington Stanley, but we still played well. I was also very happy to see that Chelsea suffered a hilarious 1-0 loss to Leeds, knocking them out of the FA Cup and Man City were also knocked out by Stoke 2-1. The only clubs that could potentially end our club run in my eyes are Man Utd and possibly Liverpool, Tottenham or Everton, who all have yet to play their games.

Ozil has signed a ridiculous new contract worth £42m over 5 years, with £170k per week taking him up to the highest wages at the club. I'm glad to see he's committing his career to Arsenal, because he is a phenomenal player that is only matched by Wilshere, Giroud and Oxlade-Chamberlain in terms of performance. In transfer news, I had a £43.5k bid for ex-Man Utd youngster Mats Daehli accepted from Molde which is another complete steal! Another youngster with 4* potential, he could easily be worth £20 - £30m easily in a decade. Also, I immediately received loan offers for Brathen from AZ, Groningen and Vitesse which is great, because he won't get game time for a few years.

The FA Cup 4th round draw has matched us up against the Giant killers Leeds, who will be very confident after their win against Chelsea. We'll have to be wary of them, because we definitely have a much better squad than them - but so do Chelsea. We can't slip up like they did.

I confirmed the signing of Vavak and - to my dismay - his potential immediately shot down to 4*. However, many players have had their potential change over time and his original 5* potential must have been for a reason. With the right tutoring, I believe he can still reach that. Especially since he's already 2* at the age of 18.

Brathen has confirmed going on loan to Vitesse, and Palmer to Blackburn. I have to apologise for the poor piece of business involving Vavak, but I honestly believed that he could become the best striker of all time - or at least one of the best. Regardless, his stats, overall and age just don't match a 4* potential. He definitely seems like he has a higher potential, but I guess I'll find out.

Everton 0 - 3 Arsenal

Podolski 11. Oxlade-Chamberlain 19. Kovacic 47.

An even game that came down to purely clinical finishing, with both sides showing good attacking and defending at different moments of the game. Everton find them selves on the border between the top and bottom halves of the table which is a shock after their miracle performance last season. However, I knew that this match would be difficult - and it was, despite the score - and wasn't prepared to underestimate Everton. 11 minutes into the game, we showed off great first touch passing once again as the play went like this: Wilshere, Kovacic, Ozil, Giroud, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Podolski, GOAL! Five first-touch passes from 40 yards out to Podolski for a tap in. An incredible bit of chemistry that showed an inhuman connection between the entire team. Baines did push the ball to Podolski but Ox looked like he was about to pass anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered. Just 8 minutes later, Podolski lobs the ball to Giroud who chests it down onto his left foot and crosses the ball low to Ox at the far post. The first half ended 2-0 and Kovacic was determined to remind me that he was there and he would become a great player by popping out of nowhere and smashing in a corner rebound inside the box. Mateo has faded into obscurity since signing for £20m last season, but I've always been slightly impressed with his ability to stay composed under pressure, hold up play, act as a playmaker and even make good runs on his own by using his 17 dribbling which can only get better. Szczesny narrowly lost the MoM award to Mertesacker after getting the highest rating I've ever seen for a goalkeeper in any FM - 8.6. What a way to return from injury.

13th January 2015 TOTW:

GK Wojciech Szczesny - Arsenal

LB Ryan Bertrand - Chelsea

LCM Per Mertesacker - Arsenal

RCB John Terry - Chelsea

RB Gino Peruzzi - Chelsea

LM Juan Mata - Chelsea

LCM Willian - Chelsea

RCM Craig Gardner - Sunderland

RM Emanuele Giaccherinni - Sunderland

LS Romelu Lukaku - Chelsea

RS Shane Long - West Brom

Arsenal 3 - 0 Cardiff

Walcott 6. 31. 80(pen).

A fantastic performance from Walcott, as well as a decent performance from everyone else in the squad as we managed to get all 3 points against Cardiff, as expected. Just 6 minutes into the game, Kovacic pulled off a great pass to Walcott who took a first touch with great technique that skinned Ziegler and slotted the ball into the far post easily. He doubled our lead when Ozil played a ball through to him and he fooled 4 defenders and the keeper by aiming towards the far corner but slotting the ball into the near post with the outside of his foot. With 10 minutes to go, Ozil played a great ball into Walcott who looked likely to get his hat-trick but Ziegler got frustrated with how easily Theo kept beating him and blatantly shoved him down in the box, resulting in a penalty that Walcott easily scored. Despite playing second fiddle to the wonderful Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott is a fantastic backup option who seems to play well almost every time he plays - then again, so does Ox.

With £8.5m left and no cheap targets in mind or on the transfer list, I decided to make a bid for Napoli keeper Rafael, who has the same ability and potential as Szczesny. I know I already have Steele so it might be excessive spending, but I am a sucker for a bargain and £4m for Rafael seems great. It's a nice bit of friendly competition for Szczesny and Steele will move to the U21's for the time being, although might be sent out on loan just in case something happens to either keeper. It's always good to have a backup. Also, we finalised the £43.5k deal for Mats Daehli. Again, we have plenty of players in that CM position but the very least we can do is make a huge profit on a player with Ozil/Wilshere like potential. We managed to sign him despite bids from Bayern Munich, PSG, Man Utd and other, less notable teams which just shows how much Arsenal is growing as a club across the world.

Actually, scratch what I said about Rafael. Despite his supposed 3* ability, 4* potential, his stats are considerably worse than Szczesny's and it isn't worth the £4m.

In non-transfer news, I decided to cancel the links to Wadi Degla and Inverness because neither of the links have any benefit to us of any sort. However, I did want a knew feeder club with a successful youth system to allow us first choice on any promising players. Though the shortlists rarely have any renowned youth clubs - like Sporting or Ajax which would be great - they do usually have some fairly decent clubs that could help us get some youngsters.

Southampton 1 - 1 Arsenal

Lambert 7. - Cazorla 66.

In a boring game that involved awful finishing for both sides, we managed to get a point in a game that the media and I had very different expectations for. I know that Southampton are a good team and their 16th place in the league baffles me because of how many great young players they have. However, the media believed that we were huge favourites and that a 1-1 draw could definitely be improved on. At home, I expect to win in almost every match, this is no different. However, on the road there a some teams - like Southampton and Everton - that I know will put up a fight. 7 minutes into the game, Mertesacker made a huge error when he was pressured by 3 players and didn't do anything with the ball whatsoever other than stand and wait to be tackled by Ramirez who played Mayuka through but he passed across to Lambert for the sweaty goal. Both sides had quite a few chances but failed to convert any chances and it wasn't until the 66th minute that Cazorla equalised when De Bruyne played him through and he scored on the rebound after Boruc made a decent first save. Luckily for us, Chelsea also dropped two points at the Liberty Stadium against Swansea in a 3-3 goalfest.

My final signing is one that I felt was a good move for a fairly cheap fee: 20-year-old AZ ST Jordi Berendsen. He came up through the youth intake last season and has since made 24 appearances, scoring 6 goals which isn't bad for a youngster. Initial reports say 4.5* potential, which - even if it does drop to 4* - is worth £6m. Juventus had an agreement that a bid of equal value would have to be accepted, but oddly didn't put in a bid for the promising youngster. Berendsen will be loaned back to AZ until the end of the season, because he needs game time and tearing him away from his home in Holland mid-way through the season wouldn't be a good idea. I'll round off this triple update with a Stoke dominated TOTW:

20th January 2014 TOTW:

GK David De Gea - Man Utd

LB Marc Muniesa - Stoke

LCB Dan Burn - Stoke

RCB Eder Alvarez Balanta - Arsenal

RB Adam Matthews - Stoke

LM Juan Mata - Chelsea

LCM Leroy Fer - Stoke

RCM David Silva - Man City

RM Theo Walcott - Arsenal

LS Edin Dzeko - Man City

RS Peter Crouch - Stoke

That's all, I hope you all enjoyed this triple update, I actually found it very exciting and it re-sparked my enthusiasm for this career mode! I will only be doing 2 matches per update from now on, but that'll be better in the long run because of how much more consistently I'll post. Tomorrow, we have the FA Cup 4th round game against the giant killing Leeds and and extremely important home game against Man City where a win could see us guarantee a spot at the top of the table with 15 games to go. I'll see you then

Decided to do a large update today because after last night's 4 hour FM session (yep, it takes me that long because I'm slow af) I got straight back into this career which I love! I'll start with an interesting piece of news: Apparently, Man City have broken the COC record amount of wins with 6. I would expect that to be more, but okay, good on ya. Let's just see if you keep winning when you come to the Emirates.

FA Cup 4th Round: Leeds 1 - 3 Arsenal

Poleon 67. - Podolski 33. 66. Giroud 70.

We made sure that Leeds didn't continue this short but miraculous FA Cup run by showing them how a London club should play. It was a complete domination and a 3-1 is just about the deserved result, considering I played a lot of rotation players that couldn't finish chances like the first team could. Because we have a very important game against Man City in 3 days, I rested a lot of players including Ozil, Ox, Wilshere, Ramsey, even Koscielny and Mertesacker. The backup lads (and Giroud) still played fantastic football and showed Chelsea how it's done. 33 minutes in, Giroud played Podolski through with a slightly chipped through ball that he netted easily. As much as Podolski is just the rotation AM(L) and he's starting to age, he's still a reliable goalscorer. He doubled the lead exactly another 33 minutes later on the 66th minute when Roberto fed him a simple pass and he skinned his man with a burst of pace, ran to the edge of the box and smashed the ball into the far post. It was a great goal for Lukas in what might be his last season due to Eric De Francesco's return next season. Immediately after that, Poleon and Whitehead were passing on the wing of the box when Poleon took an insane shot from a stupidly tight angle from out of nowhere and it somehow went in. It was a confusing goal but I had to admire the accuracy of the Leeds striker. Three minutes after that, a bizarre goal was scored when Szczesny and Hunt were both chasing the ball but Szczesny got to it first, used all of his power to rocket the ball away and it floated over the heads of De Bruyne, Lees and Byram, bounced twice and then fell to Podolski who crossed the ball to Giroud for an easy header. A lucky goal but the composure from Lukas and Olivier was great. We're through to the 5th round and we defeated the giant killers. See, Chelsea? THAT'S how it's done.

We've been given a fantastic chance to go through to the FA Cup Quarter Finals after being drawn against the winner of the Brighton vs Aston Villa game. If Aston Villa win that and we were drawn away, I might have been less confident due to how Villa - just like Fulham - have a tendency to smash me at home on most saves. However, we've been drawn at home and I am very confident in securing a spot in the QF regardless of who we face. The only other teams that might cause a problem are Tottenham, Liverpool and Southampton. Even then, I feel like a home draw against any side in England gives us an advantage considering the players we have and the football we play.

The verdict returned on the possible feeder clubs and it was a tough decision. Zenit was one, and whilst that sounds interesting, it isn't really practical because they aren't a team with incredible youth facilities - only "good" - and are more about money than youth. Spartak Moscow are similarly not renowned for their youth, but have "superb" youth facilities. Considering the link is to do with us being able to secure promising youngsters, I decided to recommend the third option: Metalist. They have superb training and excellent youth facilities, so are most likely to produce prospects out of the options.

Arsenal 2 - 0 Man City

Podolski 13. Mertesacker 19.

Going into this game, I felt very nervous. Despite Toure being away on international duty, City still have Shaqiri, Silva, Aguero and Kompany among others. Plus, they hadn't conceded in the 5 games leading up to this and I knew it would take something special to win. Special it was. Both sides were able to create plenty of chances, but City's finishing was shockingly poor, getting just 3 of their 14 shots on target. Szczesny held strong in goal and the entire defense did well to pressure the opposition, ensuring that we kept a clean sheet against Man City and guaranteeing top spot after all teams have played 23 games. A quick counter 12 minutes into the game led to Sagna trying to skin Lucas Leiva but being clipped and losing possession which - whilst it wasn't an awful foul - was denying a goalscoring opportunity and was, therefore, a penalty. Podolski was put on the spot and sent Hart the wrong way to give us the lead. We were in dreamland when Mertesacker doubled the lead just 6 minutes later with a little gem that we saw a lot of last season: an Ozil corner that found Mertesacker for an easy header. Shaqiri, Dzeko and Aguero all had chances for City throughout the game but failed to get most of them on target. It wasn't just them, though, because Giroud had another poor game full of missed chances. The last few games have been his worst of the year and I really hope he can get back on track. In fact, I'm quite worried about the possibility of being left without a striker so I decided to promote the £31m teenager Peter Vakak from the U21's. He's already 2* ability and his stats are almost all yellow or higher at the age of 18, which is why I think that 5* potential might have been right. At least 4.5*, surely. Update: In fact, his potential has gone back up to 4.5* which would be worth £31m on it's own because, as far as I can tell, this is the chart when it comes to what star ratings mean to our squad:

0.5* Nowhere near BPL quality

1* Not BPL quality

1.5* Backup for a mid-table team

2* Decent player for a mid-table team

2.5* Good player for a mid-table team/decent player for a higher team

3* Good player for a top 4 team

3.5* Great player for a top 4 team

4* Star player for most teams

4.5* One of the best in the world - Vavak, De Francesco, Balanta and Wilshere all have this potential.

5* One of the best of all time - I can't guarantee that anyone has this potential in the game currently, though 4 players have initial 5* reports.

Therefore, £31m for someone who has that Messi-Ronaldo-Ribery potential is worth it. He's basically a better version of Giroud when at full potential. Giroud is 6"4, Vavak is 6"5. Vavak is good at heading, finishing, has good strength, consistent mental attributes, basically he has the potential to be the best Target Man of his generation - which is exactly what we need. At 18 years old, he already has 16 technique, 18 off the ball, 17 strength, 16 stamina, 16 balance and 18 jumping reach. That's incredible. Then there's the fact that he only has 5 green stats and only 3 of them might matter (7 aggression, 9 acceleration, 9 dribbling) plus are likely to go into the yellow in the next couple of years. I have no doubt that Vavak will be one of the best in the world, and whether or not he actually does hit 5* doesn't matter to me because 5* is almost impossible considering how that would mean one of the best ever.

Insanely, Ibrahimovic has committed the last few years of his career to PSG after signing a new contract worth 425k per week, the second highest in the world after Ronaldo's current £575k p/w. Also, Daehli has gone on loan to Braga as a rotation player, which is better than playing in the U21's so it should help his development.

In U18's news, we beat the Chelsea U18's in the U18's Cup Quarter Final to send us through to the semis! Glad to see that the youngsters are playing well. AWARDS TIME!

BPL Player of the Month (January 2015):

1st. Juan Mata - Chelsea

2nd. Eduardo - Swansea

3rd. John Terry - Chelsea

BPL Young Player of the Month (January 2015):

1st. Romelu Lukaku - Chelsea

2nd. Ben Davies - Swansea

3rd. Raheem Sterling - Leicester, on loan from Liverpool

BPL Manager of the Month (January 2015):

1st. David Moyes - Man Utd

2nd. Jack Clark - Arsenal

3rd. Jose Mourinho - Chelsea

Sunderland 1 - 2 Arsenal

Giaccherinni 77. - Vavak 50. Ozil 70.

Despite how close the game was, we get the three points in a game that was great for two reasons: We'd drawn four of our last 5 away games, that's a loss of 8 points. Whilst one of those games was against Chelsea, we still need to get as many points as possible. We did that today. The second reason is that Vavak was able to score on his debut. Because of the very high fee for such a young player, the Chelsea board and fans all thought that this wouldn't turn out as a good piece of business on our behalf - I strongly disagree. Vavak is the most promising regen that I, personally, have ever had on my team in any FM. To be fair, I've only ever played 13 & 14, but still . Just 8 minutes into the game, Jenkinson brought down Giaccherinni in the box and Gardner stepped up to take the penalty but his extremely powerful shot was saved by Szczesny and the resulting corner led to nothing. Both sides had chances, with our finishing being much more clinical but Westwood was pulling off some great saves consistently and the first half ended 0-0. Just five minutes into the second half, Vavak scored his first goal for Arsenal, his first goal in the BPL, a goal on his debut! It was an odd one, a bit lucky perhaps, but it still required skill. Podolski was tackled in the box and the ball fell to Vavak who took Westwood by surprise when he went for the close-range chip. Westwood tipped it up into the air but it came back down to meet the feet of Roberge and Vavak fighting for the ball and it eventually went it after bouncing around several defenders and Vavak; Vavak would end up taking credit for the goal. Whilst it isn't the most stylish of goals, it's still a perfect start for the youngster. 20 minutes later, Walcott ran along the wing and passed inside to Roberto who passed back to Kovacic, to Walcott and Theo's low cross found Ozil who controlled the ball and then shot from a tight angle to make it 2-0. We did concede just 7 minutes later when Johnson picked out Giaccherinni's run and he curled the ball passed Szczesny - just inside the post - with a first-time finesse shot from the edge of the box. It was the best goal of the game for a player that is probably too good for Sunderland, but he seems to be doing well so that's a great move for both the man and the club. Regardless, we come away with a 2-1 win and a goal for the debuting Vavak.

That's all for today, updates will usually be just 2 games but I decided to do 3 this time because I'm really enjoying this career. Anyway, I'll see you all tomorrow for games against Swansea and Stoke

To start this update, there is news that Arteta has agreed to join Granada in his home country, Spain, at the end of the season when his contract expires to see out his last few footballing years. Arteta has been a good player for the club but I'm afraid I can't say I'll sincerely miss him. He hasn't been a key player during my time at Arsenal, and Roberto is almost as good as him despite being a decade younger. Still, I hope Arteta finishes his career in style. His contract is worth £40.5k per week for the next two years, and it's likely that there's an extension clause hidden in there.

The transfer window is now over and these are officially the noteworthy transfers across the English, French and Spanish leagues (won't show me the German roundup despite having it selected in my feed) in order of fee:

Peter Vavak from Chelsea to Arsenal for £31m

Axel Witsel from Zenit to Real Madrid for £24.5m

Gotoku Sakai from Stuttgart to PSG for £17m

Dede from Cruzeiro to Real Madrid for £16m

Ricardo van Rhijn from Ajax to Real Madrid for £13.5m

Alex Grimaldo from Barcelona to Benfica for £13.25m

Dejan Lovren from Southampton to PSG for £12.25m

3rd February 2015 TOTW:

GK Tim Krul - Newcastle

LB Ryan Bertrand - Chelsea

LCB Per Mertesacker - Arsenal

RCB Massadio Haidara - Newcastle

RB Bacary Sagna - Arsenal

LM Pablo Hernandez - Swansea

LCM Mesut Ozil - Arsenal

RCM Almen Abdi - Watford

RM Joshua King - Stoke

LS Romelu Lukaku - Chelsea

RS Troy Deeney - Watford

Unfortunately, Mertesacker collapsed with a hernia in training and will be out for just over a month. That's a big hit to our defense, but Balanta is developing very well and is arguably just as good as the BFG.

Swansea 1 - 2 Arsenal

Eduardo 10. - Podolski 17. 27.

An action-packed game, but one that we definitely deserved to win. Swansea are a team that can play wonderful football when they all play well, but it so rarely happens and today wasn't one of those times. We went 1-0 down just 10 minutes in but Podolski led the team to a comeback and we get another 3 points away from home. 10 minutes into the game, Lamah help up play for a moment before picking out Eduardo's run into the box and he finished easily on his left foot. Just 7 minutes later, Ozil did the same thing with Podolski who did a Ronaldo chop using his first touch and placed the ball into the net with his second. It was a great goal that took great composure and skill, but Lukas wasn't done yet. 10 minutes later, he received the ball on the edge of the box, beat his man with his quick turn and blasts the ball into the net at the near post to give us the lead. Both sides had plenty of chances but the goalkeeping was good on both sides and the game ended 2-1. A good result, and I'm confident that we can get another one against Stoke. Unfortunately, Podolski actually picked up a minor injury and will be out for just under two weeks with a twisted knee. Cazorla will have to fill in there.

Arsenal 2 - 0 Stoke

Giroud 31. Balanta 90+1.

Another good result and another 3 points, as well as a return to form for Giroud and a goal for Balanta. 31 minutes in, Monreal ran down the wing and played the ball to Cazorla who crossed it in straight to Giroud for a powerful header to give us the lead. Despite an insane amount of chances, we were only able to bag the one goal until the injury right at the end of the game, when an Ozil corner was headed down to the feet of Cazorla who picked out Balanta for an easy control and finish to give us a two goal lead. It's another 3 points in the league on the way to a second title which isn't too far out of reach despite strong performances from City and Chelsea this season.

So that's it, I hope you are all okay with the new format of just two matches. I know it's less but it'll be much more consistent, so it's worth it in the long run. Tomorrow, we have a home game against Villa in the FA Cup followed by a home game against Villa in the league, interesting. I'll see you then

FA Cup 5th Round: Arsenal 2 - 0 Aston Villa

Walcott 9. 41.

A game that we easily could've won by 4 or 5, but I'm happy with the way we performed and the result we got against Villa. It's another step closer to winning the FA Cup , which is all I could ask for. Walcott played great football today, and he's beginning to challenge Ox for that first-team spot that he had last season. Just 9 minutes into the game, we were passing around the midfield and waiting for a chance when De Bruyne spotted the run into the box from Walcott who took a touch and then blasted the ball into the net to give us the lead. That type of goal seems to happen all the time, whether it's Theo or Alex playing, and I'm glad that we've found a wing that we can rely on to score goals regularly. With four minutes to go in the first half, Walcott played the ball to De Bruyne and began a run as De Bruyne passed to Wilshere, to Roberto, back to De Bruyne and back through to Walcott who ran at Guzan and slotted the ball into the far post to make it 2-0. Villa began to play possession-based football after that, and the second half was a load of counter attacks that led to weak shots or good saves, and the game ended 2-0. There's the first win against Villa, hopefully we can pick up another one. The stats show that all 4 games against Villa during my time as Arsenal manager have resulted in wins and I know we can make it 5 if we play well.

We've been drawn against the winners of the Cardiff vs West Brom game in the FA Cup Quarter Final, which I'm happy with considering we could've been drawn against Tottenham. In fact, Tottenham and us are the only top teams that are left, and another North London Cup Final derby is looking likely, just like last year's COC final where Mertescaker scored the winner in a 1-0 win for my first piece of silverware as Arsenal manager.

17th February 2015 TOTW:

GK David Marshall - Cardiff

LB Domenico Criscito - Man City

LCB Eder Alvarez Balanta - Arsenal

RCB Martin Skrtel - Liverpool

RB Pablo Zabaleta - Man City

LM Eden Hazard - Chelsea

LCM Lucas Leiva - Man City

RCM Craig Gardner - Sunderland

RM Wilfried Zaha - Sunderland, on loan from Man Utd

LS Robin van Persie - Man Utd

RS Iago Aspas - Liverpool

Arsenal 4 - 1 Aston Villa

Wilshere 15. De Bruyne 40. Giroud 75. Balanta 78. - Falque 73.

A much larger domination, with a total of 31 shots (17 on target) being fired at Guzan throughout the game. I gave De Bruyne another game over Ozil because of his 8.2 rating in the last game and I hoped he would be able to continue that form. He didn't disappoint, picking up a goal and impressing me in the process. I still won't be able to play him that much, however, due to Ozil's importance to the club and ability as a player. 15 minutes in, Luna took Kovacic down in the box but Kovacic's impressive dribbling meant that the Villa Left-back was never getting the ball and the resulting penalty was taken by Wilshere, saved by Guzan but scored on the rebound. I was worried for a second, but Jack reacted quickly and made sure that we got the goal. 40 minutes in, Walcott played De Bruyne through and he unleashed what is one of the best goals I have seen so far on FM. I'm not sure if it was an awful cross or an amazing shot, but it definitely looked like he meant to do it. He stood on the edge of the box at an angle you would usually cut in from but instead looked up, picked his spot and launched the ball with a chip shot from about 22 yards diagonally across the box and into the top corner. It was kind of like Ronaldinho's legendary free kick against England, but from the edge of the box. It was a fantastic bit of skill/luck - I'm pretty sure that was intended but I can't be sure - that doubled our lead. Nothing else happened until 17 minutes from full time when Weimann picked out Iago Falque's run into the box, he took on the keeper, took a shot at the near post that Szczesny did well to save but Falque reacted quickly and buried the rebound to give Villa hope. Hope that would be crushed 2 minutes later when Jenkinson played a 1-2 with Walcott from his throw-in and whipped in a cross for Giroud who finished with a volley on his right foot. It was 3-1 and the game was basically over, but Balanta decided to get himself another goal when Cazorla's perfect free kick from the wing found Balanta completely unmarked at the near post who controlled it and shot at the near post, Guzan made the save but Balanta scored on the rebound to give Villa a taste of their own medicine. It's another 3 points in the league and there are 11 games to go. The countdown to the last 10 games is almost upon us, and it will go down to the wire between us, City and Chelsea with United 10 points behind the chase and unlikely to make a comeback.

That's all for today, tomorrow we come up against Watford in the league and we play the first leg of the Champions League R16 away against Napoli. See you all then

I would like to apologise for yesterday, but I left no time for myself at the end of the day and - as much as I consider this story a priority - homework does come first and I had way more than I thought. So, of course, time for a double update!

Watford 1 - 2 Arsenal

Deeney 22. - De Bruyne 26. Giroud 80(pen).

A game against the overachieving Watford who are predicted 20th but came into the game in 13th, largely because of the recent good form of Troy Deeney. I wasn't expecting the game to be so close, with a penalty in the last 10 minutes becoming the winner, but in all honestly we didn't play that well today. After Deeney's goal, I was expecting an upset because of how complacent and relaxed the whole team seemed, but they reacted almost immediately and we battled through to get the three points. 22 minutes in, Lumb made his way down the left wing before whipping in a perfect cross for Deeney who outran Koscielny and netted the header just past Szczesny, who did attempt a good save but only just missed the tip over the bar. However, just 4 minutes later Sagna's throw-in was headed by Giroud down to the feet of Oxlade-Chamberlain who dinked a perfectly weighted ball to De Bruyne in the box who had time to control the ball and then slot it into the near post for the equaliser. Watford had a few more chances than us throughout the game, but their finishing was largely poor and most of the shots on target were from Deeney, and saved by Szczesny. On the 80th minute, a brilliant counter-attack lead to Giroud playing the ball through to Oxlade-Chamberlain who decided not to go for goal and instead passed inside to Kovacic who was brought down from behind by Abdi to win the penalty. Giroud stepped up confidently and buried the ball with power and accuracy in the bottom corner to give us a late lead.

24th February 2015 TOTW:

GK Joe Hart - Man City

LB Ben Davies - Swansea

LCB John Terry - Chelsea

RCB Ashley Williams - Swansea

RB Carl Jenkinson - Arsenal

LM Pablo Hernandez - Swansea

LCM Pablo Zabaleta - Man City

RCM Hatem Ben Arfa - Newcastle

RM Coutinho - Liverpool

LS Mirko Vucinic - Tottenham

RS Wilfried Bony - Swansea

Champions League R16 1st Leg: Napoli 2 - 1 Arsenal

Scocco 1. 73. - Giroud 77.

The run eventually comes to an end at the hands of Napoli. They outplayed us massively, which I expected from them at home because they're certainly not a pushover team. However, we did get an important away goal and the home game will hopefully be a much better performance. I have confidence that we can make it to the Quarter Finals, just like last year, but going any further will still be difficult with the team we have and the level of competition we could face. Straight from kickoff, the ball was scrambled around the midfield and given away several times by both teams until Tadic played a fantastic ball through to Scocco who took one touch and then rifled his shot into the far corner. As soon as that happened, I knew this would be a bad game. Away from home, we were always unlikely to pick up a win in my opinion. That's why I had my sights set on a draw, but we couldn't quite get that either. Nothing else happened until the 73rd minute, with chances being thrown away or saved by the keepers. Sagna lightly fouled Scocco just outside the area and he made the most of it by taking the free kick himself, smashing it with great power and accuracy into the far corner to double the lead. We did pull one back just 4 minutes later when Oxlade-Chamberlain's cross found Giroud inside the box and he buried it to give us a glimmer of hope and an away goal. Unfortunately, the 23 game unbeaten run since beating Liverpool 5-2 in mid November has just come to an end. Speaking of Liverpool, our next match is an away game against them and the first game of March. You should all know why I love March: YOUTH INTAKE! The youth intake on March 13th will be the final part of this update, and the game the day after will be the first of tomorrow's update.

In terms of the youth intake, there isn't much that would be amazing. Obviously, any 4* or higher potential player would be great, but most positions are covered with youth that I have brought into the club. All we really need is a LB or a 4.5* player in any position, who would likely get into the first team above anyone else in future. We'll see what happens then. For now, I have to concentrate on the next two games. AWARDS TIME!

BPL Player of the Month (February 2015):

1st. Eden Hazard - Chelsea

2nd. Romelu Lukaku - Chelsea

3rd. Juan Mata - Chelsea (Damn, Chelsea have some quality considering that Hazard was 3rd in the Ballon D'or).

BPL Young Player of the Month (February 2015):

1st. Romelu Lukaku - Chelsea

2nd. Mateo Kovacic - Arsenal

3rd. Matija Nastasic - Man City

BPL Manager of the Month (February 2015):

1st. Jack Clark of Arsenal

2nd. Andre Villas-Boas of Man City

3rd. Michael Laudrup of Swansea

Liverpool 0 - 0 Arsenal

A game that could've gone either way and either side could've come away with all 3 points but good goalkeeping from Reina and Szczesny meant that the game ended 0-0. We drop 2 points that could potentially let Chelsea and City leapfrog us due to how close the table is, but it was always going to be a hard game despite Suarez picking up an injury in the 36th minute. There were several chances for both sides but the finishing was poor and any shots that were on target were saved well by the lads between the sticks. Both defense also did well, with the pressure being one of the most notable positive points throughout the game.

On a side note, Man City went ahead and won the COC after a good string of results, including a 2-1 extra time winner from promising youngster Thierry Ambrose that knocked us out early on in the competition. Andre Villas-Boas has done great work since moving there, and the fans are praising him for being their saviour. As long as he isn't doing such good work at Tottenham, I'm fine with that and I have respect for him as he is clearly a great manager.

FA Cup Quarter Final: Arsenal 2 - 0 West Brom

Balanta 23. Cazorla 47.

A complete domination that included 25 shots compared to their 6 (none of which were on target). Unfortunately, only 7 of our shots were on target, which meant we only got 2 goals. Still, we can be happy with our performance and we're through to the semi finals of the FA Cup! 23 minutes in, Cazorla's free kick from out wide found Koscielny who headed the ball towards the far post but the lack of power allowed Balanta to run in and put the potentially off-target header into the back of the net with a low volley. In 30 appearances, Balanta has earned a BPL Player of the Month award and scored 6 goals - impressive for a CB. He looks destined to be the world's next best rock at the back, and I'm very happy to have him. Despite a catalog of chances, the first half ended 1-0. Just 2 minutes into the second half, Cazorla took a wide free kick from about 45 yards and it made it's way into the back of the net with what was labelled a freak goal. However, replays show that the shot was actually going in and Foster's terrible attempt at collecting the ball with a dive just ended up as a slight deflection into the net. I would count that as an amazing - but yes, lucky - goal from Cazorla. With just two games standing between us and my first FA Cup as manager, it's starting to look like my main priority after realising the amazing form that Chelsea and City are both on.

The FA Cup Semi-Final draw has basically allowed the winner of our next FA Cup game to win the cup. Unless Millwall or the winners of the Tranmere-Sunderland game pull off a huge upset, the North London FA Cup Semi-Final derby is essentially the final. Thankfully, we've been drawn at home and our home form has been almost immaculate, with us losing just one game at the Emirates - the 4-5 Monaco Miracle.

HERE IT IS! THE YOUTH INTAKE! Just like last season, I'll show the players in order of star potential. Before I do, I've been given the message that one player called Nathan Cockram (what a name) might be "one of the best players of his generation" which - as far as I'm aware - is the best message you can get for a youth intake player. Here are the youth candidates in order of potential:

0.5*

Jerome Ferguson ST

Raphael Ewang CM

John Monday RB

Alex Stirling RB

Oliver Houser ST

Danny Morris LB

1*

Lumumba Scarlett CB

Joe Hollick GK

Barry Scannell ST

Dylan Evans LM

Matt Forbes LB

1.5*

Ronny Cross CB

Sean Collins CM

2*

Ted McNulty GK

Kurt McShane CB

2.5*

None

3*

None

3.5*

None

4*

None

4.5*

Nathan Cockram CB

5*

None

As well as Cockram, Balanta, Brathen and Casasolo all having world-class potential as CBs, De Francesco's potential has also gone back up to 5*, which is huge. Of course, it could easily go back down but the fact that he could be a 5* player (which is, as previously stated, one of the best of all time in comparison to the ratings across the world) is a cause for excitement itself.

That's all for today's update, I hope you enjoyed this double update and I hope it makes up for yesterday's lack of an update. Tomorrow we have a home game against Wigan and then the second leg of the Champions Cup R16 at the Emirates against Napoli. I'll see you all then