El Payaso

Gotta love these statistical approaches in career updates. Really nice layout in general and something that I could adapt my own update into.

April 2024 A month where you could talk about make or break. If we want to keep our chances of reaching the fifth position, there is no room for error and point drops. Two local derbies make things interesting and those are always going to be games where anything can happen. Premier League Matchday 32 - Both Liverpool and Newcastle had put early pressure on us by surpassing us in the table. As both of the teams were still included in the FA Cup they had played their 32nd league matches the days between and also featured in round 33 earlier today when we faced Fulham. Liverpool had won both of their games and Newcastle had piled 4 points out of their two games. We immediately made the first mistake of dropping points here. Fulham got already in the 6th minute of the game from a well-worked throw-in routine that saw Alex Iwobi applying a finish inside the six-yard box. We controlled the first half quite clearly and also got our equalizer in the 30th minute when Smith Rowe fed Christopher Nkunku inside the penalty area after a nifty move down the left-hand side that was started by Conor Gallagher. We were expecting to turn this game into a victory in the second half but actually, our dominance turned into a narrow Fulham control in the second 45 minutes. Even though Sterling and Palmer were both able to come in from the bench, they were not able to provide us with any real impact. We pushed until the very end and tried to get the go-ahead goal but the luck was not on our side this time. A local derby or not, dropping points against the second-worst-performing team in the league was a huge disappointment. *** *** Premier League Matchday 32 results A perfect round of fixtures for Tottenham who have turned the tables again. Liverpool and Newcastle are putting on a serious fight for the fifth place. Vital three points for Wolves against Everton. Premier League Matchday 33 - We had used that one opportunity of point dropping already this month which meant that we needed a victory against 8th placed West Ham who had been suffering from a huge amount of injuries lately. The game started with a real collector’s item when Raheem Sterling scored already in the fourth minute of the game from Dedicr’s through ball. The early goal was followed by a lucky spell when James Ward-Prowse got himself injured in the 25th minute and had to leave the pitch. This was followed 13 minutes later with our quick break that ended with Emerson fouling Sterling through on goal which gave us a penalty and a straight red card for the former Chelsea full-back. Christopher Nkunky buried the spot-kick with confidence and we looked good value for the three points for the first time in a long time. The second half allowed us to sail smoothly to our home harbor. We took a notch or two out of our tempo and simply controlled the game. Sterling crowned his exceptional afternoon at the beginning of the second half by making a precise run to Caicedo’s long through ball before setting up Enzo Fernández at the edge of the penalty area. The Argentinian continued his rather effective scoring form by finishing with confidence. A ruthless 3-0 victory was all that we could ask for. This result made our lossless streak 11 games long and gave us a much-needed clean sheet too as Kelechi Iheanacho missed his only chance of the game in the 89th minute by chipping the ball over both Sanchez and his goal. *** Premier League Matchday 33 results Tottenham seems to be full of confidence now. Liverpool is another team in a hot streak of form. Interesting managerial switches: Dyche took control of Brighton, Dean Smith was hired by Burnley and Graham Potter now took the reign at Everton. Premier League Matchday 34 - A trip to Brentford under pressure was not something that we were anticipating. We had already thrown away the one opportunity to slip during April and needed a win to keep up with Liverpool and Newcastle. The first half was uneventful but ended in the worst possible way when Ivan Toney was able to use their only chance of the half with a precise finish in the 42nd minute. Our team responded in the best possible way at the beginning of the second half when Nkunku, Palmer, and Smith Rowe combined well, releasing the latter through on goal to score. We were the better side in the second half but were not able to break through. Madueke finally scored the goal that looked like to be the winner in the 88th minute but the goal was ruled out as a narrow offside call. We would probably have deserved to win this but considering the cutting edge that we have had in these tight games earlier this season, we can’t complain too much. *** Premier League Matchday 34 results Manchester City took the points in the Manchester derby which sees United's title hopes coming to ruins. Chelsea needed three points to get past Newcastle and Liverpool but failed. Premier League Matchday 35 - Wolves are the real mystery team of this season and in real danger of getting relegated with a fairly good squad in hand. The all-important victory that they took against Everton at the beginning of the month had been followed by heavy defeats against Manchester United and Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-final. Things were looking difficult for them. We failed to show any mercy for the visitors as we went 2-0 up in less than 20 minutes with a brace from Christopher Nkunku, the striker who seemed to finally be finding some goalscoring form after our tactical tweaks. Nicolas Jackson made it three after the half-hour mark which took the game out of their hands. Wolves were playing quite well, especially in the second half, and threatening us a few times. The last goal of the game fell to us though as Noni Madueke hit a screamer in the 59th minute to make it 4-0. It was a big moment for Wesley Fofana as he featured for us for the first time in almost a year after a serious knee injury. The French centre-back was taken on in the 62nd minute and by that got some vital minutes in the Premier League, getting prepared for the new season where we are looking for him to be like a new signing for us. Wolves were probably the most fragile team that we had met this season. A bunch of decent individuals lacking confidence and a clear game plan. It looks like they will be relegated. *** Premier League Matchday 35 results Everton captain Seamus Coleman injured his knee seriously in the match against Liverpool, which saw the right-back retiring from football with an immediate effect. Tottenham took huge three points from City which completes the total turnaround for them - The Spurs could clinch the title on matchday 36 when they visit Arsenal. Liverpool and Newcastle are sadly the two best teams in the league at the moment among Tottenham. League table Player stats May schedule

Molinas looks quality. Also exactly the type of player thst I always like to build my teams around.

Haven't given this thread a read yet but definitely will. Was actually following South American football a lot while living in Argentina in 2017-19. Seems really interesting.

March 2024 As Liverpool had given us an open invitation to the race for the fifth spot, there was no chance for point drops here. The monthly schedule was interesting, especially the two games in the middle both huge and difficult. There was also no place for underestimating Luton or Nottingham Forest who have both been performing above expectations and stayed clear of the relegation race. Premier League Matchday 28 - 2nd of March, 2024 Two games without a victory had seen Luton Town dropping positions and making a late invitation for the relegation battle. The Hatter were looking to turn their tide into positive again by securing three points against the Chelsea side, which might still be battling for fifth place. The home team looked threatening for the first ten minutes of the game as Barkley and Doughty were combining well down the left-hand side multiple times. Our defense stood tall though and we were able to counter many times directly from our powerful clearances from our penalty area. The first goal of the game came through the brilliance of Cole Palmer once again. Romeo Lavia won the ball back in the midfield in the 15th minute before finding Palmer down his flank and the creative Englishman played a first-touch through ball for Nicolas Jackson to run to. The Senegalese made no mistake in his finish and it was 1-0. Things seemed to get easier when Marvelous Nakamba chopped down Palmer attempting to start a counter attack just two minutes later. Anthony Taylor gave the aggressive midfielder his marching orders and the home side was a man down with more than 70 minutes to play. Luton responded magnificently though as just five minutes later Alfie Doughty got into the wrong side of Reece James and was able to make a run to the byline before placing a precise low cross for Ross Barkley to finish. It was a fantastic move from the home side but once again a clear indication of James' defensive liability that had cost us many times this year already. The rest of the first half looked like we could edge it at any moment and we did get the go-ahead goal after the half-hour mark when Palmer was able to cut inside from his right flank before finding Enzo Fernández 25 yards out of Luton's goal. The Argentinian once again showed his lethal shooting technique by burying his attempt. There were no further goals in the second half but it was a surprise to see how well Luton was actually able to match us with 10 men. They could have easily equalized the game from 'somewhere' and especially the battle between James and Doughty was all the time looking dangerous as our captain simply wasn't up to his defensive task. Even moving Fernández to the right-side DM position didn't seem to help a lot. *** *** Premier League Matchday 28 results Arsenal took a huge 3 points against Manchester City to boost their title odds Manchester United are the hottest team in the Premier League at the moment and crawling their way to the title race. Tottenham ended their abysmal run at the expense of Newcastle which saw the home team ending their five-game winning streak. Premier League Matchday 29 - 9th of March, 2024 Home game against brilliantly performing Newcastle United and two teams battling for the positions between five and seven. Two teams with really hard-working midfielders and pacey attacking players looking to launch deadly counter attacks. Can it get any better than this? The 4-1 loss against us was a work accident for Newcastle and you could see it straight from the beginning as they looked really up to this game, challenging us in every aspect. For us, it had been back to the drawing board after three poor performances. 4-5-1 formation was back and heavily re-invented intending to get more out of our team that can perform magnificently well when in a 'mood' to do so. Luckily we did look sharper than we had been in the last few games and this was also our salvation as otherwise, Newcastle would have eaten us alive today. The game itself was exactly as most of us were expecting. Hard fighting in the midfield and both teams nullified each other's attacking threat. Raheem Sterling was the first victim of the hard battle as the Englishman had to leave the pitch just 4 minutes into the game after being tackled by Livramento. The game was lacking good scoring chances but we got one just before the half-hour mark when Nkunku made a powerful run into the byline before finding supporting Madueke who was able to cut inside from the flank and find Cole Palmer open inside the penalty area. Our best player of the season then had an easy job to apply the finishing touch and make it one-nil. It didn't take Newcastle long to reply when Anthony Gordon's corner kick was poorly cleared and Callum Wilson got an easy chance inside the penalty area to finish off. Newcastle took the physical advantage in the second half and we constantly seemed to be losing the battles in the midfield. A draw would have probably been a justified result here but we had luck once again, like we have been having a lot lately, just before the one-hour mark when Nkunku was finally able to escape from Guimaraes and Lo Celso in the midfield before setting up Mudryk for a run down the left-hand side. The Ukrainian had the patience to stop and watch Palmer making his late run inside the penalty area before a simple pass that found the youngster free once again. Palmer made no mistake in his finish and this was enough for us to get the vital three points which finally turned the tables around between us and Newcastle and placed the Magpies in the chasing position. Sterling's injury was quite bad this time and the Englishman would miss the rest of the month and join Smith-Rowe in the injury bay. This, on the other hand, will give more opportunities for Madueke and Mudryk to impress. The match itself was one of the most entertaining and high-quality that we have seen in the Premier League so far this season. Two very evenly sides against each other and the feeling of battle all the time present. *** *** Premier League Matchday 29 results Vincent Kompany and Roberto De Zerbi both got sacked after matchday 29. Liverpool's poor form continued with a huge loss against Manchester City in a game that the home side dominated. Jürgen Klopp is rumoured to be the next in line and another poor result would probably seal his faith. Tottenham's victory against Newcastle was just a short relief but they are still holding a place in the title race. Manchester United are a force to be reckoned at the moment and there seems to be no team that can stop them. Premier League Matchday 30 - 20th of March, 2024 We had a few small injuries during the international break which meant that we went to this game without a backup keeper as Petrovic was among those less fortunate. Aston Villa had been fairly inconsistent this season which had already seen the Birmingham-based team dropping out of the battle for European spots. An away point against Tottenham in the last round showed us once again how good a side they can be at their best. We got the worst possible start to the game as Cole Palmer had to leave the pitch after just ten minutes of play. Luckily we had Smith-Rowe back in the lineup and this gave the Arsenal loanee an excellent chance to step up and build his match fitness. Event-wise the start was good though as Christopher Nkunku scored a rare but even more important opener in the 25th minute after burying Mykhailo Mudryk's shot's rebound into the open net. Aston Villa were the better side in the opening half and they got the equalizer just before the break. It was probably the most annoying way to concede though as there were two players totally unmarked in Aston Villa's freekick which allowed Yuri Tielemans just to chip the ball above our wall of players to Alex Moreno who had an easy job to score against Sanchez who had been left totally alone. Note: even though I want to take this career update as a footballing career update, these kinds of bugs in the match engine are the only ones that make me consider reloading the game and playing the match again, but I decided against it like always. Thorn in our side Ollie Watkins got Aston Villa through the lead just after half-time when Tielemans got the ball in the midfield and was able to spot the striker's well-timed run into the penalty area with a beautiful lofted through ball. This game reminded me a lot of the one that we just had against Newcastle and the home team seemed to edge us out just barely throughout the game. We got lucky again just before the hour mark when Aston Villa failed to clear our corner kick delivery properly and Reece James was able to set up Smith-Rowe for an easy finish. The final half an hour of the game was fairly evenly matched and both teams mainly threatened from long distance time after time. We had the best chance of the dying minutes when Mudryk was able to pounce in Aston Villa's defensive lapse but was unable to get the ball through Martinez who made an all-important game-saving save. Cole Palmer's injury will see him missing the rest of the month but he might survive with just two weeks of absence. Otherwise, we are close to being fully fit once again as even long-term injured Wesley Fofana has returned to light training. *** *** Premier League Matchday 30 results Arsenal and Tottenham both dropped points which means that the Manchester sides are now in the pole position considering the title race. Liverpool didn't get a win but Jürgen Klopp will have at least one more chance to turn things around when they will face Burnley in the next round. Newcastle were able to bounce back and stay in our tail. Premier League Matchday 31 - 30th of March, 2024 The month ended in a matchup between two in-form teams as Chelsea were 2nd in the latest form table while Nottingham was sixth. One of the main questions here would be how many chances the away side would be able to produce through the wide-area battle between Reece James and Calum Hudson-Odoi who had already torn us apart once this season. The answer was three, inside the first 15 minutes. But we did do our job decently well inside our penalty area to nullify the threat that those crosses were providing. We also had a new hero for this game as Emile Smith-Rowe was ready to make his first start after his 4 weeks of injury. The Arsenal loanee scored us the first in the 23rd minute when Conor Gallagher made a strong run down the left flank before placing a good pass into the space for Smith-Rowe to run to. It was a nice combination of play between the midfielder and wide player which saw the middleman finding himself by the touchline and wide-man making a rightly timed run in the middle. Exactly how you would like a Mezzala to work with an inverted winger. We got our relieving second one just after the half time when Mark Cucurella stepped inside from his full-back position before spotting Smith-Rowe's well-timed in-cutting run to the penalty area which ended up the Englishman free inside the penalty area. A brace and what a way to introduce himself to the starting lineup again and replace all-important Cole Palmer there. We were looking comfortable at this point but decided to make things more interesting through a goalkeeping error provided by Sanchez who dropped an easy corner delivery for Moussa Niakhate to finish after the hour-mark. After this things got really nervy and Nottingham was able to connect from every single set piece that they got and Sanchez had to be there to pay back his error more than once. We only got back in control after we took Thiago Silva on in the 81st minute to calm things down. The 39-year-old did exactly what we wanted: no Nottingham highlights at all after that. Yet another successful limp over the finish line. *** Premier League Matchday 31 results Manchester United's monstrous form continued with yet another convincing win. Manchester City took a slip. Tottenham took a convincing win which could see them regaining some confidence and form. Klopp's Liverpool took the result that they needed. Newcastle are not giving up either. League table This might well be the most thrilling title race in the history of the Premier League. Manchester United has come out of nowhere to take the pole position while Arsenal has a game in hand against Brighton. The battle for fifth position is also very much open as well as the relegation race. Player stats

This is what you call a career. Brilliant updates one after another and it is nice to see that you have still a lot to chase after three seasons, even domestically. These kind of saves give me an inspiration also to think more about club DNAs and such and play the game in a different way. Thank you for this amazing thread.

I am actually liking this version of FM probably most since FM 2013 which was a brilliant and well-balanced version and probably had the best match engine that Football Manager has ever had. The Mustermann skin that hides attributes has forced me to change my gameplay and actually made me use comprehensive highlights again. Even though most of the events displayed still don't have much to do with real-life football, there are actually brilliant games of football when both teams come to play and are evenly matched. The best ones are definitely those where both teams struggle to reach ten shots in total and most of the highlights consist of something else than real scoring chances. This forces you to be aware of things all the time and it also makes the events way less predictable. What I especially like is the fact that there are way less of those games where only one team appears to the game and sums up 30-40 shots and total domination against nothing but headless clearances. This is how it should be always: even the bottom team if the league being able to actually play against you and even pulling an upset.

February 2024 Part II Our journey continues with two Premier League games against Burnley and Crystal Palace and we will finish the month with an FA Cup home game against Bournemouth. *** Premier League Matchday 26 VS 17th of February The dropped points against Tottenham meant there was no chance for an error in an away game against Burnley who were sitting 19th in the form-table. As there was no room for errors or hesitance, the plan was to hit the home team early and hit them hard. Burnley was able to deflect our first wave away with both a good piece of defending and a pinch of luck. We always looked confident and found our way through in a rather extraordinary fashion when Axel Disasi headed in Conor Gallagher's free-kick delivery in the 26th minute. There was a quick-fire double when Emile Smith-Rowe finished a quick counter-attacking move just four minutes later from a good releasing pass provided by Noni Madueke. We took our foot out of the gas pedal after going two-nil up and had to wait until the hour-mark to see something happen again. The third goal of the game luckily also fell to our side as Gallagher and Smith-Rowe played a nice one-two at the edge of the penalty before a precise finish from the latter. It was the first start for the Arsenal loanee and a brace to celebrate. Burnley had taken more control of the game during the second half and they got their consolation rather deservedly in the 81st minute. It was Hannes Delcroix again punishing us with a powerful near-post header. We looked unconvincing through the last 10-15 minutes of the game and a second goal was practically waiting for itself to happen, but luckily we pulled through. A ruthless performance and three points are all we wanted here. *** *** Matchday 26 results Liverpool's point drop against West Ham means that the race for the sixth place is now turning into a fight for the places between 5 and 7. Tottenham's miserable form continued in a local derby while especially Manchester City is showing signs of yet another Premier League title. *** Premier League Matchday 27 VS 24th of February Crystal Palace were the team to give the final judgement for Mauricio Pochettino who was sacked after a humiliating 3-0 defeat. Even though this gave a chance for our new management, it was also a great chance for a payback. You would think that the team would be motivated enough for circumstances like this but we played the worst game of the season so far. It was only one brilliant youngster that saw us through this time. And it was the same man that had saved us so many times this season already. Our player of the season so far, Cole Palmer got us through after 23 minutes when Cucurella's powerful run down the left flank ended in a low cross that was buried by the midfielder inside the six-yard box. It didn't take long for the visitors to get back on even terms when Reece James once again forgot his defending duties and how to mark a man. It was a great through ball by Matheus Franca for the new loan signing Yoane Wissa but James was nowhere to mark the in-cutting wideman's run. Crystal Palace was able to disturb the tempo of our game with many hard fouls that saw four of the players leaving the pitch before intended. I don't know if this was the reason why our team looked uninterested and even scared most of the time. We got lucky though just 20 minutes before the end when Palmer played a quick one-two with Armando Broja before escaping to score the second goal. Crystal Palace was well worthy of a draw here but we take the three points with gratitude and luck. *** *** Matchday 27 results The surprising point drop for Liverpool sees the competition getting even tighter. Newcastle on the other hand is not willing to give us any chance of getting past them. *** League table Player stats *** FA Cup 5th Round *** Going back to this game simply annoys and hurts us all so much that we decided to even skip the regular match review session. The two things that you can think about at this point are the fact that we have now played two of our worst matches in a row and secondly why is this happening now? I take full responsibility for this loss. The team has been well most of the time during my era, and it is now my job to be able to find ways for us to reach this level of performance again. We can't take any positives out of this game for sure. Well, maybe the fact that the amount of fixtures is going to be a bit lower from now on gives us the full possibility to concentrate in the league and secondly, Reece James was not responsible for either of the goals that they scored which is a real rarity.

I think Champions league is already gone and even beating Newcastle for the 6th place is going to be tough.

February 2024 Part I The beginning of the month could be described as very difficult and also interesting in a way that we will be having our chance to put our spoon in and mix the Premier League title race in a big way. The 9-day break comes in handy for sure as after this short run without any games, we will be having two of our important midfielders back from international duty. *** Premier League Matchday 24 VS 3rd of February, 2024 Eight games without losing, two wins in a row against Tottenham, and second place in the Premier League table. Erik ten Haag's team is doing well at the moment. Young left-back Amar Dedic was given a start in the most difficult fixture that he could imagine, while Emile Smith-Rowe was on the bench. This was also the last push for Conor Gallagher and Romeo Lavia who have been performing magnificently well in the midfield while our two South Americans are absent. The board and fans were ready to settle for a draw, but this didn't apply to the players who made Stamford Bridge erupt in the 7th minute with a goal worthy for a game of this stature. Lavia started the move by winning the ball back deep in our half from Mason Mount before setting up Noni Madueke for his trademark run down the right-hand side. Madueke then found Cole Palmer in the middle, who was able to set Christopher Nkunky free from the Red Devil's defense before a powerful finish from the edge of the penalty area. It was all Manchester United from then on as the visitors took clear control of the game. The best chance of the first half fell to full-back Dalot, who was able to trouble Sanchez with a well-placed effort that was deflected wide by the Spaniard. We should have gotten two up at the beginning of the second half when Smith-Rowe was able to play Sterling through on goal with his first touch on the ball. The Englishman somehow froze when he was supposed to be applying the finish and Onana was able to rob the ball from his feet. Manchester United's attacking play was nullified mostly by their bad timing of forward runs which saw the visitors piling up a huge amount of offsides through both Hojlund and Rashford. The visitors almost found the way through again in the 72nd minute, but this time it was Christian Eriksen who was denied by Sanchez. This was the last threatening thing that Manchester United was able to produce and it meant that we had limped over the finish line, just barely. How did our debutants fare? Smith-Rowe was the most productive player going forward after coming on at halftime. Dedic on the other hand looked comfortable throughout the 90 minutes and almost scored with a long-range effort in the 67th minute. *** *** Premier League Matchday 24-25 fixtures Arsenal and Manchester City had a busy schedule but both of the teams were able to keep their good form going. This means that the hunting pack was quickly approaching Tottenham who lost their third game in the Premier League and fourth game in total in a row. As both the Gunners and City were going to play their matchday 26 game earlier than the Spurs, the results could see Tottenham already dropping third before the match against Chelsea at their home stadium. Premier League Matchday 25 VS 12th of February, 2024 Tottenham were 10 points clear at the top of the Premier League table before 2024. The new year has been awful for Postecoglou's men who were now on a four-game losing streak and in real danger of losing the once sure-looking Premier League title. What made things even worse was the fact that Manchester City and Arsenal winning their gameday 26 fixtures saw Spurs dropping third in the table. A fully healthy Chelsea was a good test for the former league leaders. A win here would still make Tottenham favorites for the title and could turn the tide for them. The first half of the game was something that could easily have expected. A hard fight in the midfield saw both teams canceling each other out. We were one attempt ahead of Tottenham in the shots throughout the first 45 minutes but we can't say that either of the teams was threatening. Then out of nowhere came the Enzo Fernández strike that took us one goal ahead. It was a nice piece of play from Cole Palmer and Cucurella down the left flank that set up Nkunku inside the penalty area for an attempt. The French striker was unselfish though and pulled the ball back for his Argentinian colleague who finished securely from the edge of the penalty area. Tottenham were able to tighten their screw in the second half and were a way better team, especially after the hour-mark. We had plenty of opportunities to counter but were wasteful giving the ball away dangerously instead of being able to play it to the space between the defence. On the 54th minute it looked like we were 2-0 up but Jackson's goal, set up once again by Nkunku was judged as an offside by the VAR. Tottenham deserved something from the game and deservedly got their equalizer in the 81st minute. We gave the ball away cheaply in the midfield which saw Richarlison escape from Reece James before setting up Son with a precise low cross who finished the nifty attacking move. Both teams tried to win the game in the end but didn't come close to doing so. A 1-1 draw was quite well justified, yet disappointing for both teams. *** Matchday 25-26 results *** League table Player stats

Probably not. But I would much rather see newgens starting as something like this than they currently are. In my opinion it is first of all too easy to see straight from the beginning which of the newgens are going to be good, and secondly I feel that too many of them reach really high percentage of their full potential even before they turn 20. When you look at U-21 sides and real players at 18 or 19 years old in the beginning of the game. Most of the really promising ones are still far away from being ready for the first team responsibility and these players have already been there for 3-4 years before "spawning". Of course there are always going to be those who peak at really young age but I'd say that majority should progress slower and go into the loan out for a couple seasons before being ready for the big games.

Just to add to the previous message about physical attributes. This is Harry Kane at the beginning in FM 2010. A player that turned up to be a really complete player physically but far from it when he was almost 16 years old.

January Part III The journey continues in the fourth round of the FA Cup Cup against Burnley and another away game against Everton. One of the main points of interest is the question: will we find a replacement for Ben Chilwell? *** FA Cup Fourth Round VS 27th of January, 2024 Vincent Kompany's Burnley was looking for some form of consolation in their battle against relegation in the Premier League by progressing to the fifth round of the FA Cup and dropping one of the big boys. Even though this current Burnley team isn't the same that we were used to under Ginger Mourinho, it was still a task in hand. Especially considering that we would be without the services of both Enzo Fernández and Moises Caicedo who are representing their countries at the sub-23 level until some point in February. A bright start is something that we were all hoping and that is what we also got when Sterling scored our goal of the season so far. It was a swift move, where the Englishman played two one-twos, first with Nkunku and then with Mykhailo Mudryk, who released the pacey winger through on goal. Just ten minutes later it was Mudryk's turn to make things two-nil from a long through ball provided by Axel Disasi, who has been getting some starting minutes in the cup games. We continued controlling the game after this, not creating anything massive and taking our substitutions early on. Just ten minutes before the full-time, I was already thinking that this could easily be crowned as our most solid defensive effort as even though Burnley was active and trying hard to break through, we didn't give them even a sniff of our goal. This thought was quickly shot down when Sanchez made an easy mistake by dropping a crossed ball in a corner kick, which was finished by Hannes Delcroix. The final minutes of the game were nervy but we held on. Even though it was Mudryk, who was elected as the player of the match, I do have to give a huge credit to players such as Disasi and Lavia, who were superb at winning the ball back in tight situations. The fifth round will see us hosting Brentford at the Bridge, which will give us an excellent chance to progress. *** Premier League Match Day 23 VS 30th of January, 2024 Everton are once again fighting for their lives in the Premier League. A win in the FA Cup, and especially at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the previous round in the Premier League must have gotten both Sean Dyche and his team thinking that they can survive once again. We started brightly once again by creating two really good scoring chances through Mudryk and Nkunku in the first fifteen minutes of the game. The 23rd minute saw Mudryk drop out because of a minor muscle injury. The substitution of the in-form Ukrainian also started our downfall and Everton started to come alive. Dyche's men had already beaten Pochettino's Chelsea at Stamford Bridge thanks to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who was the one causing havoc also this time. I don't know, what has gotten into Reece James lately, but his defending in the 39th minute is something that we don't want to see. The club captain simply invited Arnaut Danjuma to have a go against him before allowing a free cross inside the area, which was buried by the towering Calvert-Lewin. This was the 6th goal that the striker had scored in January and his third of the season against Chelsea. The haunting of the Englishman continued just two minutes later when he beat Thiago Silva on the ground before hitting the post with a powerful drive. We were done after this and the killing shot came just before the halftime when Amadou Onana was there for the second ball after an Everton corner-kick. Our final possibility to salvage something from the game was gone when the substitute Ugochukwu got injured in the 74th minute and we had run out of substitutions. The final notable action came in the 83rd minute when Dele Alli almost scored against us with a long shot that parried away by keeper Sanchez. Even though we lost this game deservedly and didn't even manage to score, I really cannot blame the effort that we made. We got into the right areas many times during the 90 minutes and could easily have scored, but the difference seemed to always be that Everton were hungrier at both ends of the pitch. Their defending inside their penalty area was simply sublime and this also shows in the amount of shots that we had. Fair play for Everton. Hope they will stay up. *** Matchday 23 results Manchester United took vital points against Tottenham who now lost their second game in a row, which takes their total tally of losses to three. It is still looking unlikely that the Spurs will be able to lose this title but at the moment they are doing their best to make things at least a bit interesting. Chelsea on the other hand dropped back to 7th as Newcastle kept their rather good form alive. *** League table Player stats *** Two join Chelsea on the deadline day! Chelsea made two new signings in the dying minutes of the transfer deadline day. Emile Smith-Rowe was someone we were monitoring throughout the month. The situation with the Arsenal youngster kept going back and forth and when he was placed on the loan list on the 30th day of the month, we decided to act and loan him for the rest of the season. The second signing was a permanent one from Austrian champion Red Bull Salzburg. The youngster was one of the first ones that our scouts found after the move of Ben Chilwell. As we were scouting almost ten different options, the 21-year-old Bosnian international also seemed the most suitable one. It's a huge risk of course making this decision after just a few days of thinking but we were able to snap the youngster in front of AC Milan, who had placed a £5M more valuable bid than we did. With £33M transfer fee this could prove to be a really good signing for us. Welcome to Chelsea Amar Dedic! *** @SixPointer thank you so much for your comment! I also find this season very interesting both in my career as well as in real life. There are many good teams and none above the others.

Haven't really checked how newgens look like in the last few versions of FM I terms of attributes. But in my opinion for years FM had the problem that especially the high potential newgens had way too high physical attributes straight from the start. You could even get a 15-year-old newgens who were straight away better physically than for example Messi in his prime. If we take a look at for example Spanish players in general in the past, there is a clear trend that they tend to be more on the intelligent and technical side than being physically strong.

January 2024 - part II We will continue our journey with the FA Cup fixture against Ipswich Town, the team that had already knocked Chelsea out in the Carabao Cup. We will also cover the Premier League round 22, where we will be hosting Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge. FA Cup Third Round There isn't much more that we can say about this fixture. We were in total control of the game but had to work hard to find the opener, which came through a nice passage of play between Mudryk and Cole Palmer, who got through on goal with a perfectly timed forward run. After this, we were missing chance after chance and also taking a lot of somewhat silly sots at the edge of the penalty area. In these matches, it is often the case that when you cannot take your own chances, you will be hit by the odd one from the opposition at some point. This also happened to us as James' passive defending down the right-hand side invited a low cross in, which Conor Chaplin buried. This result forces us to a replay, which takes place just 3 days after our game against Bournemouth. *** Chilwell joins Al Hilal! Ben Chilwell's tenure at Stamford Bridge came to an end as the long transfer saga with Al Hilal came to a close. The Saudi Arabian club offered us 52 million pounds up front, which we were able to negotiate up to £62M. As the offer was accepted, the ball was at the feet of the fullback, and he had the freedom to decide what he wanted to do: continue his prime years of football at the highest level possible or take the money and maybe return to European football in a couple of years. Many of our team members voiced their concerns about the transfer, which is understandable. This also forced us to put finding a new left-back as our main priority in the scouting assignments. I do trust that Cucurella and Maatsen can do the job for us, but if the right opportunity arises in January, we will probably take it. We were also close to signing Arsenal's Emile Smith-Rowe, who had not been featuring in the team as much as he would have liked to. The negotiations fell down and after just a couple of days, the two parties were able to solve their differences as Smith-Rowe was sadly removed from the transfer list before we were able to try again. *** Premier League Matchday 22 VS Sunday 14th January, 2024 A strange round of fixtures, where Arsenal, Manchester City, and even the almost unbeaten Tottenham had dropped points, saw us in a place, where we could even make our way to the battle for the European places. And could it get any better than facing the team bottom of the table together with Everton and Wolverhampton? The match against Ipswich had gotten us worrying that the opponents are now starting to adapt to our style of play and forcing us wide to play in ineffective crosses. Bournemouth made this thought even stronger by nullifying us almost throughout the whole match. It took us almost an hour to break through and it must be said that we broke through with pure luck as the opener came to us from a corner, where Raheem Sterling was able to set up Mykhailo Mudryk at the edge of the penalty area and his shot took a wild deflection that left the opposition keeper without a chance. After the go-ahead goal, the visitors also needed to crawl out of their shelves, which allowed us more space to play our own style of football. I think we were all afraid that the away team would do us the same thing that Ipswich had done 8 days ago, but luckily the second and last goal of the game also came to us. This was also more like it as Palmer started a swift move at the halfway line releasing Noni Madueke down the right flank and instead of running byline, the young winger decided to play a through ball for Christopher Nkunku to run to. The Frenchman took his chance and gave us the all-relieving second goal that saw us through. *** Premier League Matchday 22 results *** League table Player stats *** FA Cup Third Round Replay We opted to play our second-choice team also in the replay fixture. This time an early goal was a welcome bonus and made our job so much easier. Noni Madueke, Armando Broja, and Ian Maatsen all came to the team as well as they possibly could as they were rated the three best players in the park. We finally also had a bit of luck against Ipswich in the third goal as it was Nkunku's shot from a freekick that deflected in from Broja. The other three were quite well-worked ones coming from quick breaks that we are always looking for. The statistics also tell you that we were able to force Ipswich to play some football by scoring early on and forcing them to chase the game. This is always going to be better for us, especially against teams that are considered weaker than us. We will be facing Burnley on the 27th of January in the fourth-round fixture. This is an away game and will be covered in our next update.

January 2024 Schedule After a busy and very difficult December, a four-game month is warmly welcomed. After facing many of the main rivals during the last month, the schedule could also be described as rather easy. During the month, we will be without the services of Nicolas Jackson who is representing his country in the African Cup of Nations. *** vs 1.1.2024 Stamford Bridge After six games unbeaten, we had all the reasons to go into this game full of confidence. After the hard patch of fixtures, we decided to rotate a bit by bringing Cucurella, Malo Gusto, and Rómeo Lavia to the starting lineup. Things started well, as we were able to score the first goal after just 20 minutes of play. Ben Chilwell had been the best player in our previous game and Marc Cucurella wanted to also show what he could do. The Spaniard was invited to make a run to the byline by Brighton's defense, which the fullback also did. His precise cross found Cole Palmer inside the penalty area and we were 1-0 up. We continued to dominate the half after the opener but were not able to extend the lead even from some good chances that the team created. A one-goal lead always makes you think that anything can still happen and this thought was always there even though the team was dominating possession and also creating chances. The relieving second goal came in the 56th minute when we got a lucky deflection from a corner kick and the ball fell to the feet of Fernández, who had an easy job to finish in the open net. Brighton came into the game only after the hour-mark and came close to scoring a few times as we passivated a bit more than I would have liked. There was only one goal more and this came to the hosts again, when Malo Gusto was able to release Sterling in front of him. Sterling then had an easy task to provide a tempting ball inside the area, which was finished by young substitute Deivid Washington, who scored his first goal in the Premier League. Matchday 21 results League table It's only mid-point of the season but Tottenham are already practically already the Champions. Out of nowhere, we have taken ourselves into a position where we could still at least in theory be battling for second place. Along with Tottenham, only Newcastle and Chelsea are having a good form.

Cesc Fàbregas' philosophy with Chelsea As we have past 2023 and also reached and passed the midway point of the season as well as found some result-based and tactical consistency, it is a good moment to talk a little bit further about our tactical philosophy. Main principles (CESC) Cunning We want to be always hard to predict by mixing our style of play and being dangerous in many different ways. Exciting I want my team to play attractive football, score plenty of goals, and dominate most of the matches. Sharp Even though we are looking to control possession and build a large amount of passes per game, we always look to hit the opposition hard, when they make a mistake or simply lose possession in the wrong place. Creative I want to take most of our individuals and let them play football in their natural way. I am especially looking into our central midfielders and concentrating a lot of my tactical efforts on how I can make the most of their strengths as well as minimize their weaknesses. Formations The two main formations that we have used so far have been 4-1-2-2-1 (4-5-1) and 4-2-3-1 with defensive midfielders. These two are both flexible setups that can work in many types of football. The flexibility also Team instructions Positive mentality We do not go into any of the games thinking that we are not able to win or that we will settle for a draw. I think we are capable of challenging any of the Premier League teams in their own game and taking them on to see who is stronger. Mixed passing and tempo For me, creativity means that you don’t limit your team to play in a certain way in possession. I am thereby giving the team the freedom to decide on what kind of pass they are going to play in certain situations, as well as letting them choose, whether they are going to take slow things down or try to break the opposition with a quick break. Counter-press and counter I want my team to be as active as possible and always look to win the ball back as quickly as possible after losing the possession. In my opinion, it is also logical to combine this with the will to hit the opposition in a break as often as possible. After all, the opposition will be most vulnerable right after losing the possession. This also suits well within the team that I am working with. If you compare the current selection of players to the ones that for example Barcelona had, when Cesc was playing there, the difference is obvious. While the players are somewhat comparable to the Busquets, Xavi, and Iniesta trio in some areas, it is obvious that we are way off in terms of creativity, movement, and passing ability. This means that our midfield trio is more of a physical and hard-working one we cannot rely on building enough high-quality chances for the more advanced trio by restricting them to just slow tempo and ball control. This style also applies to their strengths out of which winning the ball back from the opposition and delivering it quickly to our more advanced attacking trio is one of the main ones and which also should make us dangerous. Be more expressive I want the team to have as much creativity and fluidity as possible so this is quite an obvious choice. While we are more of a hard-working team than an intelligent one capable of playing a tiki-take style of football and creating something out of somewhere even with the minimum tempo, I want to actively encourage my players to take risks and pick up the pass that they see as the most suitable one. Might cost us at times, which has happened, but that is football for you. Prevent short distribution We want to be active throughout the whole pitch and won’t allow the opposition to play free out of the back. Stop crosses We have conceded most of the goals so far from crosses. I want to try and force the opposition to try and focus their attacking play throughout the middle, where our main strengths within the defensive play also lay as we have high-quality and hard-working midfielders within the team. Player roles and instructions Roaming I have instructed all the four most advanced players to roam freely. I want this quartet to be our main source for creating chances as well as finishing them. For me it makes a lot sense to let these players Tight marking I want my wide players and more defensive-minded midfielders to always do tight marking to make it more difficult for the opposition to find space. Within the park. In theory, this will also increase the amount that we can win the possession back and counter. Defensive line Centre back pairing This is a fairly general setup if I am honest. Many of our centre-backs are capable on the ball and I want one of them to be able to also produce something going forward when the situation allows. I have never been a fan of stopper and cover combination as in my opinion, this leaves a bit too much room for an error on both of the players. Wingbacks These are probably the two most challenging roles in the team as this duo has to be productive on both ends of the pitch. As we are a team that plays fairly narrowly when in possession, I want these two to be offering the width and different kinds of passing options for all the rest of our players. Especially the attacking left wingback should also find himself by the byline and even inside the penalty area finishing attacking moves. Midfielder trio Deep lying playmaker We have two variations for these. The deep-lying playmaker’s role is to serve as a sort of quarterback who has the freedom to also play progressive passes to his colleagues. I like Enzo Fernández a lot in this role as he is a very complete midfielder and a bit of a mix between Fàbregas and Frank Lampard. A player that is both solid defensive as well as capable of going forward and even ending attacking moves. B2B midfielder / Defensive midfielder The rest of the two are chosen so that the box-to-box midfielder role, often occupied by Gallagher or Caicedo is expected to provide support to both ends of the pitch. Here the high work rate, stamina, pace, and general versatility come into play. If you have hard-working and still productive options available, then the box-to-box midfielder role is always something to be considered utilizing. I also like to keep this role as a fairly generic one, which allows me to do a lot of small tinkering based on the performance and the way that the game is playing itself out. Attacking midfielder The third midfielder has been given a bit more slack in terms of defensive play and encouraged to be as productive as possible when going forward. This has been working great for us in both of the formations as Cole Palmer has been the best player in the team so far this season. Gallagher is also a player who can fill up to both of these roles, yet with him, we have to tinker a little bit with the personal instructions as he is technically and creatively a more limited player than Palmer is. Attacking trio The idea for the attacking trio is to have them move as freely as possible and also be as difficult to mark as possible. Inverted winger Raheem Sterling is usually the one occupying the inverted winger role down the right-hand side. The idea here is to allow Sterling to attack both the space between the opposition center-back and full-back as well as at times act like a regular winger, which is a logical choice when you take into account Sterling’s abilities as a footballer as well as his right footedness. Inside forward The inside forward’s role is to sit more narrow and help our team with the buildup in the middle of the park, be there to finish the chances, especially when we attack through the right-hand side, and provide space for the left wingback to attack in the space by dragging the opposition fullback inside. Complete forward I always want my striker to be active in the game and participate in both the buildup process as well as be there to finish our attacking moves inside the penalty area. While our strikers haven’t been that effective in terms of goals so far, there have been many cases where the striker deserves a lot of the credit for the goals that for example Palmer has been scoring so far this season. The complete forward is often causing havoc in his active movement and by that leaving Palmer or one of the other attacking players within the team unmarked. Nicolas Jackson has been showing a lot of promise in this role and Nkunky also played his best game of the season so far against Sheffield United, which is encouraging. The currently injured Armando Broja has been the most effective in this role for us and next season it will be really interesting to see Lukaku back in the squad as he also has the Diego Costa effect in him with his strength and aerial ability. Strengths and weaknesses The main strength within the team is the fact that we have a bunch of hard-working, versatile, skillful, and pacey players. This allows us to be effective in both actively winning the ball back from the opposition as well as getting it to the areas where we can be dangerous. The main weaknesses are at the moment the age structure of the team and also the lack of experience, leadership, and the right type of mentality. This is also a thing that makes for example mentoring and player development a bit more difficult and it will be a difficult task for us to make some of our brighter talents reach their potential. We also lack final third movement and size, which can make our attacking play a little bit ineffective. If the opposition can force us to the flanks and drop deep waiting for crosses, we are at least in theory going to be in trouble. The final third movement and the ability to play low crosses against an unorganized defense are both one of our main principles within training and style of play. *** @AlfieLucas and @Rick87 - Thank you so much for the comments and support! Much appreciated! I am always looking to write something that interests people and it's good to see that I have at least a few active readers. Hopefully, with the changes that I am making, I'll be able to make this more appealing and interesting type of career update.

v The Blues end year 2023 in style 29.12.2023 Sheffield United hosted Chelsea at Bramall Lane in the last fixture of 2023. Important points were on the line as the hosts were looking to climb above the drop zone, while Chelsea is having a tough battle against Newcastle for the 6th position. Chelsea has had a great December so far as the team has only lost their first game of the month against West Ham, while facing Manchester City, Arsenal, and Liverpool in a row. Sheffield United on the other had won 3 of their six and lost against Liverpool, Manchester United, and Burnley. The Blues got to a great start as they scored the first goal in the 13th minute. Enzo Fernández and Ben Chilwell played a nice one-two down the left flank, which saw the left-back escaping attention and having a free chance for a low cross that reached Christopher Nkunku, who scored his first goal for the Blues. The second goal for Chelsea came through a nice collaboration between their fullbacks as Reece James found Chilwell at the edge of the penalty area. The Englishman was on fire in this game as he jinked past George Baldock before a good finish to the bottom corner of the net. Sheffield United's dreams of a comeback were quickly buried in the beginning of the second half when Mykhailo Mudryk was able to beat Baldock on the left side before setting up Cole Palmer for an easy finish inside the penalty area. The Blues had been dominant through most of the game and Cesc Fábregas saw an excellent chance to change things around after the hour mark. The Blues made four of their five substitutions already in the 62nd minute and seemed to also lift their leg from the throttle a bit. Chelsea were desperately looking for a clean sheet to improve on their rather mediocre defensive record. Dreams of doing this took a bad turn in the 89th minute when Malo Gusto fouled Rhian Brewster inside the penalty area. The Blues conceded a penalty kick for a third game in a row, which Brewster himself buried. The Blues were lucky to concede only once though as Benie Traore also hit the crossbar in the 93rd minute. Matchday 20 results *** Decided to continue this career update anyway as I have found it interesting save, mainly thanks to the fact that I found the @GIMN's brilliant Mustermann Iconic skin, which has made the gameplay so much more interesting as well as forced me to rethink my gameplay. Sadly I don't have the league table to offer at this point as I already played the first game of 2024. The aim in future updates is to concentrate more on my gameplay and talk a bit more about statistics, tactics, etc. which might be more interesting for the followers than just reading about results. General feedback and wishes are of course warmly welcome as I am all the time looking to improve my content. Chelsea is also an interesting save for me as I see the team really talented and well-built for the future, which means that I really don't have to build the squad, but instead keep developing the players that I have at the moment and bring many of those tens of loanees finally to the first-team. When thinking about squad building for the summer transfer window, I only see replacing Thiago Silva as a necessity. Silva has already fallen into a rotation role after the many mistakes he has made for us this season and his lack of pace is really hurting at times in our style of play. I know that we have loads of young talent and even quality in this area, but I want to keep things also logical and have at least one more experienced center back in the team to bring both leadership as well as the capability for mentoring our young talent such as Colwill, who has already become our first-choice central defender. So, what I am mainly looking for in summer 2024 is assessing our loanees and giving as many of them a possibility in the first team as I realistically can. Out of those more experienced ones I am also looking to bring Lukaku back to the first team.

Dutch football is always interesting and thanks to Arjen Robben, Groningen is a team that I have been following quite actively through the years. Good luck with this challenge. I will be following.

Delete

Chelsea and Liverpool clashed in a Boxing Day match Wednesday 26th of December, 2023 Chelsea hosted Liverpool in the 19th round of the Premier League at Stamford Bridge. With both teams practically already out of the title race, Chelsea were looking for an opportunity to draw their way back to the fight for the last Champions League place. Things didn't start brightly for the hosts as Ben Chilwell ended up fouling Mo Salah inside the penalty area after Liverpool's attacking throw-in in the 6th minute of the game. Rob Jones checked the tackle from the VAR but was happy with his initial decision and let the penalty stand. Mo Salah was the one taking the penalty and made no mistake by sending Roberto Sanchez in the wrong direction. The goal was Salah's 200th in his senior career. It didn't take long for the Blues to reply. In the 8th minute of the game Liverpool was trying to counter through Salah down the right-hand side, but Egyptian was this time cleanly dispossessed by Chilwell, who was able to find Moises Caicedo at the halfway line, the ball moved quickly to Cole Palmer, who released Raheem Sterling in the right flank. Sterling was caught up by Andrew Robertson, but Curtis Jones was not following Reece James' supporting run properly. The fullback was able to get a free pass inside the penalty area from which Mykhailo Mudryk was able to finish. The rest of the first half was uneventful as the hosts were looking for solutions through Sterling, who was often marked by both Robertson and Jones, who did a good job by nullifying their countryman. The only half chance that Sterling was able to provide through his runs down the flank was in the 15th minute when he found Cole Palmer at the edge of the penalty area and the youngster sent the ball to the stands. Liverpool started the second half brightly and looked way more productive going forward in the early minutes of the half. Many of their build-ups were interrupted by offside flags though, which also disturbed the general flow of the game. Chelsea tightened their screw after the one-hour mark and from that point on Liverpool were barely holding on. In the 64th minute, the Blues came close as both Sterling and Caicedo were able to test Allison from distance. The Brazilian was calm and parried both of the attempts to safety and gave Chelsea no chance to have a go from the second ball. Sterling's nightmare of a game continued twenty minutes from the full-time when he had two chances inside 20 seconds. In the first one, the Englishman ended up crossing to no one, and in the latter, Alisson was again there to stop him. Chelsea's best chance of the second half came in the 87th minute, when the man of the match Caicedo made a strong run to the byline before sending in an inviting ball for both Conor Gallagher and Enzo Fernández to finish. Gallagher was able to get to the end of it but was unable to beat Allison from close range. The strong second-half performance must have left both Chelsea and especially ex-Liverpool player Sterling thinking that they could and probably should have won this one. Both teams will be ending the year on the 29th of the month, when Liverpool will host Luton Town and Chelsea will travel to Sheffield to face home team United.

Arsenal and Chelsea cancel each other out in the London derby Saturday 23rd of December, 2023 Two Pep Guardiola's apprentices met each other at the Emirates in the West London derby. Chelsea's Cesc Fábregas met his former team for the first time as the manager of Chelsea as the high-flying Blues featured in already their fourth West London derby in December. The home team Arsenal wanted to keep their title hopes alive in a game where only three points would be enough for Mikel Arteta's men. The home team almost got a perfect start as Gabriel Jesus escaped the attention just two minutes into the game. The in-form Brazilian got behind Chelsea's defense from Declan Rice's precise through ball but placed his shot narrowly wide from the right post of Chelsea's goal. The game remained fairly quiet for more than ten minutes. Still, Arsenal got another excellent chance to get in front when they were rewarded a rather soft penalty as Levi Colwill was judged to push Gabriel Jesus inside the penalty area. Bukayo Saka took Robert Sanchez on but was unable to get the Spaniard, who dove to the right side and was able to turn the ball past the left post of Chelsea's goal. Chelsea were unable to threaten the home team in any way during the first 45 minutes as Fábregas' new 4-2-3-1 formation was mainly only able to nullify most of the Gunners' attempts. The visitors took full advantage of their first chance of the game in the 55th minute. Christophe Nkunku's free-kick was blocked by Arsenal's wall, but Conor Gallagher was the first one to react. The English midfielder then set up Nicolas Jackson at the edge of the penalty area, who had a free shooting lane in front of him. Jackson's finishing attempt was one of a confident striker and the Senegalese took the Blues in front. Sanchez kept acting as the away team's hero of the day in the second half by denying both Bukayo Saka's and Gabriel Martinelli's efforts after the one-hour mark. If the match in general was lacking both excitement and drama, the stoppage time of the game made a huge difference. While Arsenal only managed to sum up 8 shots in total during the whole 90 minutes, their 94th-minute equalizer was well-deserved. Sanchez was first able to save Kai Havertz's header from Saka's precise cross, but the Spanish keeper was finally helpless when the rebound fell to Jorginho, who was able to place the ball into the empty net of the visitors. Just a minute later Arsenal seemed to take the lead as Leandro Trossard escaped from Malo Gusto and offered the ball on a platter for Gabriel Jesus, who finished with ease inside the six-yard box. The goal was checked with VAR and the decision turned offside. Arsenal were left rueing their missed chances as well as waiting forward to the result of the match between Liverpool and Tottenham at Anfield Road. Both teams will be in action once again on Boxing Day. Chelsea will continue their difficult end-of-the-year schedule by hosting Liverpool at Stamford Bridge while Arsenal will visit Crystal Palace.

MATCH DAY 17 - A DREAM ROUND FOR THE SPURS Tottenham Hotspurs took one step closer to their dream of winning the Premier League as the Spurs beat Arsenal narrowly with Richarlison's goal. The round of fixtures suited the London-based team's desires as Chelsea were able to beat Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. Elsewhere Manchester United dropped points as the fierce battle of rivals ended in Liverpool's narrow victory at Old Trafford. In mid-table Aston Villa continued their rising trend by beating Fulham 3-1 at home. At the bottom end of the table, things are not looking good for Everton, who are now 6 points away from safety after losing 2-0 at home against Brighton. LEAGUE TABLE AFTER MATCH DAY 17

Not sure if I have any readers for this career update, but if you happen to be one, please feel free to give me ideas on how I can improve the story and make it more interesting.

Injury-hit Manchester City edged by Chelsea in hard-fought battle Stamford Bridge 16th of December, 2023 Pep Guardiola's men suffered their third defeat in five games as the reigning Premier League champion visited Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The Citizens were missing a large number of their key players, such as injured Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Ederson, and Ruben Dias. Phil Foden, on the other hand, missed the game thanks to a suspension from a straight red card against local rivals Machester United. As City's backup goalkeeper Stefan Ortega was also injured, 41-year-old Scott Carson was forced to make his first Premier League outing since May 2021. Young centre-backs Lakyle Samuel and Kane Taylor were handed their first Premier League starts in the visitors' defense. Cesc Fàbregas also opted for a couple of big chances, most notably in his choice of formation, which saw Chelsea line up for the first time in a 5-man backline and without wingers. The Blues' captain Reece James was out due to flu, which saw Malo Gusto starting as the right back. The attacking duo was formed by still-recovering Christophe Nkunku and in-form Nicolas Jackson. The Citizens were up against it in a difficult away game, but the visitors started the game brightly. After just 10 minutes, the visitors took the lead as Bernardo Silva's corner was cleared by the hosts' defense but Josko Gvardiol was able to play the ball back inside the penalty area, where Silva had found himself some space. The Portuguese playmaker made no mistake finishing an important goal that took the visitors ahead. As everybody was thinking that things couldn't get any worse for the visitors in terms of options, things actually got worse for them in the 22nd minute, when Mateus Nunes caught Malo Gusto with his studs up. The Portuguese midfielder was thereby sent off with a straight red card. Fábregas decided to make a few changes to his cautious mentality and brought Cole Palmer on for Romeo Lavia after just 30 minutes of the game and placed the former City midfielder just behind the attacking duo. Palmer was able to get his team going and once again provided a decisive touch, when he set up Jackson for an easy chance at the far post in the 41st minute. The Citizens were looking to regroup and take something out of the game in the second half. Their plan panned out almost until the end as the hosts were unable to turn their slight control of the events into anything productive. The same duo that created Chelsea's first goal struck again in the 87th minute as Marc Cucurella spotted Palmer's run into a channel between Kyle Walker and the young centre-back Samuel and the youngster was again able to set up Jackson at the far post and the Senegalese was able to beat both Gvardiol and Carson to the ball to make it 2-1. Chelsea were probably not as convincing as they should have been with the man advantage, but the third consecutive win took them to the 6th position. Manchester City on the other hand are hoping to get past their dreadful spell with the injuries and be able to keep up with Tottenham, who now have a seven-point lead at the top. Chelsea will have yet another London derby in their schedule on the 23rd of December as they will face Arsenal at the Emirates. City on the other hand will continue their games in the Club World Championship where they will face Al-Ittihad in the semi-final.