[FMC14] Sticking to the top five leagues

[Darius1998]

I had originally planned to document my Eastern European save here after the end of my exams but I have had a change of mind and that has something to do with my laptop being too slow for that particular save. Classic mode at least allows me to browse through the seasons quicker and for me, it doesn't remove any element of fun from the game. This game will have no particular aims. I have started as an International Footballer and with the help of the 'Pick a Team for me' option, I've landed up in the East Midlands. Here we go then.....

Leicester City

The reason for choosing them is also helped by the club having excellent training facilities, great youth facilities and also not a lot of expectation - the club is predicted to finish 10th. A lot of promising players who are already good as well. I'll be on £20,500 p/w.

I'm already through my first season so the next post would be more like a season review.

[Darius1998]

Chapter I: New Beginnings

Leicester City

2013/14

Sky Bet Championship

Fixtures 1 - Fixtures 2 - Fixtures 3 - Fixtures 4 - Transfers - Postions graph (Promoted teams)

We had quite a season making an absolute mockery of the pre-season predictions. Ritchie De Laet and Wes Morgan were sold because of offers that looked very good while a number of big earners like Waghorn, Konchesky and Danns were offloaded. Nils Teixeira came in to replace Konchesky and was really good at both RB and LB. Gomez, Boyata and Gonzalez and short loan spells and performed. Palladino struggled with injuries while Keko did well post-December. Boyata came in permanently for just £375K while Barca B's Javi Espinosa was a bargain and is a really good prospect for £120,000. Shola Ameobi came in late in the season but played only once and was released.

The team started excellently in both league and cup but a poor run from late September dropped us down to 10th in the league. A slight change of formation helped shore things up at the back and we won the East Midlands derby against Forest having thumped Derby earlier in the season. By now, we'd already exited the Capital One Cup to Fulham which was a bit undeserved. We had 20 shots but few on target and although Teixeira pulled one back, it wasn't really enough.

We had a disappointing defeat at Hillsborough but soon we went on another great unbeaten run. Table-toppers Reading lost at the King Power and then we beat Derby twice at home in January - 2-0 in the FA Cup 3rd round and 4-0 in the league. This run came to an end away to Leeds and incidentally, it was their last win of he season as the Whites went down.

Oxford beat Sunderland (0-0 away with 20% possession and 10 men for an hour, 1-0 home win where they had the better chances) after a replay and were up next in the FA Cup. Young winger Keko supplied all three goals as we blew them away. Middlesborough were beaten in the FA Cup at the Riverside Stadium which set up a trip to Stamford Bridge. Our FA Cup run came to an end but not without a fight. We had 59% possession and Danny Drinkwater struck the post in the 77th minute after Chelsea took a first-half lead. Eden Hazard eventually finished us off in the 86th minute.

We had a bit of a hangover from that loss and also blew away a 2-1 lead at Barnsley. That turned out to be our last defeat of the season. We secured promotion with 4 games to play and a win over Bolton thanks to Drinkwater's 1st minute goal secured the title for us and along with that the dreamland known as the Premier League.

Awards

Anthony Knockaert was sensational this year although he won't sign a contract extension. 16 goals and 19 assists for the 22 year-old dubbed the new Michel Platini.

New contract

A pay rise to £25,000 p/w and also an avoid relegation bonus of £150,000 to look forward to next season.

[Darius1998]

Leicester City

2014/15

End of October

I'm not sure if it was to help the club's 'running costs' but if the chairman comes to watch every game in his private helicopter, he is surely stinking rich.

Season expectations are pretty much what you'd expect. Predicted for 20th at odds of 1000-1.

Pre-season

Pre-season went much as expected. 8 games played, won half of them including a great win over Fiorentina.

Transfers

On the transfers front, there was a lot of activity. Ayoze Perez (the Newcastle one) and McCubbin are great prospects and have been loaned out to the Championship for now. Oliver Hein was pre-arranged in January but he isn't Premier League quality and went back to Germany on loan. Jason Steele replaced Schmeichel who didn't want a new deal. Remi Pillot is a very good back-up for him. Ulloa replaces Chris Wood who left for Bayer Leverkusen. Byram and Mariappa were initially brought in as 1st choice in their positions but have failed to live up to it. Caprari had a poor 3 games and has broken his ankle. Viviani replaces Danny Drinkwater who left for Norwich while Bellamy and Belotti came in after long-term injuries to Caprari and Nugent.

Fixtures

It's been a poor start for supposedly the league's worst team. We played well at Villa and should have at least had a draw but defended well against City while missing 1 or 2 good chances to win it. A reserve team didn't take their chances against Tranmere while Chelsea had it easy against us. A poor first-half saw us lose to West Ham but Boyata's double from two Knockaert corners won it for us against Newcastle. We played poorly at Carrow Road and in the next game, Wigan went 2-0 up and despite our domination, held on for a win. We took the lead against Swansea but they equalised 3 mins later and Byram's back-pass gifted Bony the winner. At Tottenham, Sandro put them ahead but Espinosa's goal levelled it. However, Liam Moore was sent off after a pass caught out the defence and Erik Lamela rammed home the penalty.

League table

Makes pretty grim reading but at least I'm enjoying the save.

[Darius1998]

Real dilemma here. Since the last update, we beat Everton 2-0 at home and West Brom 3-0 away. Michael Laudrup left for City and hence, this is available. Take it or leave it?

[Darius1998]

I think this day settles it. I'll wait for a better offer maybe but I feel I should help Leicester stay up. If we survive, there's always that £150,000 bonus as an incentive.

[Darius1998]

Two offers to tell everyone about.

Newcastle

They've been terrible this season and why would I want to work under Mike Ashley anyway?

Southampton

I gave a thought to this one and the reason I rejected it was that it came in the middle of the season. If it had come towards the end of the season, I would have had a difficult decision to make.

[deltablue]

Great Man Utd win.

[Darius1998]

Great Man Utd win.

There's more to come in the next update, I promise.

[Darius1998]

Leicester City

2014/15

End of January

One more transfer happened before the free transfer window closed - GK Mattia Perin on a free transfer although I do feel I should neer have signed him. He's since been loaned to WBA till January and then to AC Milan until the end of the season. In January, we also got Tom Carroll on loan from Spurs and Gianni Bruno from Lille. Bellamy was released as he was hardly playing while St. Ledger's contract was mutually terminated for being alienated with a fine.

Fixtures

It's come quite of the blue this run of form. Belotti scored on his debut against Everton and they had Baines sent off for a two-footed tackle on Knockaert. Nevertheless, our poor confidence allowed them to dominate but Ulloa eventually secured victory late on. It spurred a great first-half performance at the Hawthorns that blew West Brom away. A great game against United gave us the 3 points. Knockaert and King scored and despite Nani pulling one back, we were always in the game and left-back Castaneda sealed the win late on. A late goal by Fulham thwarted us despite the fact that we were the better team. Reading were bottom of the table and it was an amazing game with both keepers (Steele and Alex McCarthy) in top form. We were better though and won 4-0 and then 2-1 away against Southampton.

Another 4-0 win - over Cardiff this time - brought us close to the top half. We missed our chances and finally lost to Stoke (who actually rose to 2nd). At Arsenal, after a poor first-half, we were really good in the second and a bit unlucky maybe to lose at all. Liverpool were up next and I was thinking our run had ended but a brace from Anthony Knockaert led to a 3-1 win. Nils Teixeira meanwhile won the Barclays Player of the Month award for December (average rating of 8.34 for the month) while Liam Moore won the zyoung Player of the Month award. Yeovil were beaten in the FA Cup and a pair of sensational Knockaert goals sank Villa. Against Chelsea, it was another good performance. We never gave up and Mandzukic headed a corner into his own net to win it for us.

Away to City, we were never really in it and lost 3-0 and Palace (in the Championship now) held us to a draw. We came from behind against West Ham to win and got a win at St. James' Park to lift us to the heady heights of 8th. Anthony Knockaert won the Player of the month award for January.

It's been coming. I was in third place for both November and December. Now I have my first Manager of the Month award in the Premier League.

[True Blade]

Amazing run of form there mate

[deltablue]

Good idea staying after all.

[Darius1998]

Amazing run of form there mate

Thanks. It's taken me by surprise as well. Anywhere in the top 10 would constitute an amazing season for us.

Good idea staying after all.

Looks to have paid off although more strengthening would be required over the summer.

[Darius1998]

Leicester City

2014/15

End of season update

Fixtures

We eventually defeated Palace in the replay in the FA Cup and then a hattrick from Gianni Bruno destroyed Wigan. Swansea at the Liberty were tough and maybe just about deserved the win. By now, Andy King and Matty James had suffered three-month long injuries. A tired and makeshift team then were blown away by Villa to end our FA Cup run. We bounced back from that to beat Norwich but lost late in the game against Spurs. We didn't take our chances and only managed draws against West Brom and Everton in games that could have gone either way. Manchester United eased past a totally makeshift team (3 youth players on the bench will tell you something) despite Knockaert pulling one back.

April was really good. We took our chances to beat Reading and Bruno scored 4 goals in a thumping win over Fulham. Southampton and Cardiff were both beaten 2-1 with Bruno continuing his rich vein of form. It thus led to me winning the manager of the month award for April.

A poor display at Stoke saw us lose 6th place along with an eight-goal swing going in their favour. At Anfield, two Jonathan Schmid goals meant we looked down and out but Viviani pulled one back and King, on his first appearance since returning from injury, equalised late on. The final day was all about the title showdown. Chelsea were on 76 from 37, Man Utd, Arsenal and Man City on 75. Chelsea won theirs, United drew. We played our part in it. Mikel Arteta had a penalty saved after Mariappa missed two first half chances. Santi Cazorla put them back ahead but substitues Ulloa and Sam Byram turned it around. We couldn't hang on though as Cazorla got a draw for Arsenal in the 88th minute. Was it enough to qualify for Europe though?

It was. Thanks to Tottenham winning the FA Cup against Liverpool (they didn't qualify as runners-up despite finishing 13th, so, I don't know how it worked out that we qualified).

League table

60 points in our first season back in the top flight. Not bad then especially considering we had 4 points from 9 games at the end of October.

Anthony Knockaert won the Championship Player of the Year award last time and he made a great step up to win the FWA Footballer of the Year award this season. It's a shame that he won't be here next season. I can't give him the £71k p/w contract he's asking for so he'll have to be sold for around £13-16M next season.

Two players make the team of the year. Knockaert and Nils Teixeira, signed last season from FSV Frankfurt. He's remarkably consistent and can attack as well as defend equally well. He has also been capped by Portugal recently.

Third place and Mark Hughes pipped me to 2nd for some reason (maybe because he beat us 4-0).

[Darius1998]

Leicester City

2015/16

End of October

Season expectations

It was initially £22M but a few signings occured before so it showed up as £12M to avoid relegation. We're predicted 16th at odds of 100-1 although I'm hopeful of another top-half finish.

Transfers

Remi Pillot leaves after spending last season as second-choice (played 8 overall) with Mattia Perin taking over his spot. Tom Carroll and Federico Viviani's loan moves were made permanent while Gianni Bruno signed up on a free after scoring 11 in 12 last season. Anthon Knockaert leaft for Monaco and has a like-for-like replacement in Greek international Kostas Fortounis. Dedryck Boyata's departure left us with just two centre-backs, so, I brought in Kalas (on loan) and Cummins. Frascatore replaces Castaneda at LB while Benedetti will be a back-up option for the same spot (has since been loaned out to Sheffield United). Danny Ings is an upgrade on Ulloa who I sent on loan to Sunderland (total loan fee of £900k). Adrian Mariappa still hasn't entirely convinced me so in comes Rio Ferdinand, to provide some experience if nothing else.

Preseaon

We had a good enough pre-season including a great win over Olympiakos although the first two friendlies were a bit disappointing. Europa League commitments beginning early on as well. An easy 2-0 home win more or less secured the tie and a second-string team won 3-2 in Croatia.

Fixtures

We had a slow start in the league as we played poorly in a defeat at Villa and were unlucky to not get anything against Man Utd at home. Another poor performance at Newcastle. The hosts were better but nevertheless, we lost a 3-1 lead to draw 3-3. Icelandic side FH had surprisingly got so far but it wasn't a surprise as our second-string won comfortably home and away to secure a 6-1 aggregate win. Being 4th seeds for the Europa group stage, we drew Spartak Moscow, Club Brugge and Belarussians BATE Borisov.

After the international break, we beat Liverpool at the King Power (a tad fortunate, admittedly) followed by Brugge in the Europa League. A draw with Fulham was followed by a 5-1 hammering of Championship side Bournemouth in the Capital One Cup and then a 6-1 thrashing of Burnley at Turf Moor with Danny Ings being destroyer-in-chief against his former club. Dean Hammond's 33rd minute sending-off left us in trouble at Spartak Moscow. Ferdinand levelled it but the hosts then led 3-1. Two late Bruno strikes, however, had me jumping about my room and also kept us top of the group.

Reading and Swansea were dispatched with ease. BATE were stubborn on their ground but Ferdinand's late goal (must have picked it up at United) got us 3 points. A rotated side lost to Derby County in the cup but we never had enough shots to deserve anything at Arsenal.

For September, Nils Teixeira won the Barclays Player of the Month award (Liam Moore was 3rd) while Javi Espinosa won it for October (with Kostas Fortounis third).

League table

I thought it would be a poor first third of the season again but we recovered enough to reach 4th before the defeat to Arsenal dropped us to 6th (1st Nov is a Sunday so we may drop further). Liverpool's position under Marcelo Bielsa (appoined after Rodgers and Luciano Spalletti were sacked) makes bad reading for me, or any other Liverpool fan reading this.

[DavidBeckham]

Some nice transfers there! Ings and Carroll should do well for you!

[Darius1998]

Some nice transfers there! Ings and Carroll should do well for you!

Ings has had a great start and has scored quite a few till date. Carroll has been unspectacular but good enough as a DLP and I'm sure he'll improve as well.

[Darius1998]

It was easy enough in the group stages and a win at home to BATE Borisov secured qualification. We eventaully finished top after beating Club Brugge and drawing with Spartak Moscow. A tough test awaits in the knockout rounds. First, we play Dynamo Kiev with the winner of this tie going on to play the winner of the PSV-Metalist game. Even then, it would be good just to have European football after Christmas.

[HotChocolate]

Very good start to the career.

Tough draw against Dynamo Kiev, hopefully if you nullify them in the away leg you'll be able to power past them at the King Power

[Darius1998]

Very good start to the career.

Tough draw against Dynamo Kiev, hopefully if you nullify them in the away leg you'll be able to power past them at the King Power

That was certainly the plan and after a 0-0 draw in Ukraine, we couldn't really do it. They had Lukman Haruna sent off for breaking Tom Carroll's foot (ended his season:thdn:) but their defence held firm and we lost 1-0 thanks to a wrongly awarded penalty.

[GDH38]

Good job so far, even if it is with stupid Leicester.

[Darius1998]

Good job so far, even if it is with stupid Leicester.

Thanks. I take it that you are a Derby fan by the way?

[GDH38]

Thanks. I take it that you are a Derby fan by the way?

No, Watford. There's a bit of modern history between us two

[Darius1998]

Leicester City

2015/16

Okay, so, as the season is complete already I'll provide a long update divided into two parts like the usual updates I make.

Part I : End of January

Fixtures

The 3-0 win over BATE sealed qualification to the knockout round of the Europa League but we were rather poor in November in the league. After beating West Brom, we were dominated for large spells by City but responded in the Europa to win 2-1 in Belgium thanks to Bruno's brace. This was followed by a few poor performances as we lost to Sunderland and Everton in matches where we would have done better with the chances we created. Ings' late goal secured a point at Norwich and a reserve side got a creditable draw against Spartak.

The win over Stoke got us back to winning ways and after Hammond's goal at the Lane, everyone was back defending for thir lives as the team somehow held on. It wasn't our best day against Southampton but Espinosa's equaliser gave us a point. Ayoze put us ahead against Chelsea but we couldn't hold on against the league leaders in the Boxing Day fixture. It was a lot more frustrating at Old Trafford as we led 2-0 but they scored twice in 73rd and 78th minutes to equalise with de Gea denying Ayoze from long range in the last minute.

Danny Ings' hattrick blew away Ipswich and we destroyed Villa at the King Power. Newcastle, who were in 2nd place under Redknapp, visited us next. I was unaware of their league position and set up the team to attack. We dominated but both teams missed a number of chances thanks to the excellence of both Tim Krul and Jason Steele. Ayoze had us ahead and on the way to another 3 points but Ben Arfa's 89th minute goal ruined the day for us.

League table

Up in 5th and still having the possibility of getting a top-four spot.

Transfers

Javi Espinosa left the East Midlands for sunny Portugal when Benfica met our £13M asking price (£5.5M of that to be paid over the next 12 months). It is a big profit (we got him for £120,000) but a bit of a loss as he'd scored 12 in 20 league games upto that point. Callum McManaman's contract at Wigan was up and they accepted a £1M offer from us and I believe I've got a good replacement there for Espinosa.

Always nice to win this award. Ayoze Perez also won the January Barclays Player of the Month award, just edging out Kostas Fortounis.

Part II : End of the season

Our two month long unbeaten streak was ended by Fulham and despite winning at the Liberty Stadium, we looked far from convincing right after that. Aston Villa again ended our journey in the FA Cup having won a replay with League One Gillingham 6-0. We got what we wanted away to Dynamo Kiev but lost to Arsenal having gone for the win. Dynamo created the better chances and put tackle after tackle in. Lukman Haruna was sent off for ending Carroll's season (broken foot, 4 months out) but Ferdinand's tackle was judged to be a penalty and they took a 41st minute lead, holding on quite comfortabl after the break. It dropped the team's morale as they failed to score for three games in a row.

Sunderland equalized after Ings scored but Ayoze had us in front again and Ings added a quick third. Norwich and Everton were easily beaten as our form seemed to recover in the push for a higher position. Liam Moore's equaliser ensured we got away from the Britannia with something. We then dominated against Southampton but still needed a late Hammond goal to get a point (Should have won as they only had 1 shot on target in the whole game). Danny Ings' hattrick turned around a deficit at Stamford Bridge as we lead 3-1 at HT. Chelsea came roring back and scored 4 in the 2nd half to win 5-3. It ended any lingering CL hopes and we went into the last game trying to regain 6th. Spurs were ahead but McManaman and Danny Ings looked to have won it for a dominating Leicester. Erik Lamela's 87th minute equaliser meant Spurs stayed 6th while we finished 7th again.

League table

A point shy of last year's total but still a great season despite losing Knockaert and Espinosa.

Job offers

Swansea were on a run of eight straight defeats when this offer came. Straight away rejected.

Rejected again. Seems like Cortese and Jenkins like me a lot.

Awards

3rd again.

Great season for Danny Ings. He finished 3 goals clear of Chelsea's Mario Mandzukic.

Teixeira and Ings make the Team of the Season, quite deservedly with Liam Moore getting a spot on the bench.

Goodbye Leicester!

I was waiting for the Liverpool job but Bielsa wasn't sacked despite finishing 12th. Wenger retired at Arsenal and although I never applied (haven't applied for any job so far), they offered me a £39k p/w contract for two years which was negotiated to £40k p/w and without the 35% relegation wage drop clause. Leicester were paid £1.4M in compensation as well. It is a bit disapointing that that I am on £40k p/w while Wenger was on £115,000 p/w.

[Darius1998]

No, Watford. There's a bit of modern history between us two

Oh, well. I am off now. Does that refer to that play-off semi-final? Deeney scoring after Knockaert's penalty miss.

[HotChocolate]

Great working on the Arsenal job & keeping Leicester in the upper echelons of the Premier League

[Darius1998]

Great working on the Arsenal job & keeping Leicester in the upper echelons of the Premier League

Thanks. I think I left Leicester having done all I could. They are predicted for 12th this season, so, the squad is strong enough for the new manager (Manuel Pellegrini) to keep up the progress.

[Darius1998]

Chapter II: Challenging for major honours

Arsenal

2016/17

End of the Year

Part I : Preseason

Season expectations are exactly what they would be in real life - qualify for the Champions League. I will, however, try to stop Mourinho and Chelsea's domination as they look to be comfortably the best team in England. (Won the CL, PL and COC in 2015/16).

Transfers

A load of transfers to talk you through. Mertesacker was in te reserves on a huge contract and was thus sold to recently-relegated Frankfurt. Arteta and Monreal had got too old for me and were shipped off to Bilbao for a combined £8M. Jack Rodwell comes in to midfield as does Emre Can. Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ozil left for fees that I deemed big enough for them - £25M and £46M (plus a friendly) respectively. Suso has to develop but I admit that I overpaid for him while Tomas Martinez is an absolute bargain for £8M. Fringe players like Sanogo (£600k), Sergi Darder (£3.7M), Chuks Aneke (£1.7M), Jenkinson (£2.8M) and Fabianski (£2M to Palace) were all sold to free up some space. Sagna left for Bordeaux and we instead bought Sakai and Hewitt for the right-back spot. Luke Shaw will be first-choice at left-back while Kurt Zouma can become a future defensive partner of the world class defender that is Eder Alvarez Balanta (Wenger got him for £3.5M). Papiss Cisse... panic buy. A number of promising youngsters have gone on short-term loans and I'll follow their progress carefully.

If anyone wants a screenshot of something (ANYTHING), do let me know and I'll try to help out.

Preseason

A comfortable pre-season. A tour of USA to boost merchandising sales, a trip to Vienna and two friendly requests from Germany.

Part II : August to October

It was a frustrating start, I must say, we should have won our first five games instead of just 1. Courtois kept us out at Wembley and the Emirates, Welbeck equalised for Man Utd in the 90th minute and Wolves thwarted a striker-less formation (much to do with Morata initially missing loads of chances). Once we got going though, we were brilliant to watch. Pleasing on the eye and taking down opposition defences with speed, movement and good finishing. We won 8 in a row in all competitions and it put us top of a potentially dangerous CL group (Milan, Anderlecht and Wolfsburg) and also set us up as a contender for the Premier League title. It wouldn't be Arsenal though without a few frustrations and we bottled it at St. Mary's and nearly did it again after being 4-1 up at Swansea. We finished the month with a comfortable win over my and Fortounis' (he scored as well) former club.

Part III : October to December

This has become a bit frustrating. A loss at Milan where although the rotated team deserved to lose, we should have done enough to get the goal that would keep us top of the group. We were never in it against Man City though. During the international break, we played Real Madrid in the friendly that was part of Ozil's deal and made close to £1M in revenue and TV money from it. Spurs were blown away in the North London derby thanks to Morata's brace. Milan lost at Wolfsburg and we travelled to Belgium knowing that a win or draw would put us top. Should be done right? Not if you're Arsenal.

We got a scrappy win over Villa before Martinez and Sterling tore Wolfsburg apart, second choice 'keeper Emiliano Viviano playing his part with a few stunning second-half saves. We gave away a late goal against Fulham and just as if it was destined to happen again, Chelsea somehow beat us in the Capital One Cup despite being dominated for the 3rd time this season. Morata levelled it at Newcastle but their superior finishing resulted in a comfortable victory fot the Toon. Reading, Everton and Swansea were beaten comfortably before a rotated team (we were to play Man Utd two days later) drew at Stoke.

League table

Still ahve a chance of winning the title but Chelsea have a game in hand as they were away winning the CWC. It's still incredibly tight at the top though.

He's been good.

The perils of finishing 2nd in the group. Real Madrid await us in the next round.

[deltablue]

Arsenal's the place to be right now

[Darius1998]

Arsenal's the place to be right now

Popular job across this forum.

[HotChocolate]

As you say some frustrating results but a great start to the season given all your new signings and only telling the board CL spots

[Darius1998]

As you say some frustrating results but a great start to the season given all your new signings and only telling the board CL spots

Thanks, I think we've improved our finishing since those frustrating few games. Now there are goals flying everywhere both when we attack and also when the opposition attacks. Home form may be crucial really.

[Darius1998]

Arsenal

2016/17

April Fools' Day

Just one signisficant transfer in during the January window. GK Jeronimo Rulli is highly rated and joins from Estudiantes de la Plata for £5.25M. He will take over as first-choice GK. Andre Ayew left the club after a £28M bid from Shakhtar Donetsk.

Fixtures

As I said, goals flying in everywhere. We destroyed United at Old Trafford with our best away performance of the season but let Liverpool back into the FA Cup tie. Both Black Country clubs - West Brom and Wolves - were comfortably taken apart at the Emirates before being on the receiving end of a thrashing at Anfield. It was probably a hangover from that in our next game as we lost to Chelsea. However, we took revenge on Liverpool at Anfield and easily beat Brighton at home. A great performace against Real Madrid had us 3-0 up but Benzema scored a crucial late away goal. Sunderland and Southampton were taken apart either side of a disappointing defeat the Olympic Stadium despite dominating. Morata hauled us level from 2 down but Andrew Taylor scored in the 91st minute.

A disappointing performance followed at Leicester. Madrid scored early in the 2nd leg but Alvarez Balanta hit the post when it seemed easier to score. Benzema again scored late on to ensure we lost on away goals. We destroyed Man City despite going behind. Aguero had a penalty saved at 2-1 by Rulli as Carlos Vela scored a hattrick. Our poor away results however continued as despite edging it, we lost at the 56,000 capacity New White Hart Lane and then were the better team again in a defeat at Fulham.

League table

Leaves everything finely poised and it looks like anyone in the top 4 could win the title.

First of the season.

[Bilbo Baggins]

Disappointing to go out on away goals, I recently had the same misfortune in the Asian Champions League. Should be an exciting run-in!

[Darius1998]

Disappointing to go out on away goals, I recently had the same misfortune in the Asian Champions League. Should be an exciting run-in!

You'll soon see how exciting it is . 3 way fight for the title on the final day of the season.

[Darius1998]

Matchday 38

2016/17

It's all come down to this. 3 teams for the title. 1 out of 4 will not qualify for the CL. The final day of all final days.

The crucial games

Arsenal (2nd) v Stoke (9th) [TV]

Chelsea (4th) v Reading (12th)

Leicester (10th) v Man City (3rd) [TV]

Liverpool (7th) v Newcastle (1st)

[Darius1998]

GK - Rulli.

There's the line-up. It could become heroes by winning for the 1st time since 2004. Or it could be the first time since 2014 that Arsenal would be finishing 5th.

[Darius1998]

Updates to come as the goals start flying in.

Southampton 1-0 Spurs (Medel, 8th min)

Liverpool 1-0 Newcastle (Rondon, 31st min)

Chelsea 0-1 Reading (Vuckic, 49th min)

Liverpool 2-0 Newcastle (Rondon, 54th min)

Leicester 0-1 Man City (Shaqiri, 56th min)

Leicester 1-1 Man City (Philips, 62nd min)

Leicester 2-1 Man City (Coates, 66th min)

Chelsea 1-1 Reading (Mandzukic, 73rd min)

Southampton 2-0 Spurs (Osvaldo, 90th min)

Arsenal 1-0 Stoke (Alvarez Balanta, 90+1')

Arsenal win the Barclays Premier League on goal difference.+47 to Newcastle's +29.

[Bilbo Baggins]

A bit of a Man City moment for Arsenal there.

[Darius1998]

A bit of a Man City moment for Arsenal there.

It was desperate stuff really. 28 shots to 4. Towards the end of the game, I moved Shaw and Sakai to play them as wingers. Zouma went up top as target man. Alvarez Balanta, incidentally, was the only man back (along with Rulli, of course) and he scored when the clearing header from Sterling's corner dropped at his feet.

[HotChocolate]

Incredible scenes, well done DB

[Bilbo Baggins]

Rulli is a top notch keeper, had him for a couple of seasons in my Valencia save and he did really well. Got him for free and sold him for 20 million pounds to Everton to make way for a beastly regen.

[Darius1998]

Incredible scenes, well done DB

Thanks. It will be more difficult next season though to be able to match that.

Rulli is a top notch keeper, had him for a couple of seasons in my Valencia save and he did really well. Got him for free and sold him for 20 million pounds to Everton to make way for a beastly regen.

Rulli is excellent and for 5m looks a no-brainer bargain. He wanted a new, improved contract, so, I made him sign up till 2022 on £68,000 p/w (previously was on £30,000 p/w). Well deserved wage hike.

[Darius1998]

Arsenal

2016/17

End of the season

Fixtures

We recovered from consecutive away defeats to beat Villa but any hopes of sustaining that momentum was gone as we lost to Newcastle quite frustratingly (27 shots to 7, 13 on target to 4). Another frustrating performance saw us held by relegation-threatened Everton. It looked to have finished off our title chances but a win over Reading, coupled, with Newcastle drawing with Chelsea gave us a chance.

Newcastle then won their 37th game which was preponed due to their FA Cup final. It meant we had to make up 6 points in 2 games. We were nowhere near good enough at Swansea but led 2-0. Bony scored 1 and we seemed to be creaking under pressure. I took off Morata and went 5-1DM-4-0. In the last minute of stoppage time, Ashley Williams got a foot to a corner but Asamoah hooked it off the line to give us the victory. It would turn out to be one of the big moments in the title race.

We attacked Stoke throughout but it looked like there was no hope of getting past Butland or the woodwork. Eder Alvarez Balanta, however, placed a volley in the bottom corner after a clearing header fell at his feet in the six-yard box. Jubilation everywhere.

League table

In the end we win it on goal difference, having been the top scorers in the league. Newcastle have now had consecutive brilliant seasons and won the FA Cup which will be more than enough in the way of consolation. Former club Leicester won 7 of their last 8 to sneak into the top half, including wins over Man City and Chelsea. Liverpool are hopefully on the road to recovery while Man Utd miss out on the CL for a second consecutive year.

Great to receive praise from Arsenal's best ever striker.

Awards

He was brilliant whenever injury-free but Arsenal's injury crisis seems to strike even in-game. At one stage, we had 8 players injured as well.

Finally!

2nd place for our world class defender.

New contract

Negotiated a £48,000 p/w offer to £50,000 p/w. Good pay-rise.

[Bilbo Baggins]

Chips Keswick, that name always gets me.

[Darius1998]

Chips Keswick, that name always gets me.

I've found it amusing for some reason as well and I don't even know why.

[Darius1998]

Arsenal

2017/18

Mid-November

Season expectations

The board have upped their expectations for this season. Title challenge is the minimum requirement. Man Utd & Chelsea are joint favourites at 6-4. Man City and us have been given 7-4. Big budgets available thanks to a healthy balance now.

Transfers

Much quieter than last season on the transfers front. Papiss Cisse was released after being a desperate disappointment. Walcott wasn't getting first-team football and my DoF finally found a club in the form of Swansea who were willing to take him. Sterling is not very highly rated by my staff and despite being good last season, he didn't get many chances to play and moves to Chelsea with Deulofeu coming in for £18M (+£1M for scoring 50 league goals) as replacement. Asamoah was wanted by both Real and Atletico and leaves for £17M although I feel we could have got more. Lucas Romero is a great replacement and joined after his Ajax contract expired. Chambers came in for the departing Elliot Hewitt (£2M to Norwich). I've been following Paredes since at Leicester and he was set to join in the summer but had a hip injury ruling him out for 4 months which in turn, ensured he failed his medical. Finally, he joins in October and will compete with Martiez for the AMC slot.

Preseason

I'm sure the board were hunting merchandising options otherwise why would you go to China when you can go to Spain/Portugal. Anyways, three friendlies arranged against Beijing (at the Bird's Nest), Guangzhou and Shandong.

Preseason was a success to say the least as we got out of it without conceding a goal. Big crowds came to watch us in China as well. Again, I tried arranging the Emirates Cup and this time it was cancelled due to Leicester's Europa League involvement. Easy wins against Anderlecht, feeder club Charlton and minnows Enfield. (The game was arranged due to the cup getting cancelled.) Athletic could have been a potential banana skin but we eased past them at the San Mames. The community shield saw Morata put us ahead against FA Cup holders Newcastle but they came back well and equalised. In the shootout, Rulli saved a penalty and it was a crucial one as well as both sides scored their remaining spot-kicks. An early trophy to start the season. Not bad.

Fixtures

We've been brilliant in the league so far. A come-from-behind win in the North London derby got our season going and Morata scored hattricks against both Stoke and Southampton. We scraped past Villa and put in a great performance to beat Man Utd at home. Fulham took the lead before the break but again we came from behind to win. Sunderland, Liverpool and Cardiff were easily beaten. Leicester were up for it but we led 2-0 at HT despite Martinez missing a penalty and after Fortounis scored, we were never really going to drop points.

In the Champions League, we didn't get a bad draw in the form of Dynamo Kiev, PSV and Toulouse. However, I played a few rotated sides and performances weren't great. We lost to Dynamo despite being two up and although we weren't at our best, we beat PSV. Toulouse got a point at the Emirates in what was a dull game. Back in France, we finally fielded a stronger team but the team in 11th in Ligue 1 took a 2-0 lead. However, we scored goals from three corners to win.

Rotated teams again in the Capital One Cup as we eased past Southampton but found ourselves 2-1 down against Championship side Hull. Romero brought us level and young Gedion Zelalem grabbed the winner.

League table

11 out of 11 and despite Chelsea being in impressive form themselves, we are 5 points clear. At the bottom, Swansea and West Brom have been awfully poor while Everton are down in the dumps under Brendan Rodgers (Sacked by both Liverpool and Swansea).

Despite not being convicing in the CL, we are still top of our group and I hope to leave Dynamo and Toulouse to fight for 2nd.

[Bilbo Baggins]

Impeccable start in the league.

[Darius1998]

Impeccable start in the league.

It was quite special and even showed that the team had the determination to come back even while trailing.

Counting back to the previous season, we broke the consecutive wins record (Arsenal held it anyway at 14). Having got to 16, we collapsed and lost 0-2 at home to Reading of all teams.

[Darius1998]

Into the middle of January and West Brom hadn't yet won a league game. Lying at the foot of the table, they were up against Chelsea in a match you would bet your house on them to lose heavily. Not really what happened. Televised around the world and Chelsea get a public humiliation.

[Darius1998]

Arsenal

2017/18

Mid-February

Transfers

There was just the one transfer in January as Argentine winger Sebastian Sabia joined from Palmeiras for £2.2M. 22 years old and good enough to compete with Fortounis for the RW slot. My assistant even rates his potential at 4.5*.

Fixtures

We carried on our form from the previous update and beat Forest and Watford either side of a win in Kiev where we had been pegged back from 2-0 up before Gedion Zelalem got an 80th minute winner. Reading ended our winning streak in the league with a rather fluky win but we bounced back to win at Man City thanks to a superb solo goal from Gerard Deulofeu. We had already qualified when PSV turned up at the Emirates. A rotated team won easily enough and London-born Arsenal fan Charlie Alexander scored his first for the club (isn't tipped to be a star but can be useful). West Brom were swatted aside at home and it owed a bit to them giving away two penalties which Ramsey converted. We were taken to extra-time by Sunderland and despite the win, the tiredness in the team meant we suffered a hangover at Stamford Bridge, going down rather easily.

Vela's double was enough to beat Newcastle on Boxing Day and we needed a late Morata strike to beat Everton. Stoke were beaten thanks to Vermaelen's early goal which might be his last (leaves for Shakhtar on a free in the summer). Newcastle took us to a replay in the FA Cup in a game where we were the better team but still had to come from behind twice to get a draw. Championship team Blackburn were easily beaten in the first leg of the Capital One Cup semis but two early Javier Hernandez goals meant we lost the North London derby despite Tomas Martinez's 25-yard screamer dragging us back into the tie. Newcastle were beaten in the FA Cup replay while Southampton were never in it in the next game.

A vastly-rotated team drew with Blackburn and then, we beat Rotherham in the FA Cup 4th round. At Old Trafford, we were 2-0 up but Domenico Berardi scored two penalties with the equaliser coming in the 88th minute. Sebastian Sabia struck the post in injury-time as we failed to take all three points. Villa and Swansea were easily beaten but Fulham gave us a real scare, taking a 78th minute lead through a penalty. Deulofeu and Morata, however, turned it around and ensured we got the win. Sunderland were absolutely destroyed in the nxt game with Morata scoring one and setting up 3 with braces for both Martinez and Deulofeu.

League table

9 points clear and we're on our way to retaining the crown we won last year.

Just what I had said, we put out stron teams to beat Toulouse and Dynamo Kiev and ended PSV's hopes by beating them at the Emirates.

A possibly tricky tie awaits us in the next round as we have been drawn against SL Benfica.

A great award for Arsenal's captain to win.