We’re now halfway through my third season as Arsenal manager, and things are starting to take shape.
In the previous chapter, we made a very rocky start to the campaign by losing our first two games, including a 6-3 thrashing at Liverpool. Since then, however, we have been on an unbeaten run that has put the Gunners right in the Premier League title race! We also swept through our Europa League group and are even on course to retain the EFL Cup.
Can we keep that incredible form up, or will FM’s traditional mid-season slump come back to bite us? Let’s find out…
JANUARY TRANSFER WINDOW
The January window was pretty quiet for us, as I didn’t make any new signings. We’d already depleted our transfer budget over the summer, and Eddie Nketiah‘s new contract took us just over our wage budget. That meant I was more focussed on trimming down the squad than adding to it.
We had too many midfield playmakers, so I tried to loan out one of them – ideally either our summer signing Gavi, who was struggling to find consistency, or Albert Sambi Lokonga. Unfortunately, there was absolutely zero interest in either of them. A couple of Bundesliga clubs did try to take young Charlie Patino on loan, but neither would offer him guaranteed first-team football.
The biggest departure was that of Gabriel Martinelli. For all his undoubted attacking qualities, Martinelli had suddenly dropped to third-choice striker, now that Folarin Balogun had broken through. Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson already had the left-wing spots on-lock too, so it was becoming increasingly tough to fit the Brazilian into my team.
After failing to find a buyer for Martinelli, Dortmund offered to loan him for the rest of the season. It’s a move that suits everyone – BVB get a quality forward with sublime pace and technique, Gab gets the first-team football he needs, and we could get a good price for him in the summer if he scores regularly in the Bundesliga.
Also heading overseas was young right-winger Omari Hutchinson. Since getting two assists in the opening-day defeat to Liverpool, Omari’s form and development had really dropped off. He needed more competitive football, so I loaned him to our feeder club Las Palmas in Spain’s Segunda División. Our other right-wing prospect Issahaku Abdul Fatawu returned from a half-season loan at Wigan, which was sadly disrupted by injury.
Two of our best young full-backs were sent on loan for the first time after turning 18 over the autumn. Left-back Sean Fallon went straight into a League One relegation battle with Swindon, while right-back Jeremie Labuthie joined up with Crewe in League Two. I’ll take a closer look at their development a little bit later.
Lastly, we sold off a trio of Under-23s midfielders who no longer looked like potential first-teamers. The biggest disappointment was Chris Mochrie, who joined from Dundee United two years ago but had a string of frustrating loan spells that stalled his progress. He went to Crystal Palace for £1.3million plus a sell-on clause.
RESULTS: JANUARY TO MARCH 2024
PREMIER LEAGUE
When we left things off at the end of 2023, Arsenal were overachieving by their usual Premier League standards. We were in 3rd place – only a few points off leaders Liverpool at the top – and unbeaten in our last 16 league matches. A mid-season slump seems inevitable, right?
Perhaps not! I’ll admit I got a bit anxious when we followed up a 6-0 thrashing of Norwich by conceding a 90th-minute equaliser at Brentford. Luckily, we strongly by extending our incredible unbeaten run, frequently dominating the weaker teams while battling to draws against our top-six rivals.
We had another thrilling encounter with Manchester City – perhaps the best match of this save so far. Yunus Musah gave us the lead after just eight minutes, but then a horrible miskick from Aaron Ramsdale gave City an equaliser. Balogun then scored us a couple of equalisers from 2-1 and 3-2 down, scoring the last of them in the 97th minute!
Three weeks later, though, Liverpool gave us a taste of our medicine. We held the lead for an incredible 94 minutes thanks to another early Musah goal – and a red card for Andrew Robertson meant Liverpool played almost the whole second half a man light. Despite that, the champions never gave up, and Joe Gomez levelled in the 96th minute after we failed to clear a last-ditch corner.
Since that, we’ve hardly put a foot wrong in the league, winning our last four games. The highlight was this 8-0 hammering of West Ham, who have fallen off the pace after such a strong start.
Yes, that is a hat-trick for centre-back Fikayo Tomori! Two of those goals came from Martin Ødegaard corners, and the Norwegian playmaker then got another assist before scoring this free-kick. Let’s just say that Philipp Köhn’s goalkeeping performance for the Hammers was… interesting.
Two days later, Tottenham – and their newest victim manager Roberto Mancini – were beaten 2-0 at Leeds. That left our arch-rivals 28 games behind us, with just nine games to play.
It’s the earliest St Totteringham’s Day since 2008!
Eddie Nketiah’s 20th league goal of the season helped us battle past Everton in our most recent match. So here’s how the table looks as we head into the closing stages.
Barring an epic collapse, Arsenal should now secure our first top-three finish since 2016. Once our Champions League place is secured, we should hopefully be able to have a proper stab at the title – we’re just five points behind Liverpool with a superior goal difference.
The run-in won’t be easy, mind. Our next four league games are against Chelsea (A), Tottenham (H), surprise packages Bournemouth (A) and fellow title challengers Manchester United (H). If we can get through those fixtures relatively unscathed, though, I’d fancy us to finish strongly.
Looking further down the table, it seems that Wolves, Blackburn and West Brom are doomed. Wolves just cannot buy a league victory – and are just seven games away from becoming the first team ever to complete a Premier League season without winning a single match!
EUROPA LEAGUE
After a long wait, we were drawn against Portuguese champions Benfica in the last 16 of the Europa League. The Eagles were among the toughest teams we could have drawn, but in the end, we defeated them surprisingly easily.
We dominated the first half at the Estádio da Luz but failed to score, despite having 9 shots with an xG of almost 2. Our persistence eventually paid off in the 57th minute, when Nketiah won us a penalty which Ødegaard converted. Eddie then netted twice (albeit after a few defensive scares) to take a 3-0 lead to the Emirates.
The tie was wrapped up pretty quickly, three goals in the first half put us 6-0 up on aggregate at the break. Though Darwin Núñez ended our run of Europa League clean sheets shortly after the break, the result was never in doubt. Teenage midfielders Victor Quintyne and Alan Wilding even got some gametime, with the latter making an assist for Scott McTominay in injury time.
Having beaten Benfica 8-1 on aggregate, our reward was a place in the Quarter Finals against…
…Erling Haaland. Oh goody. If we can somehow knock out United, we should have a relatively easier Semi Final against RB Leipzig or Athletic Bilbao, so perhaps our dream of another European final is still alive?
EFL CUP
Our EFL Cup defence looked to be over when we lost the first leg of the Semi Final against a managerless Chelsea. Martinelli got one last goal for us against the usually watertight Blues, who had Edouard Mendy in goal rather than Kepa Arrizabalaga (which explains a lot).
Come the return leg at the Emirates, the Blues had hired Pep Guardiola as their new full-time manager… for the next 10 months or so. An early Nketiah strike took the game into extra-time, where Conor Gallagher swung things back in Chelsea’s favour. We were heading out of the cup until we launched one last attack in the 120th minute…
…and Belgian teenager Lucas Stassin came off the bench to score on his Arsenal debut! Chelsea’s spirit was completely destroyed, and they missed THREE penalties in the subsequent shoot-out as we advanced to a Final showdown with Leeds!
Nketiah gave us the perfect start at Wembley, converting a Bukayo Saka cross to put us 1-0 up after just two minutes. When he struck again early in the second half, it seemed that nothing would stop us from retaining the trophy…
…until we lost focus in the closing stages. Stuart Dallas pulled one back for Leeds in the 87th minute, and as we struggled to regain our composure, he then got another in stoppage time. Unbelievably, what looked like a simple Cup win was going into extra-time.
And it got worse. My former Shrewsbury legend Rafa Mir stormed through our defence to put Leeds 3-2 up in the 98th minute. We’d thrown it all away!
Or had we? Four minutes later, United gave away a penalty, which Nketiah scored to complete his hat-trick and draw us level! Musah and William Saliba then struck after the break, earning us an incredible 5-3 win – and another EFL Cup!
Arsène Wenger never won the EFL Cup in his 22-year reign as Arsenal manager. I’ve now won it twice, back-to-back. How about that, Arsène?
FA CUP
Meanwhile, we continued to struggle in the FA Cup. After only putting one goal past Middlesbrough, we needed a second-half surge to overcome Swansea. Then we ran into Liverpool in Round 5.
This match was just three days after an exhausting EFL Cup Final, so I had no choice but to rotate. Despite Nelson handing us an early lead, and then Balogun pulling us back from both 2-1 and 3-2 down (sound familiar?), we then ran out of steam as Liverpool secured victory with their 4th goal.
In three seasons, I’ve never made it to even the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup. Is this a trophy I’m destined NOT to win?
YOUTH UPDATE & INTAKE
It’s been another solid season for our development teams. While the Under-18s once again finished 2nd in the Premier League U18 South division, our Under-23s are on course to regain their league title. They have also made it to the Football League Trophy Final at Wembley, where they will face… Manchester City Under-23s.
It’s now been two years since my first youth intake, so I think it’s a good time to update you on how our best talents are getting along.
Fallon has been pretty consistent at Swindon so far – his ratings are typically around the high 6s/low 7s, but the experience is certainly helping our left-back’s game. His physical attributes have already shot right up, and now he’s getting mentally tougher. I’m fairly confident Sean will be in our first-team by the time he turns 21.
Labuthie has also benefitted from playing league football, making three assists in his first nine games for Crewe. Having started out as a right-winger, Jeremie is now a natural right wing-back with Premier League potential.
Attacking midfielder Wilding has not progressed as well as the other two. My assistant noticed that Alan had shown “signs of complacency” after signing his first senior contract, which suggests that he’s had a Professionalism drop. He’s still a decent prospect – as his assist against Benfica proves – but maybe he got too much, too soon?
Our most exciting teenage midfielder is now Quintyne, who’s made five appearances in cup and European games for us this season. His coach report still says he’s only “National League standard”, but I say, “Look at those highlighted attributes!” Surely Vic could do a job on loan in League One or League Two next season?
Sadly, nobody from the underwhelming 2023 intake has developed enough to suggest that they can break through. Now let’s see what’s happening with the class of 2024…
That doesn’t look too shabby, actually – certainly more promising than last year’s crop. Per Mertesacker said back in December that our best prospects were a goalkeeper, a striker and two wingers – and that seems about right to me.
Irish centre-forward Conor Whitty is the clear standout from this intake, judging by his pace, determination, teamwork, and off-the-ball intelligence. You may scoff at his 9 Finishing – but on my FM21 Rennes save, our wonderkid striker Firas Ben Belgacem also generated with 9 Finishing, and he would finish top scorer in our ‘Invincibles’ season!
Our two promising wingers have great potential, if not in their natural positions. The skilful and flamboyant left-footer Andrea Tarantino looks more like a midfield playmaker, but his low determination needs a massive boost. The talented but temperamental Stuart Grimshaw can play at right-wing or up front, though I’m training him as a left inside-forward to make best use of his technique and pace.
Further back, Justin Joseph already has great handling and reflexes for a young goalie, though he’ll never have the technique to be a sweeper keeper. I also want to mention Lubos Urminsky – an attacking right-back of Slovakian descent who looks like a potential team leader.
So, can Arsenal’s Hale End heroes end their 20-year wait for a Premier League title – or perhaps even their 30-year wait for some European trophy? Come back next week for the thrilling season finale!
(Oh, and while you’re here, I posted a tweet earlier today asking for some tactical advice, particularly with regards to getting more consistent performances out of my Inverted Winger Bukayo Saka. If any of you FM tacticians out there would like to help me out, I’d be very grateful. Thanks.)
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