As the third season of my FM22 academy challenge draws to an end, my free-scoring young Arsenal team is on the hunt for yet more silverware.
The previous chapter saw us lift our second EFL Cup, after a crazy Final showdown with Leeds. We also extended our unbeaten Premier League run to 28 games and look set to take champions Liverpool all the way.
Meanwhile in the Europa League, we’ve been drawn against Manchester United – and a certain Norwegian goal machine – in the Quarter Finals. Can we find a way to stop Erling Haaland, and perhaps even make amends for last year’s Champions League heartbreak?
Is 2024 the year where Arsenal finally bring a big trophy to the Emirates? Time to find out…
RESULTS: APRIL TO MAY 2024
PREMIER LEAGUE
Here’s a reminder of how things stood as we went into the final eight games of the season. We were just five points behind leaders Liverpool – and with the Reds in such rampant form, we knew that any late mistakes could be decisive.
Things started off brilliantly, as we stunned Pep Guardiola’s Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Fikayo Tomori opened the scoring against his former club, and although Kai Havertz quickly levelled, we ruthlessly put three goals past them to win 4-1. Of course, it helped that Pep once again forgot to pick the world’s best goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
We followed that up by smashing the Spuds 4-0, thanks to yet another brace for top scorer Eddie Nketiah. Then came a hard-fought win over dark horses Bournemouth, who wasted several chances before Folarin Balogun‘s double did for them. That effectively secured a top-four finish, which was just as well…
…because we finally came unstuck at home to 3rd-placed Manchester United. The Red Devils recovered from an early own goal to lead 2-1 at half-time, and though Nketiah equalised early in the second half, United quickly scored again to break our spirit. Teun Koopmeiners’ header inflicted our first league defeat since August – and handed Liverpool a clear advantage.
We kept the title race alive by battering both Blackburn and Leicester. Though Liverpool were six points ahead with two games to go, they had a worse goal difference than us – and their final fixtures were both at home to arch-rivals Everton and United. If we won our penultimate game at Southampton, we would basically force Jürgen Klopp’s team to serve it out under huge pressure.
Captain Declan Rice delivered a rallying cry before our trip to St Mary’s. To quote a certain Liverpool legend, “We don’t let this slip!”
And, of course, we let it slip. Liverpool retained the championship with two matches to spare – and to make matters worse, United had jumped ahead of us into 2nd.
Thankfully, Klopp’s men did us a favour on the final day. As my heavily-rotated Arsenal team swept past Aston Villa, the Reds held United to a 1-1 draw – a result that allowed us to leapfrog the Mancs at the death.
Arsenal finished with 88 points – one more than the 2001/2002 ‘Double’ winners, and just two fewer than the 2003/2004 ‘Invincibles’ – while our 107 goals was a new PL record. Unfortunately, we weren’t quite as consistent as our Scouse nemeses, who only lost once all season (at Old Trafford in September).
Liverpool drew 1-1 with United again in the FA Cup Final, which they won on penalties to claim the Double. Incidentally, that means we will face the champions at Wembley in the season-opening Community Shield in August.
Luis Enrique’s Manchester City bounced back from a shaky start to complete the top four. Chelsea and Everton qualified for the Europa League, and a late Bournemouth collapse meant that West Ham stole their Conference League place. It’s not been a good time for Scott Parker, has it?
Meanwhile, Tottenham finished down in 10th and miss out on Europe again!
Wolves did get one victory on the board (winning 2-1 at Chelsea in their 35th match) but they, West Brom and Blackburn had all been cut adrift by then. Brighton and Crystal Palace were automatically promoted from the Championship, and Sheffield United won the play-offs.
EUROPA LEAGUE
Manchester United were our opponents again in the Europa League Quarter Finals. A home win in the first leg was crucial, and Nketiah got us off to a perfect start by scoring after just 55 seconds! He then set up Emile Smith Rowe in the second half as we took a 2-0 lead to Old Trafford.
An early Yunus Musah penalty increased our aggregate lead further, but then the Red Devils stepped up their game and got two of the three goals they needed to get back level. We basically had to shut up shop for the closing stages to see us through to the Semi Finals.
Our opponents RB Leipzig must have forgotten their energy drinks, as we simply blew them away over both legs. Nketiah’s brace at the Emirates was followed by a clinical 3-0 win in Germany, which meant Arsenal were into another continental Final… but who would we play?
The mighty Barcelona. Yes, it was a repeat of the 2006 Champions League Final – only with a less prestigious trophy at stake, and less chance of a German goalie ruining everything for Arsenal. For one thing, Marc-André ter Stegen was injured.
Unfortunately, we had a couple of injuries before our big trip to Dublin. Left-back Tyrick Mitchell was out with a torn groin muscle, and winger Bukayo Saka with an achilles injury. Captain Rice had a groin strain and needed injections just to get through the match.
Four Hale End Boys started the Final for Arsenal – including Smith Rowe, who I experimented with playing as a right-wing Advanced Playmaker. We certainly created plenty of decent chances, but converting them was an issue. After scoring 42 goals this season, Nketiah ran out of steam and had five of his seven shots blocked.
The other two were saved by Barca’s stand-in keeper Neto, who was so good that he was named ‘Player of the Match’ with an 8.2 rating. Yes, that’s the same Neto who in real-life is now Mark Travers’ backup at Bournemouth.
Though Barca predictably had more possession than us, we largely restricted them to set-pieces and long-range shots. That looked like a sound strategy… until Pedri picked up the ball in the 53rd minute and did this.
And that was that. Not even our former Barcelona wonderkid Gavi could change the game and stop the trophy heading to Camp Nou.
Just one of those days, I’m afraid. We just need to be smarter and more ruthless in the big games against the big games – and then maybe we’ll win a biggie.
2023/2024 SEASON REVIEW
| Fans’ Player of the Season | Eddie Nketiah |
| Young Player of the Season | Reiss Nelson |
| Signing of the Season | Fikayo Tomori |
| Goal of the Season | Eddie Nketiah (vs Brentford, 8 October) |
| Top Goalscorer | Eddie Nketiah (42) |
| Most Assists | Martin Ødegaard (22) |
| Most Player of the Match Awards | Eddie Nketiah (11) |
| Highest Average Rating | Eddie Nketiah (7.59) |
What a season! 60 matches played, 163 goals scored – and all we got was a poxy EFL Cup! Finishing runners-up in both the Premier League and the Europa League is frustrating, but we have to take it as a positive. I don’t think we’re that far away from becoming champions.
Statistically, we have been both rock-solid at the back (except in our first match) and clinical up front (except in our last match). In the Premier League, we outscored our xG by 21 goals and had the highest shot conversion rate (15%). Our opponents’ conversion rate of 7% was the league’s lowest, thanks largely to Aaron Ramsdale, who won a second Golden Glove.
We were especially ruthless against teams from outside the ‘Big Six’, dropping points in just three matches – against Leeds (0-1 H), Brentford (1-1 A) and Southampton (0-1 A). All that was stopping us winning the title was that we failed to beat any other in the top four, picking up four draws and two defeats.
Though we have obviously beaten United before, Liverpool and City are our last major obstacles. We’ve come close to defeating them without quite getting over the line, but I can find a way to convert those draws into wins, we’ll be right up there.
Tomori was our only major signing, so I think a lot of our success has simply been down to tactical tweaks. Since changing Martin Ødegaard to an Advanced Playmaker in our 4-3-3, he has provided 9 goal contributions in 12 games where we’ve used that formation. The Norwegian is even more devastating as an Attacking Midfielder in a 4-2-3-1, though, getting 26 goal contributions in 23 matches – and an average rating of 7.83!
Switching the full-backs’ roles and duties around has also worked brilliantly. Calvin Ramsay got 13 assists as an attacking right-back, even stepping up in big games when Takehiro Tomiyasu struggled with injuries. On the left flank, vice-captain Kieran Tierney has been much more consistent since being moved to a ‘Support’ duty, helping to keep the defence solid while still being reasonably effective going forward.
Tierney, Nketiah and winger Reiss Nelson were all named in the Premier League’s Team of the Year. The first two also made it into the Europa League’s best XI, alongside defenders Daniel Ballard and William Saliba.
For the first time, it feels like we have a team where all the players are kicking up. Indeed, only TWO regular senior players finished the season with an average rating below 7.00. One of them is captain Rice (6.95), who has the obvious drawback of being a defensive midfielder in FM who doesn’t get many assists. There is no such excuse for right-winger Harvey Elliott (6.85), who has provided only four goal contributions in 24 games.
I’m still pondering what changes I can make to the right-winger to get him more involved in games. Even Saka has spells where he gets assist after assist, and then he’ll disappear for a few matches and his form plummets. Once again, if anyone has any ideas how to get more consistency out of Bukayo, I’m all ears.
Our Hale End boys have been fantastic this season. Firstly, I want to mention Ballard, who’s been pretty consistent at centre-back. At 24, Dan may never get to a world-class level – indeed, his attributes have actually regressed a little – but I’m impressed enough that I’ll look to play him more regularly next season.
Musah has been excellent as an attacking Central Midfielder (and occasional box-to-box player) and will surely nail down a regular starting spot next season. Charlie Patino got three assists in his last four games and is steadily becoming a reliable creative presence.
Smith Rowe and Saka continue to be effective creators out wide, while Nelson proved last season was no fluke by upping his productivity – 16 goals and 15 assists. Reiss has two years left on his contract and still desires to move to a bigger club, but I won’t consider selling him for any less than £80million.
Then we get to the strikers. 21 goals is an outstanding return for Flo Balogun in his first full top-flight season, but even that was eclipsed by Nketiah’s 42 goals in 45 games! I don’t think I’ve ever had a player score that many goals in a season before – certainly not since Richard Sadlier in my Millwall team on Championship Manager 4!
And yet Eddie’s 25 Premier League goals didn’t win him the Golden Boot, because some Norwegian bloke in Manchester scored 35! Erling Haaland also won the European Golden Shoe, with Eddie a distant runner-up… and another FM22 favourite completing the top three.
LOANEES & YOUTH UPDATE
Here’s a quick look at how our loanees have got on this season. Unfortunately, Gabriel Martinelli didn’t get much of a chance at Dortmund and has stagnated, but let’s focus on our homegrown players.
Mexican forward Marcelo Flores had such an excellent season at Birmingham that my coaches now rate him as a Premier League player, so he is probably next in line for a first-team promotion. Right-back Brooke Norton-Cuffy also impressed in the Championship with Wigan and isn’t too far off contention either.
Playmaker Miguel Azeez had a decent season in Greece but isn’t yet ready for a promotion, while Omari Hutchinson‘s half-season at Las Palmas unfortunately didn’t go to plan. On the plus side, teenage full-backs Sean Fallon and Jeremie Labuthie have each benefitted from regular EFL action and will probably be loaned out again, along with fellow 2022 youth graduates Victor Quintyne and Alan Wilding.
And finally, our Under-23s enjoyed their second league and cup double of this save. After cruising to the U23 Premier League title, they lifted the Premier League Cup by beating a Brighton side which included Lars Dendoncker (a name you may recognise if you followed my FM21 journeyman series).
Sadly, they couldn’t quite make it a treble after losing the EFL Trophy Final at Wembley. Manchester City’s so-called Under-23s beat them with a 91st-minute winner from Guido Rodríguez – a nearly 30-year-old Argentine international! For Christ’s sake…
So it’s yet more heartache for the young Gunners, but surely that major breakthrough isn’t too far away now?
I’ve now completed three seasons of what will be a six-season challenge, so I think now’s a good time for a short half-time break. This series will resume on Monday 12 September, when we’ll look ahead to what promises to be a thrilling 2024/2025 season.
Until then, thanks for reading.
Fuller FM 
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