After four years of frustration and near-misses, is this the season where Arsenal finally claim a Premier League or Champions League title?
We made a fine start to the 2025/2026 campaign, sitting just four points behind leaders Manchester United at the end of December. Today’s chapter will take us through the next three months, which includes two big title clashes with Liverpool and Manchester City, plus both legs of our Champions League knockout tie against Roma.
And with a new youth intake on the way, we’re also going to have a look at how our best newgen prospects have developed. We’re all especially excited about Fallon…
…no, not THAT Fallon.
JANUARY TRANSFER WINDOW
This was another quiet January window at the Emirates. I didn’t need to make any new signings, and our only permanent sale saw holding midfielder Scott McTominay move to West Ham for £45million.
Otherwise, we just loaned out a bunch of players from our Under-23s squad. Czech centre-back Libor Šilhan went to Ligue 1 to play for Saint-Étienne, while the versatile Youri Regeer joined Sparta Praha. Brazilian midfielder Breno Bidon would also get his first taste of regular top-flight football, linking up with Gil Vicente in the Primeira Liga.
Several youngsters went to the EFL, with League One strugglers Burton picking up THREE of them – left-back Lino Sousa, right-back Reuell Walters, and the promising right-winger Amario Cozier-Duberry. The Brewers have ‘superb’ training facilities at St George’s Park, so if you’re managing in the PL, they are probably one of the best lower-league clubs to loan your hot prospects to.
I promoted Jordan Ward from the Under-23s to take McTominay’s place as defensive midfield backup to captain Declan Rice. Though he was still only 19, I felt Jordan was strong and mature enough to warrant some more regular first-team football. Sure enough, by the end of March, Ward had scored his first PL goal and made his Republic of Ireland international debut.
I also recalled a couple of players from their loan spells. Millwall weren’t giving Jeremie Labuthie very much gametime at all, let alone as a right-back, and I didn’t want to see him stagnate on the bench. Joaquín Agüero did enjoy his time at Crewe, but the winger’s development had also stalled, so it made sense to bring him back into the Under-23s as well.
RESULTS: JANUARY TO MARCH 2026
PREMIER LEAGUE
We finished 2025 with three straight league wins… and kicked off 2026 with another trio of victories.
Folarin Balogun blew his former loan club Middlesbrough away with a hat-trick. Then came a rather less convincing win over Aston Villa, in which we had 3.66 xG but only managed two goals from a corner and a penalty. Thankfully, there were no such problems against Wolves.
But while we were always expected to beat those teams, the true test of our title credentials would come in our next two matches – back-to-back against the ‘Big Two’.
Our free-scoring attack drew a blank at Anfield, where we withstood 28 Liverpool shots and came away with a creditable 0-0 draw. We then tried our best to shut out Manchester City at the Emirates too… but alas, Karim Adeyemi finally broke through in stoppage time to give City the points. Damn.
If we were feeling any title race nerves, though, we didn’t show it. We were absolutely brutal against Sunderland, Brighton and Fulham – scoring 14 goals without reply, including a couple more hat-tricks for Yunus Musah and Eddie Nketiah! Meanwhile, both Liverpool and Manchester United dropped points in the title race, raising our hopes of catching them.
Next up was a home game against a struggling West Ham side. We took a 2-0 lead just before half-time, but poor defending from a free-kick got the Hammers back in contention. A nervy second half followed until Nketiah fired in a Bukayo Saka cross to secure a 3-1 win…
…which moved us ahead of Liverpool, and just one point behind Manchester United at the top!
A week later at Aston Villa, a sloppy start left us 1-0 behind after just two minutes. Saka then missed a couple of golden chances to equalise before I subbed him off for Michael Olise, who netted twice either side of half-time to give us a 2-1 comeback victory! And when we heard that United had lost to Leicester by the same score, we found ourselves top of the Premier League!
We retained our lead by beating Bournemouth at home… but only just. Visiting goalkeeper Tim Rönning saved NINE Arsenal shots, including a 76th-minute penalty from Musah, but the American fired in the rebound to finally break the Cherries’ resistance. While that was happening, Newcastle gave our title hopes another boost by stunning Liverpool 4-0 at Anfield!
March ended with one of our most impressive performances yet, winning 2-0 at Stamford Bridge. Early goals from Gabriel and Balogun put Chelsea under huge pressure, and we shut them out brilliantly in the second half.
And so, with eight games to play, Arsenal are two points clear at the top of the Premier League! Our superior goal difference is probably worth an extra point too!
But while we have won seven league games, Manchester City have actually won eight on the spin – a run which has seen them surge past both United and Liverpool into 2nd. Frank Lampard’s Everton are very much in the top-four race as well, along with EFL Cup winners Chelsea.
Tottenham, on the other hand… well, let’s just say this could be a very rough time for our North London neighbours.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Remember when I said I wasn’t too worried about Roma? Well… they actually had me VERY worried for quite a while!
The first leg of our Last 16 tie at the Olimpico was very close. We had slightly more shots but failed to convert them, while Roma enjoyed slightly more possession before scoring the winner in the 74th minute. Leonardo Spinazzola’s clever through-ball was finished by Isak Jóhannesson, which meant we had to win the return leg at the Emirates…
…which we did, but not before missing a hatload of chances! Eddie levelled the tie in the 18th minute, but it took us until midway through the second half to get a second goal through Bukayo Saka. Another Spinazzola through-ball to Jóhannesson late on almost got the Giallorossi back in it, but a vital save by Aaron Ramsdale meant we scraped through 2-1 on aggregate!
Awaiting us in the Quarter Finals are everybody’s favourite plucky underdogs Paris Saint-Germain – fronted by Neymar and a 37-year-old Robert Lewandowski. Liverpool and the two Manchester clubs also made it through and were all kept apart in the draw, so there’s a real chance there could be FOUR English teams in the Semi Finals!
FA CUP
Our FA Cup adventure started with a 6-1 thrashing of League Two Cambridge. Mexico wonderkid Diego Rizo scored twice for a young Arsenal team that featured four senior debutants, including a 16-year-old right-winger called Cody Kane.
But after breezing past Cardiff in Round 4, we eventually came unstuck against the Toffees in Round 5. We failed to build on Balogun’s early opener, and Everton eventually punished us with a quick counter-attack that forced extra-time.
We then went down to 10 men after left-back Sean Fallon pulled a hammy, at which point Everton took control. Once they took a 2-1 lead in the 104th minute, there was no going back. Our hopes of winning an unlikely ‘Treble’ were officially over.
Fallon’s hamstring strain pretty much summed up our misfortune in March, when we had ELEVEN first-team injuries. To make matters worse, we were already missing Kieran Tierney with a hernia, which meant we played our next four games with Calvin Ramsay, Fikayo Tomori and 19-year-old Juan Chávez all playing turns at left-back! I still don’t know how we won them all!
With all these injury issues, I’m actually quite relieved we have one less competition to worry about in the run-in. By contrast, Manchester United and Liverpool face each other in the Semi Final, which could distract them from their title challenges.
YOUTH UPDATE
Football Manager’s in-game description of a ‘wonderkid’ is a young player with very high Current Ability and reputation (i.e. it has nothing to do with potential). We now have three newgen players who are officially considered wonderkids, including two from our academy.
Unsurprisingly, Fallon is one of them. The 20-year-old ‘model citizen’ has settled into top-flight football pretty well – his average rating is a solid 7.09, and he has actually played more matches at left-back for us this season than the injury-prone Tierney. Perhaps it won’t be long before Sean takes Kieran’s starting place on a full-time basis?
Anton Plećaš has shown plenty of promise as an attacking central midfielder, providing 6 goal contributions in 10 Premier League games so far. While his attribute development has been a little erratic, he’s playing well and won his first two Croatia caps in the March international. Not bad for a kid who cost us only £650,000.
Our third wonderkid is playmaker Victor Quintyne, who has really caught the eye on loan at Reading – getting 8 goals and 6 assists in the Championship. With his exceptional technique and off-the-ball intelligence, Vic is now considered a PL-standard player… and he’s just turned 20.
At the end of March, the game publishes its NxGn list of the “50 best wonderkids” aged 19 or under. I’m not sure what this list is based on or how much you should read into it, but our goalkeeper Gavin Moth (on loan at Millwall in League One) was ranked at #8. He’s the “next Gordon Banks”, in case you didn’t know already.
The only other Arsenal player on the list was Colombian centre-back Rubén Tapiero, at #24.
Here are a few other players with very bright futures, including our record-breaking winger Cody Kane. Cody wasn’t rated particularly highly in the 2025 youth intake, but he has caught the eye with his consistently steady improvements in training. And if that goal against Cambridge is anything to go by, there might one day be another Kane leading England’s attack.
Hopes are high too for Andrea Tarantino. In the first half of this season, the Italian playmaker signed his first professional contract and got his Determination up to a whopping 5. But that’s probably the only weakness in Andrea’s game, and his performances earned him a fast-track to the Under-23s.
More recently, I’ve offered professional terms to both Conor Whitty and Ed Crittenden. Whitty has started to make progress this season, though I’m starting to think the Irish striker’s long-term future might be as an inside-forward. Crittenden is becoming a very exciting centre-back talent – and just like Kane, he made his senior debut against Cambridge as a 16-year-old.
I wish I had positive things to say about another young prospect, though…
Stuart Grimshaw just did not improve at all, and the temperamental inside-forward would always have a tantrum whenever I tried to gently put him on the right track. Eventually, I lost my patience and released him. Enjoy rotting in West Brom’s reserves, you little sod.
YOUTH INTAKE
Now, what about the 2026 intake? Per Mertesacker was hyping up a ‘golden generation’ in December, but I wouldn’t believe it until I saw it. And when I did, oh boy…
Jerry Afriyie-Salisu looks really good, doesn’t he? He’s already 16 Work Rate, 15 Stamina, 15 Technique… and 13 Finishing is really high for a kid coming straight from the academy. Pace and strength will come with time, but this Ghanaian/English striker might just be the next Eddie Nketiah!
Those two handy wingers don’t look too bad either. Richard Turnbull could be a decent inverted winger if he didn’t insist on having the ball played to his feet, but his future might actually be as a midfield playmaker. I’ll also retrain Charles Buhari – a pacey right-winger – to be an inside-forward on the left flank.
There are another couple of prospects worth looking out for. Owain Foster is a selfless attacking midfielder, while Solomon Adebayo is a no-nonsense defensive stopper with an unflappable attitude.
It’s a shame I’ll be wrapping up this save pretty soon – maybe even at the end of this season. Part of me would love to see what these boys will look like when they reach their full potential.
And so the stage is set for a grandstand season finale! Can Arsenal’s homegrown heroes hold their nerve and win the Premier League title – and perhaps even the Champions League? Come back on Wednesday to find out…
Fuller FM 
You must be logged in to post a comment.