It’s all or nothing for Arsenal, as the fifth season of my academy challenge comes to an end.
After a seven-game winning streak, Arsenal are top of the Premier League table by two points, with just eight matches to play. If our Hale End heroes can hold their nerves, we will be champions for the first time in 22 years. We’re also gunning for continental glory, having reached the Quarter Finals of the Champions League.
Can Arsenal finally end a long wait for a major title – or is there yet more heartbreak to come?
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
We’ll get to the Premier League later, but first, let’s focus on the Champions League Quarter Finals. Having knocked out Roma in the last 16, we were drawn against Paris Saint-Germain, who’d spent £297million on new players and were desperate for CL success after failing to even qualify last year.
8 APRIL: PSG (A)
With the first leg in Paris, the last thing we needed was to make a big early mistake. That was exactly what happened in the 5th minute, when Emile Smith Rowe tripped Achraf Hakimi in our penalty area. You should never hand a striker like Robert Lewandowski a simple chance from 12 yards out – and the 37-year-old Pole’s cool penalty gave PSG the perfect start.
From that point, the hosts completely dominated possession and were unlucky not to add to their lead. Meanwhile, nearly all our counter-attacks quickly fizzled out with us cheaply giving the ball away. Smith Rowe was so sloppy that I quickly lost patience and subbed him off before half-time.
Things didn’t get any better in the second half, and we were soon resorting to damage limitation. I hoped that we could take a 1-0 away loss and keep the tie alive before our home leg… but when André-Franck Zambo Anguissa headed in a second PSG goal late on, our task became a whole lot tougher.
14 APRIL: PSG (H)
With little to lose, we went all-out attack in the second leg at the Emirates. However, any early rhythm was unsettled in the 12th minute, when left-back Sean Fallon‘s robust tackle on PSG forward Marcel Sabitzer left both players too badly hurt to play on.
Though we could not strike in the first half, our fortunes appeared to be turning six minutes into the second half. Bukayo Saka was at the heart of a clever passing move that ended with him setting up a simple finish for Eddie Nketiah, halving PSG’s aggregate lead.
As beautiful as that counter-attack was, we couldn’t follow it up with another. Both Saka and his substitute Michael Olise had equalising chances saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma, as the Parisiens held firm and brought our Champions League charge to an end.
In fact, it was a miserable week all round for the other PL clubs in the Quarter Finals, as Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United were also knocked out. I was kinda hoping one or two of them would win, and thus give them even more matches during the run-in, but ah well…
(In case you’re interested, Real Madrid beat Inter in the Final on penalties. Gavi almost won the Champions League before us, for Christ’s sake…)
PREMIER LEAGUE: THE RUN-IN
Winning the Champions League would have been nice, but the Premier League always took priority. With eight games to go, we had a two-point lead at the top, with a very healthy goal difference too. If we could win all our remaining fixtures, or the north-western giants below us all slipped up often enough, the title would be ours.
4 APRIL: NEWCASTLE (H)
First up for us was a home game against Newcastle, who were facing another season of mid-table mediocrity. Erik ten Hag’s side almost beat us at St James’ Park before Folarin Balogun scored an 89th minute. He was slightly quicker off the mark, taking just 68 seconds to breach the Magpies defence.
That was followed by two more Balogun strikes, giving him a hat-trick inside the first 29 minutes. One of those goals was set up by Croatian midfield wonderkid Anton Plećaš, who provided a couple more assists for Olise and Marcelo Flores either side of half-time.
And that was that – a resounding 5-0 win over Newcastle got our run-in off to the perfect start! The visitors thought they’d pulled a late goal back through Andrea Belotti, but it was disallowed because the Italian striker pushed a defender off our goal line. Nice try, sportswashers.
Though Liverpool lost further ground with a goalless draw at Leicester, both Manchester clubs continued their winning ways. We still had a two-point lead on City – and a four-point advantage on United going into a HUGE match at Old Trafford.
11 APRIL: MAN UTD (A)
Of course, this meant we had to do our best to shut down Erling Haaland, who’d scored just the 26 league goals for United this season… no, make that 27. After just ten minutes, Bruno Fernandes sliced our defence open with a devastating long ball ahead of the Norwegian. You don’t need me to tell you what happened next.
With Nketiah unavailable due to fitness issues, we had to look elsewhere for inspiration. When we did equalise in the 38th minute, though, it came from a very unlikely source – playmaker Charlie Patino curling in his first goal of the season from 25 yards out!
While we never looked like completing the comeback and getting a winner, I was hopeful that we could at least take a draw…
…until Memphis Depay scored a 78th-minute winner. Yes, he’s back at United, because it’s 2015 again apparently. Happy flippin’ birthday, Christopher.
That result handed Manchester City a chance to leapfrog us into 1st place… but they could only manage a 1-1 draw at lowly Norwich. This meant the Citizens stayed behind us, though only by a single point… and not for long.
A week later, City thumped West Ham to go top by two points, albeit having played an extra match. That meant the pressure was firmly on us before our next match – the small matter of a North London derby.
22 APRIL: TOTTENHAM (H)
Tottenham were still fighting against relegation… and they were eager for vengeance after losing our last encounter back in November. After just seven minutes, Thomas Tuchel’s men found the perfect way to silence the Emirates, when Maxence Lacroix headed in Thomas Lemar’s free-kick.
We spent most of the first half creating – and wasting – countless chances. The breakthrough finally came in the 44th minute, as Patino hammered in a second equaliser in back-to-back matches. Then, deep into stoppage time, this happened…
Nothing to see here, just Ainsley Maitland-Niles heading in his first goal of the season from a Kieran Tierney long throw! That’s one way to repay the £20million fee!
Spurs then went all Spursy in the second half, as two more goals from Yunus Musah and Gabriel saw us romp to a 4-1 win. That’s just the seven goals we’ve scored against our North London rivals this season!
Meanwhile, United followed up their FA Cup Semi Final win over Liverpool by brushing Brighton aside, thus staying just a single point behind us. There was still no margin for error as we headed north once again…
25 APRIL: LEEDS (A)
Leeds never make things easy for Arsenal, and it took us 33 minutes to break the deadlock. Nketiah broke free from his marker to latch onto Flores’ left-wing cross and hammer in his first league goal for nearly two months!
We then looked to double our lead in the 52nd minute, when Saka won us a penalty. Musah stepped forward confidently, having already scored five penalties this season… but this one hit the post.
It could have been a very costly miss, as Leeds grew stronger in the closing stages, but some brave defending kept our narrow 1-0 lead intact.
A stalemate at Anfield meant that City dropped a couple more points, leaving them three behind with four games to play. Liverpool were now stuck in 4th and losing their grip on the title, despite winning at Brighton in midweek.
United were still breathing down our necks after battling past Southampton, but our destiny remained in our hands… for now.
2 MAY: NORWICH (A)
It’s a cliché, but it’s true: there are no easy games in the Premier League. Even a trip to Carrow Road to face 14th-placed Norwich was a potential banana skin if we weren’t careful – and after fruitlessly attacking the Norwich goal for 45 minutes, it looked like the pressure was finally getting to us.
Those fears seemed to have been put to rest when Olise floated a chip over Norwich’s onrushing keeper in the 47th minute. Barely a minute later, though, our defence switched off and André Horta hit an instant equaliser for the hosts.
We now had to throw everything we had at Norwich, especially after Rony Lopes’ awful tackle on Tierney left the host having to play a man down for the final half-hour. But whatever we tried to …
…until the 91st minute, when my old friend Lucas Tousart tripped Maitland-Niles in the area. Musah now stepped up to take a second penalty in as many matches – and this time, he REALLY couldn’t afford to miss.
He did not.
We got even luckier elsewhere, as both Manchester clubs drew, and Liverpool officially lost their title with defeat in the Merseyside derby. Our advantage over United now stood at three points (plus goal difference) with three games remaining…
…or at least it did until United beat Fulham in midweek. They were now level on points with us having played one game more, though we knew that two wins from our final three matches would effectively secure the title.
10 MAY: LEICESTER (H)
Our next match was at home to Leicester, whose new manager Marco Silva had overseen a three-month unbeaten run that had taken the Foxes from 19th place all the way up to 8th. They were the last team we wanted to face at this stage of the season.
By the 38th minute, the contest was already over. Saka had torn the Foxes to pieces – scoring two goals, and setting up two more for Nketiah and Musah. Our traditionally inconsistent right-winger had delivered THE performance of his life, EXACTLY when we needed it most!
Naturally, winning the first half 4-0 meant that the second half was always likely to be a damp squib. I really couldn’t care less – all that mattered was that we got through it with minimal fuss.
The Manchester derby finished all-square, which meant that City were out of it, and only United could catch us now. While Maurizio Sarri’s side prepared for the FA Cup Final against Tottenham at Wembley, we looked ahead to an even bigger match on the south coast.
16 MAY: SOUTHAMPTON (A)
So, here’s the scenario. If we won at Southampton, we were champions. If we drew, the title would almost certainly be ours, because of our superior goal difference to United. However, defeat in Hampshire would take the title race to the final day, when we would host Everton – and United would travel to already-relegated Middlesbrough.
Oh, and I should mention that our away record against Southampton was TERRIBLE. On our last four trips to St Mary’s, we drew once and lost three times.
We played it safe for the first 24 minutes, stifling any early home attacks and waiting for an opportunity to counter-strike. When that time came, Smith Rowe played a delightful ball over the Saints defence to Nketiah, who burst clean through on goal, sidestepped the keeper…
…and put Arsenal 1-0 lead! Was Eddie’s 23rd goal of the season his most important one yet?
Six minutes before half-time, the travelling Gooners were cheering even louder, as Saka’s cutback was tapped in by Smith Rowe to double our advantage! Unless Southampton could score three goals after the break, Arsenal would be crowned Premier League champions for the first time since 2004!
So… what could possibly go wrong?
Nothing, for once.
The Hale End boys had led Arsenal to their first league championship for 22 years, and everyone at the club was ecstatic! Everyone, that is, except Stan Kroenke, who just shrugged and then continued counting his money in his ivory tower somewhere in Colorado.
24 MAY: EVERTON (H)
With everything nicely wrapped up before the final day, I could afford to take things easy against Everton. I named 10 academy players in the starting XI, including a PL debut for 20-year-old goalkeeper Evren Meral. The odd player out was captain Declan Rice, as I wanted to see him lift the Premier League trophy at full-time…
…but that trophy ceremony did not happen. This bug was also on FM21 (I never got to see my Basel team lift either of their Swiss league championships), but SI apparently never fixed it. I want to celebrate my league titles, GODDAMMIT!
Anyway, Flores kicked off the scoring midway through the first half, and Colombian defender Rubén Tapiero came off the bench to add another goal in the 80th minute. It was quite fitting, though, that the final goal was scored by one of our hottest teenage prospects – 18-year-old Irish striker Conor Whitty.
No trophy celebration, but still a great way to finish off a fantastic campaign!
Arsenal finish the 2025/2026 season on 88 points – the same total as we got two years ago, with a slightly worse goal difference. Crucially, though, we finished five points clear of anyone else.
Manchester United had to settle for 2nd, though they did win their first trophy in nine years, beating Tottenham 2-0 in the FA Cup Final. That summed up a typically Spursy campaign for the Spuds, who stayed clear of relegation but now face a FOURTH season without continental football.
Manchester City and Liverpool complete the top four as expected, while Everton and Chelsea qualify for the Europa League, and Brighton get a crack at the Conference League just two years after returning from the Championship.
Middlesbrough, Fulham and Sunderland were all relegated, to be replaced by Crystal Palace, West Brom and play-off winners Swansea.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED?
The goal of this series was always to win a Premier League OR Champions League title with a majority of players coming from the Arsenal academy. That was the basic premise of the ‘Community Challenge’ set by Iain Macintosh from The Athletic’s Football Manager Show podcast. We’ve now won the Premier League… but have I ‘completed’ the challenge?
To achieve a ‘gold’ medal, I must have at least SIX academy players in our most-picked Premier League team of the season. Going by Iain’s rules, they must be in our top 11 players in terms of PL starts (substitute appearances don’t count).
Here’s a list of all the players who qualify for a PL winner’s medal, sorted by the number of starts. I’m removing Scott McTominay from this list, because he only played five PL games for Arsenal this season before I sold him to West Ham. He does still qualify for a medal, but he definitely wasn’t one of our top starters.
If we exclude McTominay, our list of top 11 PL starters includes Smith Rowe, Nketiah, Musah, Patino, Daniel Ballard… and Bukayo Saka. Those are our super six academy boys.
So yeah… mission accomplished! After five seasons, we have won the Premier League with a core of academy players!
We are the champions, and my Arsenal academy challenge is now officially complete!
There will be one final update on Friday, when I will review a glorious 2025/2026 season – and look at how our Hale End heroes have developed over the last five years. Don’t miss it!
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