Hey! Welcome to episode 7 out of 8 of this save with Arsenal.

We start firstly with transfer news. The transfer deadline is close and team are sending their last minute offers:

Sure thing! I accept.

Now yes, onto our next match for the UEFA Cup

UEFA Cup Quarter Finals Leg 2

Arsenal 3 – Auxerre 0

C’mon gunners! Dixon will be back as Bjarmann can’t play in UEFA. Rest of the team, untouched.

In Highbury, the boys rise up to the occasion and completely dominate Auxerre, restricting them to only 3 shots which were off-target. The man of the match award goes to Remi Garde who had a very active game looking for a goal which he actually got.

After the match, Isaiah Rankin goes to Port Vale.

There’s a 12-day gap between our current time and the league cup final date so I assume we’ll have to deal with potential offers and maybe injuries.

Indeed it’s the case and we received a loan offer for Matthew Upson. We accept as we have a surplus of left full-back at the moment.

A bit of a scare when you read this sort of news. I expected him to play against Manchester United.

But my concerns were unfounded as David makes a quick recovert. Fantastic news!

League Cup Final

Arsenal 0 – Manchester United 0 (won 3-2 on penalties)

The only change for this game is Steve Bould for Tony Adams. Tony will be out this match due to two yellow cards received in the past playoff against Southampton.

Game on in Wembley! Let’s go gunners!

We collect our first title! Even against United, we were dominant throughout the game but Schmeichel being Schmeichel, you’d know how hard he plays and how difficult it is to score against him. In the penalties, the importance of having a guy like David Seaman between the sticks is proven as he stopped Beckham and Giggs penalties.

UEFA Cup Semi-finals Leg 1

Liverpool 0- Arsenal 2

Adams is back on duty and will replace Bould. Rest of the team, the same.

A great win which puts us on the verge of the UEFA Cup final. The match was solved quickly in the first half and we literally cruised on “damage control” through the 2^nd half to take the win.

FA Cup Semi-finals

Manchester City 1 – Arsenal 2

Lineup changes:

Ruben Sosa for Ian Wright
Torgeir Bjarmann for Lee Dixon.

Nerve-wracking game. Weaver and Vaughan were City’s best players, stopping us from winning in the first 90 minutes of the match. In the extra-time, when everything seemed headed for a replay, Bergkamp took charge and with a header, gave us the elusive win. In the other semifinal, Manchester United disposed of Liverpool by thrashing them 4-0, which means we will meet again and also for a final.

Game 30

Everton 2 – Arsenal 1

With a comfortable lead in the Premier League, I believe it’s a safer time to give youngsters some playing time.

Lineup changes:

Alex Manninger for David Seaman

Nigel Winterburn for Gilles Grimandi

Timmy Griggs for Martin Keown

Nicolas Anelka for Ruben Sosa (who will be on the bench)

Paul Barrett for David Platt

Ray Parlour for Patrick Vieira

Rough game in Goodison Park, and the home team takes a much needed win to escape relegation. Anelka shortened the gap near the end of the first half. It’s just the third defeat in our whole run in PL so I’m not really bothered.

Game 31

Derby County 0 – Arsenal 0

Lineup changes:

Marc Overmars switches to the left side and Paulo Vernazza for Luis Boa Morte (goes to the bench).

Despite the result, I can assure you it wasn’t a snoozefest. Both teams had equal chances of scoring but Poom and Manninger had both good games and were able to stop the shots that came their way. Another point for us

UEFA Cup Semi-Finals Leg 2

Arsenal 5 – Liverpool 2

Wow, have Liverpool become used to take a beating, or what’s going on here? They had a brief moment of attempting to get back in the game after being 3-1 down but Boa Morte and then Anelka crushed any hopes of at least leaving Higbury with a draw. Fowler’s goal was just a mere statistic. We will be meeting Schalke 04 in the final, who eliminated Udinese.

We now have a string of 6 straight Premier League matches, the UEFA Cup Final slotted in between and the last match of the Premier League

Game 32

Arsenal 3 – Leicester City 0

Lineup changes:

Torgeir Bjarmann for Lee Dixon
Matthew Wicks for Tony Adams
Cristopher Wreh for Ruben Sosa (on the bench)

Good result to keep it going in the league. We’re now level with Manchester United and Liverpool in matches played and we have United 13 points behind. 6 games left and we’re smelling the Premier title.

And just like that, we reached the end of this episode

Join me soon for the last one of this save. See ya 🙂

Hi and welcome back! Our new episode begins with a Premier League match against Villa

Game 25

Aston Villa 0 – Arsenal 4

Aston Villa are put to the sword on their backyard. Ruben Sosa and Platt gave the early lead into halftime. Vernazza (who I subbed in for Overmars) and Bergkamp placed the icing on the cake to round up 4 goals.

Despite the offers from Luton Town and Nottingham Forest were better than Charlton, Dayfdd chose to go with them.

Game 26

Blackburn Rovers 2 -Arsenal 2

We edged Blackburn by halftime with Ruben Sosa scoring a penalty and Tim Flowers being sent off. Nevertheless, they fought back and managed to draw the game. A bit of a poor performance but we still hold a decent advantage against the 2^nd placed team in Premier League.

Board however, was not so amused

We’re not gonna bottle it, i promise

Game 27

Arsenal 4 – Wimbledon 1

So much better than our Wednesday fallout against Blackburn. By the looks of how the game was unfolding, I believed it was going to be either a narrow win or another 2-2 draw. However, the changes made invigorated the team and they finished Wimbledon off, adding 2 goals to the tally.

UEFA Cup Quarter Finals Leg 1

Auxerre 1 – Arsenal 2

Ian won’t be present in this one due to being suspended for a match (two yellows). Ruben Sosa is cleared now so he’ll be the starting striker and Anelka will be his backup.

Très Bien Arsenal! Our attack swarmed all over Auxerre.

FA Cup Quarter Finals

Coventry City 2 – Arsenal 3

We lose Luis Boa Morte for two matches due to disciplinary points suspension, so we’ll re-arrange the team by placing Ruben Sosa on the left side and Wright taking up the striker role.

Everything seemed quite calm by the 70^th minute of the game but Coventry had different plans in mind. They made a strong push at the end trying to get back in the game, however they fell short, and that means we’re in the FA Cup Semi-finals.

Game 28

Arsenal 1 – Leeds United 0

We’re 13 points ahead of Chelsea so we can afford to change some players for this one.

Lineup changes:

• Lukic for Seaman
• Bould for Keown
• Vernazza for Overmars
• Bjarmann for Dixon

Clean sheet for Lukic. A curling ball across the box meets Nicolas Anelka’s volley and we take the game. We were also helped by the fact that West Ham beated Chelsea 2-0, and we extend our lead to 16 points.

Game 29

Arsenal 4 – Chelsea 0

Not even Garde being sent off stopped us on our tracks. We took advantage of Chelsea’s late blunder and we punished them 4-0. So now we’re 19 points clear in the run for the title and I feel more confident with each match.

With this match, we reached the end of this episode.

Stay tuned for our next episode, folks. See ya 🙂

Hello! This is episode number five of this save with Arsenal.

We begin with the League Cup. We play against the surprising Stockport County, who caught Liverpool off-guard in Anfield Road and managed to beat them 3-1. Hopefully they don’t succeed in taking us out of the competition as well.

League Cup Quarter Finals

Stockport County 0 – Arsenal 2

And they didn’t! We suffocated Stockport’s attackers and restricted them to only two shots on our goal, neither of them found the net. Meanwhile, we displayed our usual barrage of shots and thanks to Ruben Sosa and the great Dennis, we won the match. We’re in semifinals and we await for Southampton or Northampton Town.

Ahhhh, more offers. Nice!

Another on-the-run business done!

Game 22

Arsenal 3 – Liverpool 0

At the end of the first half I noticed Dixon was having a sub-par game, therefore I felt it was the right time to call Bjarmann in. He did good in this one. Meanwhile Ruben Sosa had an amazingly active game which saw him taking 10 shots on Liverpool’s goal, and two of them found the net. Bergkamp had previously opened up the game by scoring a penalty kick.

Game 23

Barnsley 0 – Arsenal 1

With Bergkamp suspended due to points for two matches, I’ll be placing Anelka in the AMC role and Ian as the lone striker. Ruben Sosa has played a decent number of matches as the starting striker so it’s a good time to swap the role.

It was a narrow win and Bergkamp greatly timed passes were missed here. Anyway, Anelka got the job done.

FA Cup 4th Round

Bolton Wanderers 1 – Arsenal 4

Bolton was one of the only two teams who beat me so far, so definitely I expect to have a better game than our last meeting

A much better game. Ian was on fire tonight and scored a hat-trick. Overmars helped with a goal of his own. The one and only Peter Beardsley decorated the result to finish 4-1.

Game 24

Arsenal 2 – Newcastle 0

Surprisingly Newcastle are doing really bad despite having a nice squad. They are 16^th and just 2 points away from relegation.

Andersson, Shearer, Gary Speed, Batty, and they just manage ONE shot!? Geez. No wonder how they’re so low in the standings then.

Before the League Cup semi-finals, bad news for Vieira

League Cup Semi-Finals Leg 1

Southampton 1 – Arsenal 1

With Patrick injured, Remi Garde will return to the starting lineup

Fair result here. Both teams had the same amount of shots on goal and as such both GK ended with a high average rating cancel each other out completely. I’m confident we can the seal the deal in Highbury.

However the board wasn’t exactly enthralled by our display of football at The Dell.

Don’t worry folks, i got it covered

FA Cup 5th Round

Arsenal 3 – Leeds United 0

My last meeting with Leeds ended up in a draw which led to penalties. Let’s hope this time we can advance in a safer way than that.

Safer it is! Overmars had a heck of a game, having 6 runs past opponents and earning the Man Of The Match award. Wright and Bergkamp as well on the top of their game, they combined to place 3 goals on Leeds net. We move on to Quarter Finals.

League Cup Semi-Finals Leg 2

Arsenal 1 – Southampton 0

Prior to this game, Grimandi let us know that he was unhappy for having no playing time. So, I’ll be placing him in the starting lineup. Also, Ruben Sosa will make a comeback with Ian on the bench.

A little short considering that we once beated them 5-0. Nevertheless Bergkamp class was enough to keep the result and win the playoff, therefore sending us to the League Cup final. We will meet Manchester United, who drew their first match and won at Sheffield 1-0.

Before the next game against Aston Villa, we received offers for Owen.

Accepted!

And.. we reached the end of this episode

Stay tuned for our next episode. See ya 🙂

Greetings and welcome to episode 4 of this save with Arsenal.

Game 17

Arsenal 2 – Coventry City 1

In many saves Coventry has stopped on my tracks when trying to progress into cups, or a continuing winning streak, so in a sense of way I’m wary if this time will be anything different.

Coventry striked first and the «here we go again» line crossed my mind. But Ruben Sosa and Bergkamp came to the rescue and knocked Coventry down. We take the 2-1 in front of our crowd

League Cup 4th Round

Leeds United 1 – Arsenal 1 (won 0-3 on penalties)

We got ahead early and we were managing the game quite well until the very last minute when Dixon had the misfortune of commiting a penalty. In the extra-time we traded blows but neither team could break the other. The penalties (thankfully!) were a whole different story. Seaman stopped the first two and Hasselbaink blasted the third one wide, whilst our players scored their shots. Lucky escape, huh?

Game 19

Bolton Wanderers 1 – Arsenal 0

The first half is the worst display of football so far, a complete snoozefest. Things were looking a tad better in the second, with us pushing upfront for the victory. However, a corner kick by Pollock met Cox’s head and the ball went into the net. 1-0 loss at the Reebok Stadium.

UEFA Cup 4th Round Leg 2

Arsenal 3 – Helsingborg 1

Ian is back in the starting lineup as Ruben Sosa can’t play until QF

Damn right!. We didn’t give Helsingborg a chance to get into rhythm and we ended up taking the game 3-1. Onto the next one!

Our next game against Southampton is 11 days away so I guess there will be some news coming our way in this period of time. And a few days later, indeed there are news. In this case, good.
We received an offer for this guy:

We’re well covered in the midfielder department and I don’t really have him in the plans, so I’ll just let him go.

Honestly I expected I would receive word from Eintracht in a matter of days but luckily the business was done quite promptly.

Great, I’ll start looking for a right full-back as an alternative to Lee Dixon.

The first name that came to my mind was Vikash Dhorasoo, but he’s contracted to Sporting Gijon and is listed as Unavailable, which means I’ll have to scout in the market for other players of good calibre to join Arsenal

This guy looks quite interesting:

While we await for Torgeir’s decision, the Southampton match arrives.

Game 20

Arsenal 5 – Southampton 0

Grab your popcorn folks. It’s a show in Highbury!. Ian netted two early and we were up 3-0 by half time. Bould converted a header from a corner kick in the 59^th minute of the game and Garde managed to score from a deflection by Southampton’s GK, which fell to his feet.

Game 21

Crystal Palace 1 – Arsenal 3

The triumphant road continues. We had the game decided in the first half. In the second half, the team just cruised around and Palace took the fight to us. At the late minutes of the game, they managed to score one, but they couldn’t do much.

A few days later, Torgeir arrives to be presented at Highbury

FA Cup 3rd Round

Arsenal 2 – Stoke City 1

I’ll be giving our new man a chance to get himself into our squad. Therefore, I’ll have him as a sub for this game.

Some debut for Bjarmann, huh? Murmurs roared in the sky after the misfortune of the own goal. Nevertheless, Stoke were never in the picture and we advance to the next round, courtesy of Ruben Sosa and Luis Boa Morte’s goals.

That brings this update to an end for the day.

Join me soon for the next episode of this save. See ya!

Hi again. Welcome to episode 3 of this save with Arsenal.

As in episode 2, we’re opening with the UEFA Cup again.

UEFA Cup 3rd Round Leg 1

Arsenal 2 – Rangers 1

Not a great advantage to go onto leg 2, but at least it’s a win in our home turf.

Game 14

Arsenal 1 – Derby County 0

This one was neat. Derby retaliated and had a bunch of shots on our net. Luckily we have Ian on our side and he did his usual shootaround the opposition’s net until he scores.

Just before the game we received (FINALLY!) an offer from a bunch of suitors for one of our players. I hope that we can sell some.

League Cup 3rd Round

Arsenal 1 – Blackburn Rovers 0

A lone goal by Bergkamp was enough to keep Blackburn at bay, and progress to the next round.

Our first sale is successful! Hughes joins Leicester City.

At last one slot free in the squad. I’ll go straight to pursue the player I want. I present you:

Top lad and more than capable to do the deal!

UEFA 3rd Round Leg 2

Rangers 1 – Arsenal 3

We head down to Ibrox, in order to secure our qualifying for the next round. C’mon gunners!

Despite having done a proper job in Highbury, Rangers are just completely off their pace in their own home. Ian Wright smelled the blood and punished them accordingly with a hat-trick. Onto the next one!

Game 15

Arsenal 1 – West Ham United 0

Again Ian saving the day after a barrage of shots against Boumnijel weren’t finding the net.

Exciting news! Welcome Ruben!

Game 16

Sheffield Wednesday 1 – Arsenal 3

We place Ruben Sosa right into the starting eleven, and Wright goes in the bench.

It turns out to be a really good debut by my compatriot, 5 shots on target, 3 runs past opponents and a goal. Boa Morte and Bergkamp’s contributions led to a 3-1 win at Hillsborough.

Game 17

Manchester United 1 – Arsenal 1

Now yes! The moment I’ve been waiting for. I sense I’ll find them in another competition, but this is the real test of the season as their squad is so stacked of talent. I switched to 442 briefly to give Ian a little bit of help upfront

The switch didn’t give us the result i was hoping for. Wright gives us an early lead but after trying for so many minutes, Butt levels the match. We were overawed in Old Trafford and we were lucky to get out of there with a point.

UEFA 4th Round Leg 1

Helsingborg 3 – Arsenal 3

Time for the next round in the UEFA Cup. Ruben Sosa won’t be able to play until Quarter Finals and Bergkamp will be out for one match (suspended due to two bookings). So, in goes Anelka and also I’m placing Lukic again as starting GK.

Bit of a surprise this one. Didn’t really think too much of them and they fought like hell to avoid losing in front of their crowd. Luckily we managed to escape defeat and we’ll be deciding the outcome of the playoff at Highbury.

After this match, we reached the end of episode number 3.

Hope you enjoyed it, I’ll see you soon with the next one. See ya!

Greetings and welcome to episode number two of this save with Arsenal.

We begin this episode with the first match in the UEFA Cup after we were given a bye in the first round. Our next adversary is Chernomorets

UEFA 2^nd Round Leg 1

Chernomorets Odessa 2 – Arsenal 5

Wonderful display which saw us take a 5-1 win at half-time. Chernomorets managed to discount by scoring one more, but I feel pretty confident that we will advance to the next round.

Game 7

Arsenal 2 – Aston Villa 0

The fate of the game was pretty much decided in the first half thanks to the great contributions of Wright and Boa Morte.

Game 8

Wimbledon 1 – Arsenal 0

Neither team has lost yet, so it will be a decent battle. Let’s see who comes up on top

Wimbledon strikes first in this two-horse race. An unfortunate mistake by Martin Keown in the very last minute of the match couldn’t be stopped by Seaman and it goes into the back of the net. Neither of our lads were able to change the game and we leave with a defeat. We’re still leaders nonetheless, 3 points ahead of Wimbledon..

Game 9

Arsenal 4 – Tottenham 1

Ah, the big North London derby is coming up against a lacklustre Tottenham who are sitting in 11^th place and have won only two out of 9 games.

We unleashed hell in the 2^nd half and overrun them all over the place. Solid victory after the mishap at Selhurst Park. The gunners congregated in Highbury must have returned home joyous with the display of football.

UEFA Cup 2nd Round Leg 2

Arsenal 2 – Chernomorets Odessa 2

Lots of changes in the lineup for this one to give some playing time to the young guys, so the team ends up looking like this.

An early goal from Chernomorets reminds me I picked up the wrong captain. After realizing the mistake, I picked David Platt. Wreh was absolutely atrocious, missing every shot he took, and in general it was not a entirely convincing performance. We narrowly escaped defeat in the last minute of the game.

Game 11

Chelsea 0 – Arsenal 2

After a De Goey showfest, finally Overmars (who made 10 runs past opponents) had a chance to crack the net and Ian’s goal put the icing on the cake for a 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge.

Just before the next game against Everton

Poor Tony. In will go Steve Bould surely.

Game 12

Arsenal 3 – Everton 0

Lineup changes:

Steve Bould for Tony Adams

After the 3-0 we eased a little bit and Everton started making their shots and approaching our goal but to no avail. The score remained unchanged and we won convincingly in Highbury.

Game 13

Leicester City 2 – Arsenal 4

Lineup changes:

The only change for this match is Lukic starting as GK. He expressed his unhappiness for not being played so I guess it’s the right time to put him in.

We came up ferociously and managed to be 3-0 up by the 20^th minute of the game. An attempt to comeback into the game by Leicester was cut short with Vieira’s goal, who kept us in the lead. In the 2^nd half we were still dominant but their defense halted the progression in the score with key interceptions.

And with this folks, we reached the end of episode number 2 of this save.

Stay tuned for our next episode! Cheers 🙂

Hey folks. This is our first challenge.

During the quarantine, i was toying around with some saves when following David’s page, this idea came up. I thought the Arsenal one was quite interesting and here we are then.

I loaded the English, Scottish & Spanish leagues.

This is the squad we begin with

As you may see, there are way too many defenders and some midfielders than I don’t plan to use. Hopefully offers for these players will come soon, and with the space created we can bring some interesting names.

Time goes by and we are arriving at the start of our road in the Premier League without any offers as of yet.

It’s August, 9th. We skipped pre-season for the time being and we go straight to the first match. It’s time to set up the tactic.

I’m trying something new for me this time. I’ve had some degree of success in lower divisions with this one, and I’m going to give it a shot. It’s a small variation of the 4231 direct with two midfielders pushing diagonally upfront instead of going backwards.

It looks like this:

Game 1

Southampton 0 – Arsenal 4

A very promising debut against the Saints. Not a great display of accuracy (we had 7 shots on target from 19 total), but we managed to outclass Southampton and put 4 goals past them

Game 2

Arsenal 3 vs Crystal Palace 1

Lineup changes:

Marc Overmars in the right forward slot, and Paulo Vernazza as a sub.

Emphatic win against Crystal Palace. We absolutely dominated the game until the 70^th minute of the game where they woke up and started to retaliate, managing to score a goal at the closing stages of the game.

Game 3

Liverpool 1 vs Arsenal 4

Our first big test of the season. Let’s see how we do here.

What can i say? Honestly expected a closer match but Wright upfront is absolute bonkers. We held Liverpool to just 2 shots on our goal.

 Game 4

Arsenal 4 – Barnsley 1

Sluggish start, we go to half-time with a 0-0 draw. After Bergkamp netted a goal, all hell broke loose and the goals started raining in.

Game 5

Newcastle 0 – Arsenal 3

Solid victory in St.James’ Park. We had a lot of chances but after we subbed in Anelka for Ian Wright, the doors opened and we managed to finish the game. Nicolas rewarded us with a goal in the 74^th minute of the game. 5^th victory in a row

Game 6

Arsenal 3 – Blackburn Rovers 1

Due to international U-21 matches, Boa Marte and Manninger won’t be able to play.

Lineup changes:

Marc Overmars to the left and Vernazza will play on the right.
Lukic will be the sub GK for this one.

Despite the changes, we dispatch Blackburn with relative ease. A great performance overall. Lincoln’s goal was the first chance they had in the game up to that point.

Game 7

Leeds United 0 – Arsenal 2

This one was a little more even than the rest of our games so far. It was a weird game for Ian Wright, who had 3 opportunities and he wasn’t able to net neither of them. Therefore, I felt it was time to give Anelka some playing time (also in came Ray Parlour for Vernazza and Barrett for Garde).
Within 3 minutes, Anelka closed the lid on the game and we won it 2-0.

After this match, it’s a wrap-up for this first episode.

Join me soon for another episode of this save with Arsenal. See ya 🙂