FIFA 20: Arsenal Career Mode Tips - how to line up, who to sign & more

Fancy taking over Unai Emery’s job and continuing Arsenal’s post-Arsene Wenger rebuild? 

With a squad that contains a good balance of pacy and technical players, a potentially devastating front three and, of course, those shiny new Adidas kits, Arsenal are an attractive prospect to use on FIFA 20 career mode.

Your main challenge will be to return the club to Champions League football then build a squad that can match current frontrunners Liverpool and Manchester City.

RealSport looks at how you can do it.

Strengths

Arsenal’s primary strength is obvious: the tantalising attack of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and new signing Nicolas Pepe.

Aubameyang and Pepe both are lightning quick, and all three have plenty of goals in them. They are the players to build around.

Look to the fullbacks and midfield for youngsters that the Gunners most promising young talent. New left-back Kieran Tierney, for example, is young, quick and has the potential to be a starter for your entire career. 

Targeting the Europa League will be your best chance of silverware this seasonAnother is Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who is 21 at the start of the game and can play both at right-back or in midfield. Perhaps the most promising is Matteo Guendouzi, who has a good balance of physicality and technical ability and could turn into a machine in the centre of midfield.

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Weaknesses

Arsenal’s most prominent weakness is as glaring as their main strength; their lack of quality centre-backs. Their current starting pair, David Luiz and Sokratis, are both stop-gaps, aged 32 and 31 respectively. Plus, David Luiz’ lack of pace makes him an awkward player to use against pacy forwards.

Backups Rob Holding and Calum Chambers have room to grow but won’t have ratings in-keeping with a side challenging for a Champions League spot. 

Key Issues

The first thing to address is the centre-back problem - you will certainly need at least one first-team centre-back in your first window. With William Saliba arriving at the end of the first season, you may have to choose to develop one of Saliba or Rob Holding or invest again at the end of your first season.

Another well-documented issue is how to get the best out of both Aubameyang and Lacazette. Considering they are both natural strikers, the obvious option in FIFA 19 was to play a narrow, two-striker formation, putting them both in their best position. Pepe’s arrival complicates this - and you will have to decide whether to slightly compromise Aubameyang’s best qualities by playing him on the left to fit all three into one side.

Can you fill the void left by Aaron Ramsey?

And what about Mesut Ozil? After a season in which he was largely marginalised, he is at risk of a hefty ratings fall. He should still be the highest rated midfielder in the team, but with the highest wages on the team and at the age of 30, you may be tempted to cash in and replace him with a younger no. 10.

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Transfer Targets

In terms of centre-backs, look to Germany. RB Leipzig. Either one of RB Leipzig’s young French pairing, Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konate, have the potential to turn into one of the best defenders in the game. Bayer Leverkusen’s Jonathan Tah is another good option to shore up what is currently a leaky Arsenal defence.

Another void in the Arsenal team is in midfield following Aaron Ramsey’s departure, especially if considering that Granit Xhaka is relatively ineffectual on FIFA and Dani Ceballos’ loan has no option-to-buy. Houssem Aouar and Rodrigo Bentancur are fine Ramsey replacements who could turn into worldbeaters.

Another thing to consider is that Arsenal have offloaded most of their fringe attackers this summer, including Alex Iwobi, Danny Welbeck and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. With only Reiss Nelson to rely on from the bench, it is worth looking at a quick, versatile impact attacker. The likes of David Neves and Gerard Deulofeu would do a good job.

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Formations

The most obvious formation to use would be 4-2-3-1 with Mesut Ozil sitting behind the high profile front three.

However, if you were to sell Ozil, or rather a more conservative approach, a 4-3-3 also suits Arsenal well.

The best way to get Aubameyang and Lacazette playing in their best positions would be by putting them in a 4-4-2, and either buy a wide player or use Reiss Nelson on the left.

How would you line up with Arsenal on FIFA 20? Let us know in the comments section below.

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