TAKING BURNLEY TO THE TOP!

callamity said:
Another brilliant season mate well done
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Cheers callamity. Happy with winning the 2 cups and getting back into the Champions League. Be interesting to see who I can bring in during the summer transfer window.
 
SEASON REVIEW 2017/18:

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Following on from a very successful first season at the club, my second season managed to top that with FA Cup and Europa League triumphs thanks to incredible victories over West Ham and Manchester City. Having been eliminated at the group stage of the Champions League, our run in the Europa League was fantastic and we fully deserved to win the trophy. After a 3rd round elimination in our first season in the FA Cup, our FA Cup victory was all the more sweeter this time around. 2 trophies in 2 seasons for a side who had just entered the Premier League is fantastic achievement with back-to-back qualifications for the Champions League is an added bonus.

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PLAYER OF THE SEASON - For the second successive season, Andre Gray was voted Fans Player of the Season with 37% of the votes above Jeff Hendrick in 2nd and Valdivia in third. Andre spent the majority of the first half of the season on the outskirts of the first team but his run in the second half of the season was fantastic. Andre managed 21 goals in all competitions including 8 in the Premier League, an incredible 8 in the FA Cup and 5 in Europe. The highlights of his season and Burnley career will surely be his 2 goals in the Europa League final and hat-trick in the FA Cup final.

SIGNING OF THE SEASON - We made some fantastic signings last summer who really improved the club and had incredible first seasons with the club including Youri Tielemans, Kieran Trippier and even the bargain free transfer of Fernando Torres. However, Yerri Mina was a revelation at centre back and really came into his own after the departure of Michael Keane to Arsenal in January. Yerri formed a really solid partnership with Ben Mee at centre back and forced January signing, Nicolas N'Koulou, to sit on the bench for the majority of his Burnley career so far. At £6.75 million, Yerri has already proven to be a real bargain and at 23 years of age, the Columbian international has a big future ahead of him with the club.

YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON - For the second successive season, Valdivia has been awarded with the Young Player of the Year award. He can feel very unfortunate not to have been voted Fans Player of the Year as it has been an incredible season for the somehow still uncapped Brazilian. Valdivia managed 18 league goals this season and also 6 in our debut European campaign. He is no doubt the key man and creative hub of the team and at 23 years of age, he is only going to move from strength to strength.

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Shocked to have been awarded with the Premier League Manager of the Year for the second successive season. With the incredible season Manchester United have had (will get to this later), I'm surprised the award didn't go to Jose Mourinho but no doubt I am delighted to have won the award 2 years in a row.

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Valdivia was also awarded the English Players Young Player of the Year Award after his incredible season. As previously stated, with 18 league goals in 34 appearances from the wing, Valdivia had a fantastic season and fully deserved the honour awarded to him.

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To put our incredible performances into perspective, we are ranked 18th in terms of Salary per Annum with only newly promoted Wolves and Huddersfield ranking lower in salaries.

Our finances have greatly improved in comparison with this time last year, going from £65 million in June 2017 to £116 million one year later in June 2018. This massive improvements in finances sees us go into the summer transfer window with a budget of £75 million.

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After finishing runner up last season, Manchester United went one better this time around switching positions with Arsenal who finished 1 point below them in 2nd place. Liverpool and Chelsea finished 3rd and 4th respectively but there will be 5 English representatives in the Champions League next season thanks to our Europa League triumph. Beaten FA Cup finalists, West Ham, and Manchester City, who sacked manager Pep Guardiola after our demolition of them in the Europa League final, make up the Europa League places for next season. 2015/16 Premier League winners, Leicester City, were relegated from the Premier League 2 years after being crowned champions and they will be joined by Newcastle United, who drop back down to the Championship after 1 season in the Premier League, and Hull City. Nottingham Forest were crowned Championship winners, with Brighton finishing runners up and they will be joined by the returning Middlesbrough who beat Fulham in the Playoff final.

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Jeff Hendrick was named in the Premier League team of the Year after a really successful season for the Republic of Ireland international who scored 9 Premier League goals and 10 in all competitions. I'm surprised Valdivia was not named in the team of the year after the season he had, finishing 3rd in the Top Goalscorer rankings with 18 goals. Only Sergio Aguero (27 goals) and Oliver Giroud (21 goals) managed more goals than Valdivia in the Premier League.

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Manchester United picked up their first trophy of the season with a 1-0 win over Chelsea in the League Cup Final. Luke Shaw scored the winner after the game went to extra time to ensure Manchester United their second successive after League Cup triumph after their 5-4 extra time victory against us last season.

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Having already won the League Cup and Premier League, Manchester United completed a treble with a 2-0 triumph in the Champions League Final against Real Madrid with goals from Diego Costa and Luke Shaw.

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Looking at my career after 2 seasons with the club, I have 68 of 110 games in charge with a win percentage of 61%. Considering we were a newly promoted side when I took over, 25 defeats in 110 games is a staggering statistic which highlights the consistency we have shown throughout my 2 years in charge. With 2 cups won this season, it's been an incredible achievement in such a short time with the club.

In the transfer market, I have signed 13 players for a combined cost of £59 million and sold 14 for £52 million. Only £7 million Net Spend over 2 years is a fairly low value and highlights some of the bargains the club have signed.

NEW CONTRACTS:

Off the back of our incredible season, I have penned down 14 players from our first team squad to new contracts with the following resigning with the club:

Tom Heaton, Kieran Trippier, Nicolas Tagliafico, Charlie Taylor, Yerry Mina, Ben Mee, Joaquin Arzura, Steven Defour, Youri Tielemans, Jeff Hendrick, Lucas Romero, Alessio Cerci, Valdivia and Kasper Dolberg. ​
 
SEASON PREVIEW 2018/19:

FINANCIAL ANALYSIS & MEDIA PREDICTIONS

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With profits of £54 million for the latest Financial Year, our Finances are at an all time high with an overall balance of £113 million. Obviously, the TV deal plays a big part in this but also qualification for the Champions League last season and our 2 cup runs in the Europa League and FA Cup have had a big affect on our finances.

With this in mind, I have a huge transfer budget of £75 million which is a vast amount to make some key additions to the squad so that we can hope to be as competitive as we have been in the last 2 seasons.

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To further highlight our financial power, we have rose in the Richest Clubs in the World rankings, moving from 21st into 12th with our value nearly doubling again, increasing from £328 million at the beginning of last season to a total value of £616 million now. Reigning Premier League and Champions League holders, Manchester United, lead the way with a value of £1.41 billion and are joined by 5 other Premier League teams with Arsenal (2nd), Man City (4th), Tottenham Hotspur (5th), Liverpool (6th) and Chelsea (9th).

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Looking at our expectations for this season, a top half finish is the minimum expectation by the board and the media are predicting a 7th placed finish with title odds of 30/1. Again, I will be hoping to defy the odds and contest for a Champions League place which I have managed to qualify for in both seasons as manager of the club.

Having won both the Europa League and FA Cup last season, I would love another strong run in one of the cups with a particular focus on making it a step further in the Champions League this season having been eliminated at the Group Stage last season.

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We have moved from 78th to 42nd in the European Club Rankings which is no doubt thanks to our Europa League glory last season. It's amazing the transformation in from Premier League minnows at the start of my reign as manager to where we are now, competing in the Champions League and winning the FA Cup and Europa League.

TRANSFERS - SUMMER 2018/19

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Firstly, Johann Berg Gudmundsson handed in a transfer request at the culmination of the previous season and I allowed him to leave the club for £13.75 million as he moved to Celta Vigo. James Tarkowski signed for Championship newcomers, Hull City for £2.6 million and Lucas Romero left the club after only 1 season as he moved back to South America, signing for Brazilian side Palmeiras. Having spent over 5 months of last season injured, I was happy for him to leave. Other players to leave where Matt Lowton, Ashley Westwood and Fernando Torres who were all out of contract.

My first signing of the Summer Transfer Window was Mahmoud Dahoud who signed on a free transfer after his contract with BMG expired. At 22 years of age, the German playmaker could prove to be a real steal for the club and I'm confident he will be a massive signing who will be with the club for many years having signed a 5 year contract.

With Matt Lowton leaving the club, I required a new RB to compete with Kieran Trippier and I went with a player I knew well with Jon Flanagan signing for £2 million. Jon had an excellent loan spell with the club in my first season in charge and he returns on a permanent basis for a very small fee.

I wanted more competition for Tom Heaton going into the new season and signed Celta Vigo goalkeeper Sergio Alvarez on a free transfer. At 31 years of age, Sergio has plenty of experience in La Liga and will now doubt provide stiff competition for the No. 1 goalkeeper position.

My 4th signing was a replacement for Johann Berg Gudmundsson, with the signing of Mohamed Salah from AS Roma for £10.5 million. Mohamed has plenty of big game experience having played for both Chelsea and AS Roma and I feel it's another bargain fee at just over £10 million.

I wanted a midfield enforcer to compete with Joaquin Arzura and got the player I wanted with Tiemoue Bakayoko signing from AS Monaco for £11.5 million. Another fantastic addition who also has plenty of Champions League experience with the French side.

With James Tarkowski leaving, we were a little short at CB. I brought in Rodrigo Caio to compete with Nicolas Nkoulou, Ben Mee and Yerry Mina. Rodrigo is a solid addition to the side having signed from Sao Paulo for £5.25 million. Another relatively young signing at 24 and one I expect to have a big future at the club.

My final signing of the window sees the return of a former fan favourite, Danny Ings, who has returned to the club from Liverpool for a fee of £15 million. Danny has had a difficult time with injuries since signing for Liverpool but I'm hoping that the worst is behind him and that he can resurrect his career at the club where he made a name for himself.

PRE SEASON ROUNDUP:

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Another solid build up to the new season with 7 wins from 7 fixtures. The highlights of the preseason, were the victories against Benfica and Marseille but other than that, it was a pretty standard buildup. Hoping to start the season in a similar fashion with a tough start with a double header against Manchester United in the Community Shield and European Super Cup followed by an away start to the Premier League campaign against Everton.

WORLD CUP FINAL


England fell to defeat in the World Cup Final as a Pablo Dybala goal ensured Argentina the victory. Good showing from England in the competition making it a lot further than expected. Republic of Ireland disappointingly didn't qualify for the competition.

SQUAD 2017/18

GK - Tom Heaton, Sergio Alvarez
RB - Kieran Trippier, Jon Flanagan
LB - Nicolas Tagliafico, Charlie Taylor
CB - Ben Mee, Yerry Mina, Nicolas Nkoulou, Rodrigo Caio
DM - Tiemoue Bakayoko, Joaquin Arzura
CM - Youri Tielemans, Jeff Hendrick, Mahmoud Dahoud, Steven Defour
RW - Mohamed Salah, Alessio Cerci
LW - Valdivia, Robbie Brady
FW - Danny Ings, Andre Gray, Kasper Dolberg​
 
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AUGUST 2018 REVIEW

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We face Manchester United in our first 2 games of the season with the Community Shield followed 3 days later with the European Super Cup. We won the first encounter emphatically with a 3-0 victory at Wembley to win the Community Shield. A debut goal for Mohamed Salah and a double from Kasper Dolberg ensured we sent out a real statement of intent on the eve of the new Premier League season.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Kieran Trippier

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The second of our back-to-back cup encounters with Manchester United ended with another victory, this time a narrow 2-1 win. Goals from Mohamed Salah and Kasper Dolberg ensured we picked up our 2nd piece of silverware this season in our clash against the reigning Champions League holders. An excellent start to the new season with 2 wins against the best team in Europe from last season.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Kasper Dolberg

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A very disappointing start to our Premier League season with a 2-0 defeat away to Everton. A double from Ivan Cavaleiro, who signed from Wolves for £9.5 million during the summer transfer window, inflicted a defeat on us to open the new league campaign.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Tiemoue Bakayoko

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We needed to bounce back with a big performance at home to Huddersfield in the league. We put in another poor performance, creating a lot of chances but never truly looking dangerous. We managed to nick a winning goal early in the second half through Kasper Dolberg. We may not have not have got the performance I wanted but we picked up 3 important points.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Kieran Trippier

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We were drawn away to Manchester United in the 3rd round of the League Cup. This will be our 3rd encounter with the reigning Premier League and Champions League holders with us only a couple of weeks into the new season.

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The Champions League Group Stage draw couldn't have been any tougher for us with Bayern Munich, Sevilla and Dinamo Zagreb our opponents. It's going to be a tough ask to qualify from the group but that's what the Champions League is all about and I look forward to the challenge.

MONTHLY REVIEW

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With the new season only a couple of weeks old, our position of 12th in the Premier League is not too important. However, our performance against Everton was very disappointing and the follow up victory at home to Huddersfield wasn't much better but at least we got the 3 points.

Our victories in the Community Shield and European Super Cup were not expected but I was very pleased to pick up another 2 pieces of silverware to add to the FA Cup and Europa League titles won last season.

TOP LEAGUE GOALSCORERS (SEASON):

KASPER DOLBERG - 1

PLAYER OF THE MONTH - Kasper Dolberg

With 2 goals in the Community Shield victory, another strike in the Super Cup triumph and the narrow winner in the home Premier League encounter with Huddersfield, it is an easy decision to award the player of the month to Kasper Dolberg. With new signing Danny Ings as added competition to Kasper and Andre Gray, it has been a magnificent start to the season for the Danish international.

MONTHLY MANAGERIAL RECORD:

2 Wins, 1 Draw, 1 Defeat (50% win rate)

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September is a big month with 6 fixtures including 4 in the Premier League with home games against West Ham and Watford and trips to the New White Hart Lane and St. Mary's to face Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton. We also have the tough League Cup 3rd round encounter with Manchester United and a home start to our Champions League campaign with Sevilla the visitors.​
 
SEPTEMBER 2018 REVIEW:

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A late winner from Valdivia ensured we started the month with a win. We went ahead through a first goal for Danny Ings since his return to the club. Havard Nordveit equalised with 20 minutes to go but Valdivia popped up with his first goal of the season to rescue a narrow victory for us.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Robbie Brady

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The bookmakers have made us 25/1 outsiders to win the Champions League with Barcelona and Real Madrid joint favourites 7/1. To be honest, I would be happy with going a step further than last season and make it through to the knockout stages of the competition.

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An early Victor Wanyama goal was enough for Tottenham Hotspur to pick up the 3 points as we made our first visit to the New White Hart Lane. Not a lot between the sides on the day and we deserved at least a point from the game.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Nicolas Tagliafico

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Our first Champions League fixture of the season turned into our best ever performance in the competition as we dismantled Sevilla, picking up an emphatic 4-1 victory. Goals from Mohamed Salah, a double from Youri Tielemans and a late strike from Andre Gray. An excellent start to our Champions League campaign.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Youri Tielemans

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Our 3rd encounter with Manchester United this season, this time in the League Cup 3rd round, and for the 3rd time in a row we came away with a win. Goals from Valdivia and Alessio Cerci have put us in the hat for the 4th round, at the expense of the side who have won the competition for the last 2 seasons.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Valdivia

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The 4th round draw of the League Cup sees us drawn at home to Watford. I'm happy with the draw and hopefully we can put in a similar performance to the recent 5-1 victory in the league.

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A 3rd consecutive away defeat, this time against Southampton as we fell to a 2-1 defeat. Andre Gray put us into an early lead but a second half double from £17 million summer signing, Munir, completed an unexpected turnaround.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Andre Gray

MONTHLY REVIEW:

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4 league fixtures this month and there is a pattern forming which I need to sort out somehow. We have played 6 games in total, winning our 3 home games but falling to defeat in all 3 away games. It's been a very inconsistent start to the season and we currently sit in 9th position in the league. We need to improve our away form if we can make a challenge at the top end of the season and repeat the heroics of the first 2 seasons at the club.

It's been an excellent start in the League Cup and Champions League, with us knocking the League Cup holders, Manchester United, out of the competition and dominating Sevilla, who would be favoured alongside Bayern Munich to qualify from the group.

PLAYER OF THE MONTH - Andre Gray

With 4 goals in his 4 appearances this month, Andre Gray is the September Player of the Month. Having not been involved much in the first month of the season, with Kasper Dolberg the preferred choice up front, it has been a great month for Andre as he has regained his place in the starting eleven.

TOP LEAGUE GOALSCORERS (SEASON):

ANDRE GRAY - 3
VALDIVIA - 2

MONTHLY MANAGERIAL RECORD:

4 Wins, 0 Draws, 2 Defeats (67% win rate)

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Looking ahead to October, we face Manchester United for the 4th time in the opening 3 months of the season, as they come to Turfmoor at the end of the month in the Premier League. But before that we have league games at home to newly promoted Brighton and away to Stoke City. Outside of the Premier League, we travel to Germany to face Bundesliga holders, Bayern Munich and have a home tie with Dinamo Zagreb. We also have our League Cup 4th round tie at home to Watford.​
 
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OCTOBER 2018 REVIEW:

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Tough start to the month with an away trip to Munich to face German Champions, Bayern Munich and we fell to a 3-1 defeat. There was a real gulf in class between the 2 sides and Bayern roared into a 3-0 lead through Thomas Muller a double from Douglas Costa. Kasper Dolberg pulled back a late consolation but the game finished in defeat. The next 2 games which is a double header with Dinamo Zagreb will define our Champions League campaign.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Kasper Dolberg

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A dominant home victory against newly promoted Brighton as we ran out 4-1 winners. Goals from Mohamed Salah, Andre Gray, Valdivia and Youri Tielemans will hopefullly ignite what has been a very inconsistent start to our Premier League campaign.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Mohamed Salah

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A big victory for the club, as it is our first away win of the season and stops the run of 4 consecutive away league defeat. Goals from Valdivia and Mohamed Salah ensured we picked up a really big victory for the club.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Valdivia

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Unfortunate injury for Kieran Trippier as he suffered a double hernia which could keep him out for up to 7 weeks. Jon Flanagan will now have to step us as he is the only right back available and hasn't had much playing time since signing for the club in the summer.

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Another big victory for the club, this time in the Champions League, with a comfortable 3-0 victory at home to Dinamo Zagreb. 2 goals from Andre Gray and a 3rd from Valdivia ensured the victory which makes it 6 points from a possible 9 in our Champions League group.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Andre Gray

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A disastrous home performance against Manchester United in the Premier League as we fell to a resounding 4-0 defeat. Having won in our first 3 games with Manchester United this season, we fell at the 4th hurdle. The performance was awful and Manchester United fully deserved the margin of victory.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Jeff Hendrick

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Very positive response to the poor defeat against Manchester United, with a 2-0 at home to Watford in the 4th round of the League Cup. An Andre Gray double ensured the victory and progression to the quarter final.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Mohamed Salah

MONTHLY REVIEW:

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Firstly, Youri Tielemans won the Premier League Player of the Month for September. Delighted for the 21 year old who has been in excellent for this season, following on from his very impressive first season for the club.

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With 3 Premier League fixtures in October, I was happy to come away with 6 points from a possible 9. We had 2 excellent victories at home to Brighton and away to Stoke City, which ended our poor away run in the league. But the disappointing home performance against Manchester United putting a dampener on what would have been an excellent month in the league for the club. We currently sit 7th in the league but are already a massive 7 points outside of the top 4. It's already looking like a very big ask to get anywhere close to the heights we have reached int league in my first 2 seasons at the club.

In the Champions League, we have put ourselves in an excellent position at the halfway stage of the group stage, having won both home games against Sevilla and this month against Dinamo Zagreb.

Our League Cup campaign is progressing nicely, as we are now in the hat for the quarter final, following our 2-0 win at home to Watford in the 4th round.

PLAYER OF THE MONTH - Youri Tielemans

Although, Andre Gray had another excellent month for the club, I'm going to give the player of the month to the player who also won the Premier League Player of the Month, Youri Tielemans.

TOP LEAGUE GOALSCORERS (SEASON):

ANDRE GRAY - 4
VALDIVIA - 4
MOHAMED SALAH - 3

MONTHLY MANAGERIAL RECORD:

4 Wins, 0 Draws, 2 Defeats (67% win rate)

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Another tough month ahead with a trip to Anfield to face Liverpool, followed by a home game against Arsenal and an away trip to newly promoted Nottingham Forest. Our Champions League destiny will be resolved as we face Dinamo Zagreb and Sevilla away. ​
 
How are you in the champions league? you finished fifth last season.
 
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