I have just finished my first year in my career mode with Newcastle including the Euro that I managed to win with Belgium. I finished 4th of the BPL after a final epic 2-2 home draw against Tottenham that was just a single point below me before the game. The fight for the European competition spot was very intense all along the season. I wish I have a better connection at home to document better my CM (uploading 15mins videos takes me about 4-5 hours yes...).
What I can say is that fouls are there. It varies from game to game. It happens that the CPU commits only 2 fouls a game but there is also crazy games were the CPU will commit 8 fouls or more. I am in the process of uploading a video against Liverpool were they had 8 fouls and I had 7, so this one was a 15 fouls game. I see also with a good regularity red cards and also some of my players have been suspended for getting too much yellows. My team record along the season was Sissoko with a total of 7 yellow.
You will also see crosses and corners. I will not lie, bad crosses by CPU happens, particularly when a non skilled player try to cross with its bad foot at full sprinting speed. But there is also a good amount of goal scored by the CPU and me after a cross or a corner.
Concerning the score lines it varies a lot too. My biggest lost is a 3-1 away against city (the video in the post above). My biggest wins are 3-0 and 4-1 but I can't remember against who (both were PL team). But the BPL is tough league and there isn't really a particularly weak team in the league. I lost at least once against the big teams (Tot, ManC, Liv) except MU (win; draw) and Arsenal (two wins) and I lost twice against Chelsea (the easy league winner) and West Brom (that were in the course of an Eurpoean spot until the last 5-8 games of the season).
I can't tell you what will happen if you play with a big team (FCB) against a small one (Almeria) because I didn't try myself. I guess you should be able to dominate them frankly if you are comfortable with converting your chances.
However, be aware that I have only tried the set in Legendary with with full manual settings (15mins half length) and I really don't know how it will play if you use different settings. Also the set as is with this difficulty and settings configurations is VERY challenging. In the previous fifa version and with the patch 1.03 (using the holly set D from the community sliders) I have always managed to win the league title the very first year using teams like Sunderland (fifa 16 1.03), Newcastle, La Coruņa, Udinese (Fifa 15), Marseilles, Valencia (fifa 14). Always playing at Legendary difficulty but with sem assisted passing and shooting
These sliders make me sweat and feeling pain in my fingers (if I do not control myself, I mean stopping pushing the stick like an idiot)
but I LOVE them. The challenge and games scenario are great, my first season was full of suspense. I take for example the crazy game I wan at the very end of extra time (3-2) against Spain in the 1/4 final of the Euro.
What can I add? Try it yourself and see if they fit your expectations.