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Arsenal’s fixture list hasn’t been kind to them so far this season.
By the time they’ve played Liverpool on Sunday and Slavia Prague next Wednesday, 10 of their first 15 games in all competitions will have been away from home. That’s unheard of and would be a demanding schedule for any side, let alone one also dealing with injuries to two of their best players, Bukayo Saka and William Saliba.
Despite that, Mikel Arteta’s side are level on points with Manchester City at the top of the Premier League. And once they get through the next few weeks, the fixture list looks set to turn firmly in their favour.
TalkingPoints
As embarrassing as it is to lose to Fleetwood, does the Carabao Cup exit give Arsenal a better chance of achieving their goals this season? No Dec quarter-final, no two-legged semi-final, and a full week’s rest before several big games
After the trip to Newcastle on 21 November, Arsenal won’t play outside London for six weeks. Their next 11 games will all take place in the capital:
Seven of those games are at the Emirates, where Arsenal have won every match so far this season, against Coventry, Chelsea, Leeds, Lille and Everton. The other four are short trips across London. Arsenal’s first game outside the capital after that run is at Hull on 16 January.
City’s schedule over the same period looks far tougher on the legs. Between 24 November and 6 January, they travel to Barcelona in the Champions League, as well as Newcastle, Everton and Leeds in the Premier League, on top of trips to Brentford and the Emirates.
City also face Bradford City in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals in mid-December, a fixture Arsenal no longer have to worry about after their exit at Fleetwood. You would assume City win that, where they would then face Premier League opposition in a two-legged semi-final, starting in January.
Embarrassing as Arsenal’s defeat was, it means Arteta’s side will play fewer games than City, with far less travelling. That could make a real difference in December, when squads are stretched and injuries tend to pile up. Less time travelling on planes and coaches means more time recovering and working on the training ground at Sobha, being in a familiar environment.
First, though, Arsenal have to get through the next four games, starting with a trip to Anfield on Sunday, where they haven’t won a Premier League game since 2012.
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