After Arsenal were handed yet another tough group in the Champions League this season, Arsene Wenger will have been hoping that the fixture schedule would be a bit kinder to us, but that hope will have been in vain. In fact it could get worse when the TV companies start messing about with the Premier League fixtures.
Wenger will be praying that no more Arsenal players join the injury list during the international break, because straight after it we host Man City on Saturday and then play the first UCL group game away to Borussia Dortmund on the Tuesday; a nightmare start especially as we have Mathieu Debuchy banned for the next European game after another harsh red card in the play-offs. Hopefully Dortmund will continue their slow start but we could well be up against it from the off.
The home clash with the German club comes on the Wednesday after our league game with Man United who will probably be flying by then. That game is set for Saturday but knowing our luck will be moved to Sunday, giving us a day less to prepare.
The second toughest team in our group is Galatasaray and the first clash with them comes in between the visit of Tottenham and the trip to Chelsea at the beginning of October. Nice! Then the very last game of the group, which could be crucial, is against them in Turkey, coming on the Tuesday after a usually bruising away day at Stoke.
So once again, Arsenal are going to have to do it the hard way and I can see us qualifying in second again. What do you think Gooners?