Although most Arsenal fans on here think that the club is going through a crisis right now, the fact is that in December we only lost ONE of our 9 games, and that was right at the beginning to Man United so we are actually on an 8-game unbeaten run. Admittedly we only drew half of those but it is still better than losing!
Now we move on swiftly to January, and although Wenger will have transfers and contract talks to contend with, he will also have to oversee 7 more games – and 3 of them are against Chelsea. So let’s have a look at the full fixture list….
So in just two days time we have the incredibly crucial League game against our in-form West London rivals Chelsea, who have moved up into second place after having four wins and a draw from their last 5 League games. They are a very tough rival, but we meet them at the Emirates and having beaten them in the FA Cup Final and the Community Shield this year, and followed that up with an impressive draw at Stamford Bridge earlier this season. Wenger has quickly become Antonio Conte’s bogey team. This will be an enthralling encounter.
Then our reserves have to go to Nottingham for our first defence of our FA Cup trophy. We should be confident having only lost one FA Cup game in the last four years!
Three days later we go to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea again. It is a semi-final but as both sides have much bigger fish to fry there will be massive changes from our League meeting. The selection for the second leg on the 24th will depend highly on how we get on in the first leg I am sure.
Then on the 14th it’s back to the EPL and a trip south to Bournemouth, and with Crystal Palace and Swansea as our following League games we should be hopeful of getting a good 9 points from those three.
Our month will hinge highly on Wednesday’s game against Chelsea, and if we win that we could be in for a VERY juicy January….
Sam P