Arsene Wenger made a conscious decision at the beginning of the season to play a completely different second-string Arsenal side in the Europa League games in the Group Stages, and to save our first-choice line-up purely to play in the Premier League games, which is his Number One priority in this campaign.
Now we are entering December, and the Arsenal starting XI have played 5 intense midweek games less than every single other rival in the Top Six, as all of them have had tough Champions League matches to contend with. These extra games are now taking the toll on our rivals with Tottenham being the first to succumb to fatigue with their defeat at Leicester last night, and it may have helped us to defeat them in the North London Derby the week before as well.
Believe me, December is the month where our extra fitness will come into play as you can see on the fixture list that the Gunners have 10 games to play (starting today) until the end of December. It is a gruelling schedule that will test everyone’s squad limits to the full. After tonight’s home match against Huddersfield we have….
Saturday 2nd December PREMIER LEAGUE Arsenal v Manchester United
Thursday 7th December EUROPA LEAGUE Arsenal v BATE Borisov
Sunday 10th December PREMIER LEAGUE Southampton v Arsenal
Wednesday 13th December PREMIER LEAGUE West Ham v Arsenal
Saturday 16th December PREMIER LEAGUE Arsenal v Newcastle United
Tuesday 19th December EFL CUP QUARTER-FINAL Arsenal v West Ham United
Friday 22nd December PREMIER LEAGUE Arsenal v Liverpool
Thursday 28th December PREMIER LEAGUE Crystal Palace v Arsenal
Sunday 31st December PREMIER LEAGUE West Brom v Arsenal
All of our rivals have Champions League games next Tuesday and Wednesday, while we will play our reserve side again against BATE, giving us yet another boost. One added side effect is that when we DO have injuries or suspensions, we can call on players that have been playing regularly in our minor games so they should be fitter and ready to step into the first team if needed.
December is a crucial month in every EPL season, but this time around the Gunners can face it with a massive advantage. We will certainly know more about everyone’s title chances by the beginning of the New Year. We have every reason to believe we will be moving closer to the top every week….
Admin
I’m only concentrating on Huddersfield. One game at a time is the way to go. BTW We have to beat Huddersfield. Winning home matches to mid table and lower table teams is important.
Mitch, could you tell me what BTW is , I’ve tried to work it out but I’m the older generation and not into text talk
By the way….
Yes, it is a very tight schedule. I could only be sure that Arsenal are back on track if they could win in the next six games, starting with the Huddersfield and Manchester United games.
Luckily for us, Manchester United and Liverpool have to focus on the Champions League as well, whereas Arsenal only have the Europa League. I think Arsenal would overcome the challenge in December, as long as Sanchez is fit and is fully focused on Arsenal.
Tight schedule and we usually capitulate on December (last season we lost back to back to City and Everton).
However, we have no serious injuries. Even Santi will (unlikely) be back in January. So we have depth.
Wilshere should start today, maybe Coquelin and Holding/Chambers as well. We have very crucial match coming up against United in 4 days so we might need to rotate a bit tonight.
Carzola is due for any surgery i am afraid..
I really do hope this id a tirning point for us. I still think we are a little below par. The tottenham game was impressive but the burnley game I dont think we were amazing. I would love to see some more comfortable wins. I want teams to fear coming to us or us going to them how they do with city atm.
I can see maximum points in December
@RV
Beware of the phrase “winnable games”
Arsenal knows how to make Dundee Utd to look like Barcelona on field of play.
if the team plays with an urgency to win… we should progress nicely towards the top
I hope we get the maximum point during that period