It became a bit of an issue for Arsenal last year and I think it got into the players heads that an early kick off in the Premier League on Saturday following a midweek game in the Champions League would give the Gunners all sorts of problems.
Arsene Wenger was even asked about it in his pre-match press conference reported by Arsenal.com. The boss was quite dismissive about the issue, as he should be because the last thing the players need is it being built up into a big thing in their minds. We have enough problems winning games in the league without any mental stumbling blocks.
But it does present a problem, with only a couple of days between the tough Champions League clash with Dortmund and a trip to West Brom, especially with a hatful of injuries weakening the Gunners squad. However, there are a few things that Wenger can do to make sure that the early kick-off does not present a problem.
He has already done one of them by playing it down and the fact that we got a positive result on Wednesday will also help, as the game last season that made this an issue was the trip to Man City after losing to Napoli away, but there was travel involved and a tougher team to face then.
The main thing for us at West Brom is to keep the pressing game up and not to let our work rate drop. So the boss needs to look carefully at who might be heavy legged and give them a rest if possible. With Giroud and Welbeck and possibly even Walcott available, Koscielny back in the squad and Flamini fairly fresh, that should not be too hard.
After that, the Gunners must stay confident and stick with the way we have played in the last two games and that should see us come back to north London with a vital three points.