Arsenal are still waiting to find out when the FA cup replay with Hull City can be squeezed into the schedule, but I suspect that the fact that both clubs already have very busy fixture lists could mean that this replay will take the place of already scheduled league games.
Assuming we get through this replay, Arsenal are set to face Watford in the quarter.finals on the weekend of March 12th and before that we have Barcelona tomorrow, Man United this weekend, Swansea the following Wednesday and then Tottenham that weekend. So unless we fit the replay in on the same week that the next round of FA cup games is due, one of our Premier League games will have to be moved.
Hull also have four games before the next FA cup weekend so it seems that moving league games is the only option. This would put us behind in the league table, of course, and if we get to face Watford it would mean our game against West Brom scheduled for that weekend would be moved as well.
So in a couple of weeks the Gunners could have two games in hand on our main two Premier League rivals, none of whom are still in the cup. This is normally seen as a disadvantage as the theory is that points on the board are better than games in hand, but with Arsenal I am not so sure.
We have already seen this season that Arsenal perform better when up against it and we falter when expectations are high. So perhaps it would be better of the Gunners had to play catch up on Leicester and the spuds and then the pressure would be on them.
So could this replay and our continued involvement in the FA cup actually boost the chances of the Premier League title?