Remaining fixtures for Arsenal, Man Utd, Spurs and West Ham.
Arsenal:
Crystal Palace – A
Brighton. -H
Southampton. -A
Chelsea -A
Man Utd -H
West Ham -A
Leeds. -H
Newcastle. -A
Everton – H
Spurs -A (TBD).
Man Utd:
Leicester. – H
Everton. -A
Norwich. -H
Liverpool -A
Arsenal. -A
Brentford. -H
Brighton. -A
Chelsea. -H
Crystal Palace. -A
Spurs:
West Ham. -H
Newcastle. -H
Aston Villa. -A
Brighton. -H
Brentford. -A
Leicester. -H
Liverpool. -A
Burnley. -H
Norwich. -A
Arsenal. -H (TBD)
West Ham:
Spurs. -A
Everton -H
Europa league first leg (Lyon. -H)
Brentford. -A
Europa league second leg (Lyon. -A)
Burnley. -H
Chelsea. -A
Arsenal. -H
Norwich. -A
Man City. -H
Brighton. -A
If West Ham go past Lyon, then more matches.
Now let’s compare these teams’ fixtures.
Arsenal and Man Utd have 4 fixtures in common, Crystal Palace, Everton, Brighton and Chelsea. And of course, they play each other.
West Ham will play Arsenal, Man City, Spurs and Chelsea. It couldn’t get any tougher for them and with Europa league fixtures I say, we can all agree they will fall short. That leaves us with 3 teams: Arsenal, Man Utd and Spurs. No European football for these teams.
Now let’s analyse the fixtures.
Arsenal: they have six(6) away fixtures, but I can tell you the away games I think they will come out victorious. Southampton, Newcastle and West Ham. Yes, I said West Ham, for some reasons Arsenal know how to play West Ham. Newcastle the same thing. But Crystal palace we all know every time Arsenal play them away it’s either a draw or a loss. A draw with them is a good point. (I’m being realistic). Chelsea, like Liverpool or Man City, even though I know they are beatable, but they always nick it against Arsenal.( Fingers crossed on this). Spurs away is a derby game regardless which team is at home. So, the game will be decided on which team wants it more. (Fingers crossed a draw will be a good point for Arsenal).
Home games against, Brighton, Man Utd, Everton and Leeds. These fixtures are all winnable. Including Man Utd yes. Brighton and Everton though, if they are sucked in the relegation battle it’ll be very tough, but I feel Arsenal have the home advantage. Leeds is an expansive team; they don’t play to draw it’s either you beat them, or they beat you. So that’s it for Arsenal.
Man Utd: they have five(5) monster away fixtures, Liverpool, Arsenal, Everton, Brighton and Crystal palace. Again, if Brighton and Everton are dragged into relegation battle, we all know what Selhurst park and Goodison park are like. Brighton is also a tough place to go for big teams. Liverpool and Arsenal is a bonus point for Man Utd if they get any point of the 2 games.
Home : they have four(4) home games, Leicester, Brentford, Norwich and Chelsea. All are winnable. Chelsea at old Trafford is always a draw or a loss for Chelsea. So that’s it for United.
Spurs: they have four(4) away fixtures, Aston villa, Brentford, Liverpool and Norwich.
Villa and Liverpool I’m sure they will drop point in these matches. The rest is winnable.
Home: They have six (6) home fixtures
West Ham, Newcastle, Brighton, Leicester, Arsenal and Burnley. Spurs are not that strong this season at home. But these are all winnable games bar Arsenal, West Ham. So, this is all for Spurs.
Conclusion: I think on paper Spurs have the easiest of games and I think they are Arsenal’s only contender. You can’t rule out Man Utd though, but they are too inconsistent, and you can feel the squad is not united. Spurs have a manager who knows how to dig out a result when it matters, and they also have a big squad. So, it’s Arsenal against Spurs. I just hope for Arsenal’s sake the small squad can stay out of injury.
So, let’s sit back and enjoy the ride my fellow gooners. One game at a time. COYG
Lucia