When the Premier League fixture list was released there was much analysis done of the first four Arsenal games, mainly because Tottenham and Liverpool fell within that period.
The same applies to the end of season set of games, as well as the festive period and rightfully so, those periods are littered with tricky games and top-six rivals, however, there is a period of nine games where the stars align and all things being equal, Arsenal can collect a maximum of 27 points.
Starting on the 6th October until 7th December these are the nine games
06/10/19 Arsenal v AFC Bournemouth
21/10/19 Sheffield United v Arsenal
27/10/19 Arsenal v Crystal Palace
02/11/19 Arsenal v Wolverhampton
09/11/19 Leicester City v Arsenal
23/11/19 Arsenal v Southampton
30/11/19 Norwich City v Arsenal
03/12/19 Arsenal v Brighton
07/12/19 West Ham United v Arsenal
Now, I will say in advance that I accept Arsenal can lose any of those matches, any team can, these are all Premier League rivals but let’s be honest, if we are to finish top-four or even challenge for the title we should be beating each of those sides.
I also accept that there are games in that list that we lost in the last campaign but this is a new season, we have strengthened significantly and because of the dropped points against some of those teams, the season was a failure.
For me, all those nine fixtures are very winnable, we have five home games and if we cannot collect all 15 points against those opponents then we are in trouble.
The four away games are far from walkovers, but again, if we cannot collect 12 points against those opponents then we will have problems.
As an example, Leicester City away, a very difficult game, even Man City lost against them last season but you know what, Crystal Palace did not, they won 4-1, Man Utd beat them, Tottenham beat them, in better words, they are beatable, they are not world-beaters and it is losing games like that, that cost Arsenal so dearly.
For me, those nine games are vital, win all nine and top-four at the very least would be more than possible, drop significant points in that run of games and our season could easily go off the rails.