The Euros might currently be in the limelight but fans are already salivating at the prospect of some of the world’s best managers going head to head in the Premier League next season The fixtures for the EPL 2016/17 season have been announced and it is going be one amazing rollercoaster ride right from the get-go!
For a football fan, the thrills and spills of this league cannot be matched by any other event in the world. The 2016/17 season is also the most anticipated because of one thing and one thing only, managerial rivalries.
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Arsenal missed a glorious opportunity last season. The Gunners in their usual swagger were top at Christmas, a position there were familiar with in recent seasons in that period of time, but spectacularly collapsed in the second half of the campaign, a gift Leicester City gleefully accepted.
The 2016/17 season will be Arsene Wenger’s last with his contract running out at the end of the campaign. There were rumors of an extension being offered for the veteran manager but the boss himself rubbished them.
With Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp , Pep Guardiola, and Antonio Conte at the helm of Arsenal’s rivals next season it’s safe to say Wenger will have to have the best managerial season of his career to outwit his opponents.
But it would be a mistake to rule out Wenger’s team even before the season has begun. He has already added some much-needed steel in the middle of the park with the signing of Granit Xhaka. So let’s take a look at the set of fixtures the Gunners will go through month by month.
August
The Gunners don’t have an easy start to the campaign. The opening weekend they play Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. If past history is anything to go by the match will be a classic. Their next assignment is to the Champions Leicester City away and they finish the month against Watford.
Expect a lot of turbulence during the initial stages of their flight.
September
The opening two games are relatively simpler at the start of September. Southampton are their first opponents at the Emirates who will be coached by Claude Puel. Next, they travel to the KC Stadium to face Hull City who are back for their 3rd stint in the Premier League.
Finally, the Gunners will end September with a super Sunday clash against arch nemesis Chelsea. Antonio Conte showed his prowess as a coach with Juventus and now with Italy and it looks likely their poor record against the Blues will carry on.
October
October is the arguably the easiest month for Arsenal at least on paper. They play Burnley away followed by Swansea at home, then they welcome newly promoted Middlesborough and finish the month with a trip to the Stadium of Light. They are expected to pick up 12 out of 12 points in October considering their impressive record against minnows in the Premier League.
November
November is a doozy for Arsenal and their fans. Their first two games will test both their physical and mental strength but most importantly their title credentials. Their first game is the North London Derby at the Emirates, followed by Manchester United at Old Trafford as the Wenger, Mourinho rivalry is set to be reignited.
Even if the Londoners finished above both their arch rivals in 2015/16, both contests will go down to the wire. I expect them to extract a maximum of 2 points in these fixtures. They finish the month with a simpler assignment at home to Burnley.
December
December is always the busiest month of every Premier League season. One of the few leagues not to have a winter break this is the month the stamina and strength in depth of the teams are tested the most.
Arsenal historically have an injury crisis during this period. With headline games against West Ham, Everton, and Manchester City it will prove to be another tough month. If the Gunners can minimise their casualties and take each game as it comes itmight prove to be the difference between a disastrous and a successful period for them.
January
The Gunners will kick off the new year with a trip to one of last season’s newcomers Bournemouth. It should be a comfortable month of matches with Watford, Swansea and Burnley, teams that are weaker on paper.
But if history is something to go by then this month will be a month of caution. January was when everything started to unravel for them in the previous season and few others before that so it might prove to be a turbulent time.
January is also the winter transfer window something Wenger has never been a fan of. Depending how his season goes up to this point we might see heavy investment but traditionally it has never been his style to buy in the middle of the season.
February
February will provide one of the toughest trips in their calendar, Stamford Bridge. A place that brings back so many nightmares for Wenger and the fans. Further games against Hull City and Southampton might be easier but the game against Chelsea has historically been the match to swing the Gunners’ season.
March
March begins with a trip to Anfield and another battle with Jurgen Klopp. By this time, the herd of title chasing teams would have thinned and Liverpool and Arsenal might be in a position of strength or would have completely fallen away.
Then they welcome champions Leicester or according to everyone’s predictions outgoing champions Leicester. It would be something of a miracle if the Foxes are still in the hunt for the title but you can never count them out. Finally, they will travel to Hawthorns to face Tony Pulis’ West Brom.
April and May
April and May will either be the most nail-biting months for Arsenal or the two months where they ponder about what went wrong. They will play Manchester City, Tottenham, Manchester United and Everton all in the space of eight weeks.
Those three clubs are expected to be in the title race during these two months and if Arsenal are still in it, these matches will make or break their season. Of course, sometimes it’s the lesser teams that have often decided the fate of the Premier League.
So Middlesborough, Sunderland, Crystal Palace, and Stoke City are teams that cannot be ignored. Some of them might also be in a relegation battle come the last two months and they will be fighting for their lives making them all the more harder to defeat.
Predicted finish: 4th
Yes this prediction is very cliched but also the most probable. Given Wenger is up against Mourinho, Guardiola, Conte and Klopp it will be very difficult for the Gunners to pull off a title win. Both Guardiola and Mourinho have been given massive war chests to make their teams as competitive as possible and Chelsea after their disappointing season will be out to prove everyone wrong and we already know what Conte can do.
Liverpool are still a work in progress and Klopp’s men will put up a valiant effort in finishing in the Champions League places but the quality of Arsenal’s current squad should see them finish in the top four.
