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.
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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.
