Two upcoming Premier League fixtures have been rescheduled due to our involvement in the Europa League, as well as Wolves participation in the FA Cup.
The home game against Crystal Palace which was supposed to be played on Saturday April 20th will now be moved to Sunday April 21st because of our quarter-final against Napoli which takes place on Thursday April 18th.
The Gunners were supposed to face Wolves at Molineux last weekend, but they had an FA Cup tie against Manchester United to win, and that match will now be played on Wednesday April 24th.
The Crystal Palace game kicks off at 4pm on Sunday, and Wolves at 7.45pm on Wednesday.
Both are crucial for our chances of finishing in the top four, and the schedule between now and the end of the season is pretty hectic with eight games in April alone – not least because we’re currently in a two week Interlull during which some of these games could/should have taken place.
Unai Emery will take his non-international participant squad members, and a clutch of youngsters, to Dubai at the end of this week for some warm weather training, and a game next week against Al-Nasr Dubai.
Arsenal’s April Fixtures
April 1st – Newcastle (H)
April 7th – Everton (A)
April 11th – Napoli (H)
April 15th – Watford (A)
April 18th – Napoli (A)
April 21st – Crystal Palace (H)
April 24th – Wolves (A)
April 29th – Leicester (A)
6 games in 17 days… fun times ahead 😀
Time to vote for Thierry or Patrick:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47474106
Holy sh*t, that’s a lot of games squeezed into one month. Hopefully we won’t get any more injuries or suspensions. We should maybe give jenko, and Elnany 1 or 2 games, and let Suarez maybe start one home game. Rotation will be key next month!!
Good test for the manager.
#InEmeryITrust
We used to say that about someone else at Arsenal, didn’t we? Right to the bitter end. However, it will be a good test not only for Emery but for the squad. It will provide Emery with a useful marker as to who stays and who gets the chop at the end of the season. Clearly, he’ll have to have a clear out to free up money on the bloated wage bill (also because it’s unlikely we’ll get much in transfer fees for any of the likely leavers).
No thanks.
Those two should have been out ages ago.
Emery would rather chance Mustafi Rback then Jenkinson.
Elneny is sub par.
Only chance is 8f we hit injuries god forbid.
My heart goes out to Laurent Koscielny’s achilles tendon during this hectic schedule
I would think Koscielny is one of the players most likely to be rotated. It’s pretty clear to me that he is still one of the best defenders in the Prem when he is rested–and nowhere near as good if he plays a second match too soon.
Which is why it was naive to think we would be playing back 4 with two old war horses. As mentioned there are no absolutes. Back 3 works for certain matches plus brings out the best in AMN and Kolasinac. Again Mustafi’s propensity fir mistakes highly exagerrated. No one wants to mention Torreira’s blunders in the patch between BHA, Soton away, Liverpool and West Ham in which he made 3 give aways or dispossession and 1 bad clearance leading to 4 goals. We will need to rotate through Mustafi, Sokratis and Koscielny plus monreal. Much as with Guendouzi, Granit, Torreira… Read more »
That alone is 3 tough games in 7 days
Next game is bloody ages away though. These breaks are boring as shit they really are. With that in mind I’d like to pick people’s brains on something rather important and pressing. Would you rather: Always feel like you’ve got a stone in your shoe and even though you take it off and shake it, you can never get it out and it proper hurts your heel and that or Always feel like you’ve got crisp crumbs all in your bed and no matter how hard you try you can’t get them all out and they make you itchy and… Read more »
The big life questions are always asked at Arseblog.
Has to the stone in the shoe. I’d just stay in bed all day.
Why wouldn’t you just choose a different pair of shoes?
Definitely 50 tiny Kolasinacs.
One of our best signings kolasinac.
He’s like a freight train when he gets going but with the feet of a ballerina.
Don’t like that short gap from Watford away Monday night to Napoli away Thursday night. Will be a real test of the squad.
Whoever comes up with the schedule doesn’t give a fuck. Cunts.
Oh well, can save travel and fly straight from Luton after Watford game.
Its amazing that even now teams can go weeks without playing then have to play four times in ten days. Next years winter break is only going to make it worse
Whew! I was going to miss the Palace game as had a big family thing I couldn’t get out of on the 20th. Glad Emery took my call and sorted that one for me- Gracias Amigo!
Three Monday night games in one month! [Newcastle, Watford (a), Leicester (a)]
Why?
SKY
Cunts
Bloody night games – never get home before 12.30. Whatever happened to 3pm Saturday! At least UEL means you can plan for Sunday games but then Saturday games become Monday too.
Good for me. Monday night UK means reasonable hour Tuesday morning my time…. can sneak in some Arsenal action before going to work.
Plusses and minuses depending on your situation 🙂
Monday night and premier league should not be in the same sentence. 8 games in one month is stressful, and I’m looking at fixtures away to Watford, Leicester and Wolves in the same way I would the top 6 clubs.
I can see a few points dropped unfortunately given our away record, all I ask from the team is that we beat Napoli.
I thought Newcastle was home?
It is, hence the lack of (a) next to it in occams hatchet’s post.
That’s a lot of games in a relatively short time. Let’s hope particularly we don’t get any more stupid red cards, as well as staying injury free. More than ever we need the consistency that’s been lacking so far in 2019.
So many away games, ugh…and for all the talk of how we don’t have to play any top 6 teams…Watford, Wolves, Foxes, Everton…these are so tricky, and all away from home. My main concern is Koscielny – we seem to quickly revert to shambolic humiliation when he’s not out there. I think our run-in is just as hard as anybody’s. My brother’s a Liverpool fan and we were laughing at how much lighter their April is – 2 less games than Arsenal and their UCL tie (Porto) is arguable easier than our Europa draw, hahaha. Fingers crossed we get through… Read more »
Luckily, Liverpool’s run-in is not quite that easy : I’m counting on them doing us a service when they beat both Spurs and Chelsea.
Is the Interlull over yet?
Arsecast – Pls leave the mic on during HT, it was hilarious yet strange.
Who was the email from? What juicy morsel was discussed or was this just a wind up?
James was singing
Sounded like a wind up to me in response to a question on a earlier Arsecast asking what they did during the break.
Monday night and premier league should not be in the same sentence. 8 games in one month is stressful, and I’m looking at fixtures away to Watford, Leicester and Wolves in the same way I would the top 6 clubs.
I can see a few points dropped unfortunately given our away record, all I ask from the team is that we beat Napoli.
If we reach the semi finals in Europa League, will they also be played in April, or will they be played in the beginning of May?
First two Thursdays in May (2nd, 9th) sandwiched around Brighton (H)
Glass half full – The Newcastle game moving to Monday gives our players an extra 2 days to recover from their long international trips with their countries.
Not even sweating them fixtures one bit.. Got Unai Emery on the wheel… I suspect we may even finish third ahead of Spurs, so long as we win the games at Wolves and Leicester.
Easy peasy, then.
Quick update on injuries on 20/3 – it seems Ramsey and Sokratis are both out of their forthcoming matches. If so, let’s hope neither is serious. This is where the strength of the squad will be key in our run-in to the EPL and Europa League. Frankly, I don’t think we have the strength in depth but we’ll see. As I said in an earlier comment, this will be a good test not just for Emery but for the squad. If they’re not all going to put in 100% now they never will and I think the performance of several… Read more »
Touch of skivitis maybe
It’s 8 league matches and 3 Europa.
We have strung unbeaten runs before.
We have enough to rotate through critical areas without compromise to quality.
At the back in back 3 or back 4 – Mustafi, Sokratis,Koscielny, Monreal
In engine room deep 2 – Granit, Torreira, Ramsey, Guendouzi
Attack either Laca and Auba with Ozil supporting or Laca with Iwobi and Mhkitaryan or Ramsey supporting.
Fullback is a bit trickier – AMN and Kolasinac wing backs.
Thereafter options are more limited with Lichsteiner then the one dimensional Jenkinson or Mustafi. None terribly secure albeit Lichsteiner has been more assured
Crunch time boys, COYG lets get that 4th place trophy!