Tragedy for the Gunners. Unlike Man United who have qualified for the Champions League easily Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal have had a torrid time recently with 1 win in the last 6. Theo Walcott has scored 9 Goals in the last 11 matches for Arsenal. What happened this time? Theo is mis-firing. With only two shots on target in total Theo didn’t manage any of these against Swansea FC. The manager believes fatigue is to blame.
Drastic action must surely be needed. Drastic action is what Arsenal got. Arsene is reportedly leaving 7 first team players at home going into the latter stages of the Champions League. Correspondingly Man United go into December having rested the majority of their players after an easy qualification in the Champions League.
What does this mean for the Premiership? Arsenal’s December Premiership fixtures do not look too challenging.
Arsenal’s December fixtures
| League | Match | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Champions League -Group B | Olympiakos v Arsenal | Tue 4 Dec | 19:45 |
| Premier League | Arsenal v West Brom | Sat 8 Dec | 15:00 |
| League Cup -Quarter-Final | Bradford v Arsenal | Tue 11 Dec | 19:45 |
| Premier League | Reading v Arsenal | Mon 17 Dec | 20:00 |
| Premier League | Wigan v Arsenal | Sat 22 Dec | 12:45 |
| Premier League | Arsenal v West Ham | Wed 26 Dec | 15:00 |
| Premier League | Arsenal v Newcastle | Sat 29 Dec | 17:30 |
The Gunners are already in the knock out stage of the Champions League which is no doubt why Arsene is resting so many players before a tough Premiership fixture list in January. Arsenal’s January fixtures are far more tough against Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool, which is no doubt why Arsene is resting so many players during December.
Arsenal went into Tuesday night’s match with Olympiakos at a disadvantage. Arsenal concede about one more goal per match then their opponents and Olympiakos score around one more goal than Arsenal. This loss in the Champions League didn’t matter because Arsenal have qualified in their group in any case. Arsenal odds for future games can be found on Betfair.
A typical Premier League solution would be to try and fix the problem by buying more players, but it will be difficult to find the right player mid season. Arsenal need more strength up front and good strikers are not exactly on sale at the moment. December’s performance will be a good indicator of how Arsenal will fare during January’s difficult games.