Arsenal handed huge advantage in Premier League title race as promising fixture quirk emerges

Rival fans bemoaned Arsenal's consistently fortunate draws in cup competitions and the Champions League last season, and these supporters certainly won't be happy when they realise what the fixture list has in store for Mikel Arteta's team later this year.

The Gunners have gotten off to a great start in their pursuit of retaining their crown, winning their first two league matches without conceding a goal. While Arteta and his players can be satisfied with their start, they'll be acutely aware that more challenging times are ahead.

The fixture list is about to get congested again, difficult matches are set to be played every three days and exceptional opponents await.

Despite this, the fixture gods might actually still be on Arsenal's side after last season's fairly favourable schdule throughout the season.

Whenever a fixture list starts to take shape, fans look out for the inevitable ridiculously tough run of fixtures that has the potential to make or break a team's season. Last term, Arsenal played a North London Derby, a match against Bayern Munich, and then an away game at Stamford Bridge in the space of seven days. The year before, they went to Chelsea, the San Siro and St. James' Park in the same week.

Arsenal supporters taking a gander at the fixture list will be somewhat relieved with what they see for some time. Before the ultra long September international break, clashes with Chelsea and Napoli are surrounded by games against Sunderland, Ipswich and Brighton.

In the next block of fixtures before the second international break of the season, Bayern Munich and Liverpool are among the Gunners' opponents, but these matches are made less daunting by games against Leeds, Lille, Nottingham Forest, Everton, Slavia Prague and Hull around them. There isn't exactly a 'run of death'.

However, Arsenal's tough run does commence after the November international break. Games against Newcastle, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, Brentford, Tottenham, Real Madrid, Bournemouth and Manchester United are all one after another in a congested four-week period.

That said, this difficult run is offset by where these matches fall, with Arsenal handed a huge boost in the Premier League title race with this fascinating fixture quirk.

After playing at St. James' Park on the weekend of the 21st/22nd of November, the Gunners play 11 straight matches in London, running until their January 6th clash with Brentford at the Emirates. They don't have to leave the capital once in this time, which should be hugely beneficial in terms of cutting down travel time and increasing rest and preparation time.

Arsenal's late November to December run:

Some of these fixtures are still subject to change for broadcast purposes, although they'll all still be on the allotted weekend mentioned above or the allotted midweek slot.

It's also worth mentioning that if Arsenal progress into the last eight of the Carabao Cup, their quarter-final tie will fall between the Bournemouth and Manchester United home games. This could, of course, be an away game outside of London.

Nonetheless, for Arsenal's most tricky run of fixtures to be played predominantly close to home or at home is an extremely big boost for Arteta's team, and it should make a huge difference.

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