How Arsenal’s Champions League fixtures fit around the domestic games | OneFootball

Arsenal have now learned the dates of their League Phase matches in this season’s Champions League, so let’s look at how they fit in with the domestic schedule.

Photo by VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images

Arsenal learned their opponents for the League Phase of the Champions League earlier this week, but it took another couple of days for all the fixture timings to be confirmed.

That has now happened, with Arsenal’s full schedule as follows:

The question now is how all of those games will fit around the domestic schedule.

Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

Matchday 1 – Athletic Club (A)

Arsenal’s opening fixture against Athletic Club has nice spacing either side, with the previous game against Nottingham Forest on the Saturday in an early kick-off, and the following match against Manchester City on the Sunday.

Both Premier League fixtures are home games, which should help with the trip to Bilbao. Perhaps Wednesday would have been even better, allowing for another day of recovery after Forest, but at least Arsenal will have the maximum time to prepare for the City game.

City themselves play on the Thursday against Napoli, albeit at home.

Matchday 2 – Olympiacos (H)

Arsenal face Newcastle United away from home in a late Sunday kick-off prior to the Olympiacos fixture on the Wednesday, so they’ll be very grateful Olympiacos is a home game.

Arsenal will then play West Ham United at home on the following Saturday at 3pm. The spacing isn’t quite as nice as MD1, but the consecutive home games make up for it.

Matchday 3 – Atletico Madrid (H)

Arsenal play on the Saturdays either side of their Tuesday match against Atletico Madrid, with all three games in London. The Gunners play away to Fulham prior to the match, and at home to Crystal Palace afterwards.

The Palace game may be moved to the Sunday, given their qualification for the Europa Conference League. Either way, no issues here.

Matchday 4 – Slavia Praha (A)

The people in charge of scheduling haven’t been quite so kind with this one. Arsenal play Burnley away the previous weekend (with the exact day not yet confirmed as the TV picks haven’t reached this far yet), Sunderland away the following weekend, and the Tuesday Slavia Praha game is also away.

Three consecutive away games in a week is far from ideal, though it’s worth pointing out that the league fixtures are against promoted clubs and the Champions League game is against one of the lower-ranking teams.

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

Matchday 5 – Bayern Munich (H)

Possibly the most eye-catching fixture of the League Phase campaign, the Bayern match has also been placed in a tasty period of league games.

Arsenal will face Spurs at home in the north London derby immediately prior to the Bayern match, then Chelsea away in the match afterwards. The obvious upside is that all three games are in London.

The games also directly follow an international break, which could be a positive or a negative depending on how the break goes.

Matchday 6 – Club Brugge (A)

Arsenal play Aston Villa away in the game prior to their Wednesday game against Club Brugge, then Wolves at home at the weekend. Ideally, the Villa game will remain on the Saturday.

Matchday 7 – Inter Milan (A)

Another big game, and another one with tricky league fixtures either side. Arsenal will travel away to Nottingham Forest, then to Milan for a game on Tuesday, followed by hosting Manchester United at the weekend.

Matchday 8 – FC Kairat Almaty (H)

This game takes place the following week, so the two Champions League fixtures will be sandwiched either side of the United game. Given this one is on the Wednesday, there’s a chance the United game will end up on the Sunday, but we’ll have to wait for the TV picks.

After Arsenal’s final game at home to Kairat Almaty, the Gunners will travel away to play Leeds United that weekend.