Home opener, Liverpool trip – Arsenal’s best and worst case Premier League fixture release day

In a few hours, Arsenal will discover their fixture list for the 2022/23 Premier League season with the details to be published at 9am and of course, football.london have got you covered.

Whilst the forthcoming announcement is a straightforward one – the Gunners will play the other 19 teams in the division home and away over the course of the campaign – the ordering of the fixtures could be key to Mikel Arteta’s side’s hopes of sealing a top-four finish next season.

Having faced Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur in their opening six fixtures at the beginning of last season, Arsenal will be hopeful the fixture generator is a lot kinder to them this time around as they were bottom of the table heading into the September international break.

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However, unlike draws for European competitions or the group phase of a major international tournament, there are no seedings when it comes to Premier League fixture announcements so that means the Gunners can be paired against anyone for their opener and first six games of the new campaign.

Therefore, they could be afforded a chance to avenge those costly defeats in the top-four race away at Spurs and Newcastle United towards the end of last season early on, or they could kick off a new campaign by facing the Championship play-off final winner for the third year in a row.

With that in mind, shortly after 9am today (Thursday, June 16) when Arteta and Arsenal fans take the first six games of the 2022/23 Premier League season into account, what would represent the best and worst-case scenario? Well, football.london takes a look below.

Best case

For any team, the dream is to start a new season at home. Arsenal won’t be any different as it’s been three seasons since they last kicked off a campaign at the Emirates Stadium – granted that was against the reigning champions from the 2017/2018 campaign in Man City.

A home game against one of the newly-promoted teams – Fulham, Bournemouth or Nottingham Forest – to kick off the season would be ideal as if a game against the likes of Everton, Leeds United, Southampton and Aston Villa were to follow.

History suggests the Gunners will face at least one – maybe two or three – of the traditional ‘big six’ in their opening six games and based on recent results they shouldn’t fear welcoming either Manchester United and Spurs to the Emirates given they picked up maximum points in the corresponding fixtures last season.

In terms of ideal away trips, facing West Ham United at the London Stadium either side of their two-legged Europa Conference League play-off qualifier on August 18 and 25 could be the best time to get the Hammers and the Gunners do have a decent away record against Fulham and Leeds.

Best case: Bournemouth (H), Leeds (A), Man United (H), West Ham (A), Fulham (A), Everton (H)

Worst case

Early season trips to Manchester City and Liverpool have been an all too regular occurrence for Arsenal in recent years. In fact, they faced both in consecutive away games right at the start of the 2020/21 campaign and left the Etihad Stadium and Anfield without a single point.

With both sides bolstering their attacking options this week by signing Erling Haaland and Darwin Nunez respectively, it’s needless to say that the Gunners would probably prefer to avoid facing the best two teams in the country away from home in their opening six games of the new campaign.

Arsenal won’t want a repeat of last season where they were beaten by the Championship play-off final winner on the opening day. Furthermore, facing the three teams that beat them at the Emirates Stadium in the league last season – Chelsea, Brighton and City in their first six games could bring back bad memories.

Considering the north London side were beaten nine times on their travels last season – five against sides that finished in the bottom half of the table means potential games against either Brentford, Everton, Crystal Palace, Southampton or Newcastle may not be too ideal for Arteta and company.

Worst case: Nottingham Forest (A), Chelsea (H), Liverpool (A), Man City (H), Brighton (H), Crystal Palace (A)