Arsenal could play as many as nine games in April in a run that will be pivotal in their trophy haul at the end of the season.
The Gunners are currently on track for a famous domestic and European double, top of the Premier League table on goal difference and into a first Champions League quarter-final for 14 years.
But their squad depth and stamina will be stretched to its extremities as they play virtually every three days in the penultimate month of the season.
Perhaps most crucially, the north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur will come at the end of run of five games in 15 days or even 14 days, depending on European results. In the same period, Spurs will not play a single game due to their lack of involvement in continental football and early exit from the FA Cup.
April angst for Arsenal
(Home games in bold)
- 3 April – Luton Town (H), 7.30pm
- 6 April – Brighton (A), 5.30pm
- 9 April – Bayern Munich (H), 8pm
- 14 April – Aston Villa (H), 4.30pm
- 17 April – Bayern Munich (A), 8pm
- 20 April – Wolves (A), 7.30pm
- 23 April – Chelsea (H), 8pm
- 27 April OR 28 April – Tottenham (A), 12.30pm OR 2pm
- 30 April – Champions League semi-final, 8pm
April was the month last year when Arsenal’s title challenge started to fall apart, as draws with Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton preceded a defeat to Manchester City that finally eradicated their eight-point lead.
Having been knocked out of Europe by Sporting Lisbon in March, the month of April was not the same logjam as it is this time around, but winning only one of their five matches irrevocably wrecked their title challenge.
A European blessing or a curse?
A two-legged quarter-final against Bayern Munich obviously adds to the congestion, although clearly Arsenal would not swap it for the world after 10 years away from the last eight in Europe.
But there will still be worries that, even with a relatively short trip to Munich, there could be a European hangover.
However, according to a 20-year study by Kitman Labs, a sports science and analytics company who work across the Premier League on injury and medical data for players, the congestion of a mid-week European game actually has limited impact on outcomes in the league on the following weekends.
In fact, the paper notes that the data around fixture congestion could even be used to motivate players and prove to them that they are no more likely to struggle a few days after a European fixture than on any other day.
How have Arsenal ended up with such congestion?
Their progress in the Champions League is not the only reason for the fixture pile-up.
The Gunners have also been forced to accept a rearranged game against Chelsea which had to be moved due to the Blues reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
And the north London derby date will not even be finalised until the middle April, although it will at least be on the weekend of 27/28 April: if Arsenal are drawn in a Champions League semi-final on 30 April, the derby will be moved back 24 hours.
How will the Gunners cope?
Manager Mikel Arteta will be praying that the injury which forced Bukayo Saka out of the England squad is no more than a niggle. The winger is not only Arsenal’s top-scorer and assist-maker, but his absence would also put pressure on the Spaniard’s ability to rotate his forward line through the title run-in.
He arrived at St George’s Park, according to Gareth Southgate, with a hamstring problem – the type of issue from which Arteta would probably prefer to ease him back. But the Gunners will return from international break with a bang against Man City, a game he will also dearly want Saka to be part of.
Rotation in the front three will at least be feasible if Gabriel Jesus has been able to put the international break to good use: the Brazilian forward has not played 90 minutes since 28 December and missed five games with a knee problem in February.
And further back, Arsenal have begun to show depth: while an injury or fatigue to Declan Rice would be hard to stomach, the full-back roles have become subject to competition for places between Jakob Kiwior, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White and, at least in the early part of the season, Oleksandr Zinchenko. And although the centre-back pairing of Gabriel and William Saliba is rarely rotated, the likes of White and Kiwior have slotted in ably – while Jurrien Timber, the summer signing who suffered a cruciate ligament injury on debut, is approaching a long-awaited comeback.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/pAEXk74
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