Don’t look now but with Saturday’s 2-0 win over Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium, 5th place Arsenal is just four points behind 4th place Tottenham (with a game in hand) and five points behind 3rd place Chelsea. So, do the Gunners have what it takes to qualify for the Champions League?
A quick look at the fixture list shows it’s there for the taking.
Having been knocked out of European and domestic cups, Arsenal is afforded the trophy-less luxury of being able to focus on their nine remaining Premier League matches. Of those matches, Arsene Wenger’s side faces one Top 5 club (Manchester United at the Emirates) and the three clubs currently facing relegation (Wigan, Reading and QPR). Sweetening the deal even more is that the Gunners’ remaining home matches are winnable fixtures against Everton and Norwich while away trips to West Brom, Fulham and Newcastle are anything but daunting.
Tottenham and Chelsea’s schedules, however, are not so kind. Following the international break both clubs face a ridiculous five games in 15 days. Spurs take on Swansea away, FC Basel at home, Everton at home and Basel away before returning home three days later to play Chelsea. The Blues face a tricky away fixture at Southampton before hosting Rubin Kazan and Sunderland at Stamford Bridge. Rafa Benitez’ squad then travels to Russia for the second leg against Kazan and three days later returns to London for the clash with Tottenham.
If either side advances in Europe they’ll be burdened with a two legged semi-final matchup on April 25th and May 2nd, and a final on May 15th. These matches will slot into an already busy league schedule that pits the Lillywhites against Manchester City, Wigan, Southampton, Stoke and Sunderland and the Blues against Liverpool, Swansea, United, Aston Villa and Everton.
How it all plays out for Arsenal, remains to be seen. With Jack Wilshire’s fragility and the recent demotion of Wojciech Szczesny and Thomas Vermaelen to the bench, the Gunners are not a club without questions. But I’ll be darned if that fixture list doesn’t have Arsenal supporters frothing at the mouth.