Arsenal's fixture list for the 2023/24 Premier League season has been released and it's rather interesting when factoring in the Champions League.
After the Community Shield showdown with Manchester City at Wembley Stadium on August 6, the Gunners begin the new campaign six days later at home to Nottingham Forest and actually don't play a game outside of London until facing Everton following the September international break.
Although after the trip to Goodison Park, it will no longer be a case of playing once a week. In fact, the games will start coming thick and fast for Arsenal and therefore Mikel Arteta will be tasked with rotating his squad to cope with the demands of the Premier League, Champions League and the Carabao Cup.
Of course, with the Champions League group stage draw not taking place until the end of August, all connected with the north London outfit have to patiently bide their time to find out who they will be facing upon their return to the competition for the first time since 2017.
Despite being ranked 23rd in UEFA's Club coefficient table, the Gunners are confirmed to be one of the eight teams in Pot 2 which means they will avoid Manchester United, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Internazionale, RB Leipzig and Porto.
In addition, as per UEFA rules, clubs cannot be drawn against teams from the same association, which means, for example, Arsenal cannot face Manchester City in the group stage but they will be paired with either Sevilla, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica or Feyenoord from Pot 1.
READ MORE: Arsenal's London derby dates for 2023/24 Premier League season confirmed with 12-game target
Pots 3 and 4 are still to be confirmed as it will not be until late August when the identity of the remaining six teams to qualify for next season's Champions League are revealed.
Given the quality of teams in the competition, life could become incredibly tricky for Arsenal, especially in September and October when the fixture schedule is relentless and it's likely they would prefer to avoid returning from a long European trip only to be handed another away game in the Premier League.
With that in mind, we have decided to take a look at who Arsenal face before and after their Champions League fixtures.
16/09 - Everton (a)
Matchday 1: 19/20 September 2023
23/09 - Tottenham Hotspur (h)
30/09 - Bournemouth (a)
Matchday 2: 3/4 October 2023
07/10 - Manchester City (h)
21/10 - Chelsea (a)
Matchday 3: 24/25 October 2023
28/10 - Sheffield United (h)
04/11 - Newcastle United (a)
Matchday 4: 7/8 November 2023
11/11 - Burnley (h)
25/11 - Brentford (a)
Matchday 5: 28/29 November 2023
02/12 - Wolverhampton (h)
09/12 - Aston Villa (a)
Matchday 6: 12/13 December 2023
16/12 - Brighton (h)
As seen above, Arsenal are away from home before every Champions League group-stage game with trips to Everton, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Newcastle, Brentford and Aston Villa to navigate. However, their fixtures following being in European action are all at the Emirates Stadium.
That is a huge boost - despite having to face Spurs and Man City - and another positive for Arteta is that his side will not be given the 12.30pm slot on a Saturday if they've played in the Champions League on the Wednesday.
As reported by the Liverpool Echo nearly two years ago, BT Sport’s 'prime time' slot has since moved to 7:45pm on Saturdays if one of the teams involved has played a Wednesday night Champions League fixture. This is a rule change that helped Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea and Spurs in the competition last season.
Has the fixture list been kind to Arsenal? Have your say below!
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