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Arsenal’s victory over Chelsea in the EFL Cup (or the Carabao Cup, if you prefer) booked the Gunners’ place in the final on March 22, where they’ll battle Manchester City for the season’s first trophy. Of course, Arsenal will happily take the spot in the final, but the win has reshuffled their upcoming schedule.
Arsenal’s fixture shake-up could end up helping their hopes
The slate had already given them some tricky ties this weekend at home to Sunderland followed by a midweek game at Brentford. Those teams are tied for seventh place in the standings at the moment, with 36 points each.
Fans will remember that the Black Cats held Arsenal to a 2-2 draw last November, and they fortified their attack during the recent transfer window by signing wingers Jocelyn Ta Bi and Nilson Angulo.
After that comes some respite in the form of an FA Cup tilt against Wigan, which are currently in danger of being relegated from League One. February 18th was supposed to be a day off that Arsenal earned by snagging the first-round bye for the Champions League. However, their scheduled March game against Wolverhampton has now been moved to that slot to make room for their participation in the EFL Cup final.
Gunners fans might take comfort in Wolves anchoring the foot of the Premier League table, and furthermore having sold off striker Jørgen Strand Larsen to Crystal Palace for a truly silly $65.16 million (with add-ons). Your opinion of this move depends on which version of the Norwegian is the real one: the one who scored 14 goals in the second half of last season or the one who only netted once in 22 games this season.
In any event, Arsenal will then have to follow that game with a visit to their hated rivals at Tottenham and a home fixture against Chelsea. The jury is still out on new coach Liam Rosenior, but his Champions League win at Napoli should give opponents pause.
What does all this mean? Some sources are afraid of fixture congestion, but as mentioned before, teams generally prefer reaching cup finals to not reaching them.
The more successful clubs are, the more matches they must play, and so far, Coach Mikel Arteta has been able to keep his squad from becoming fatigued. Perhaps the Gunners will feel differently at the end of February, but right now, the North London club could hardly wish to be in another position.